By Jayme Soulati
I’m a serious blogger. I like to visit others’ blogs with some basic plug-ins and comment systems that allow me to share my latest blog post. I love the blogs I visit with LiveFyre and Comment Luv or another similar plug in that links back to my latest post.
The primary reasons are twofold:
- I am visiting your house to give you some love; might you give me some love back?
- I want to know the latest blog post of others who comment so I can zip over to a new blog and see what’s happening.
I’ve gotten pretty pressed for time these days and find it nearly impossible to visit blogs as much as I used to. I feel badly about this and understand that many a blogger has a tit-for-tat mentality — I won’t come to your house unless you come to mine. I wish there was a check box somewhere with a plug-in called Kilroy Was Here so I can cross off my name in case I don’t want to leave a comment. Maybe you have Clicky and you can see my IP address showing up on your visitor analytics and you know I’ve stopped in. But, that’s asking a lot.
And, so, on this Saturday if or when you might read this, would you perhaps consider adding a plug in that features latest blog posts so we can give one another a bit of love?
Just askin’…thanks!
(Photo Note: This photo has absolutely nothing to do with this blog post, but I have to show off my poppy from my garden; that’s big love!)
…clicky shows my IP? That makes me not want to visit the sites I know who use it.
Otherwise – I’ve read some good arguments against using, say, Comment Luv. But I can appreciate wanting the “who is this?” information at your fingertips so you can read their stuff, etc.
@jennwhinnem A lot of the stat checking software shows your IP.
@TheJackB quitting the internet forever
@jennwhinnem I should show you my Get Clicky for this blog in a screen shot. You’d be amazed — but it’s only an IP address! Your name is still hidden!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing How is Clicky so different from GA? So far I’ve only heard that the interface is better. Seems expensive.
@jennwhinnem Girl; it’s FREE! Can’t beat that. Also, the interface is very cool. User friendly. But don’t ask me; ask @ericamallison she’s the analytics bomb. But, I think she’s one of the old timers “leaving in droves.”
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jennwhinnem I have Get Clicky Premium and it does show the names of who has visited my blog if they have left a comment in the past. The information you get from Clicky is amazing and unique. Their Spy feature is addictive.
I had an big issue with comment luv, it slowed down my website. I found out specifically the script it runs was causing issues. I sacrificed it for site speed. My current theme won’t work with a third party commenting system, so that is that.
Doing a redesign that might let me have either of these features back.
@susansilver Hey, Susan…have to say…the times I have come to comment on your blog have been challenging to say the least. I have not had a good commenting experience with comments not logging, having to save it elsewhere and re-copy it back in or not being able to log in or something (if I recall accurately).
Perhaps you have other issues precluding any comment system? Are you on WordPress.com? If that’s the case, that may very well be the issue. I don’t believe non-self-hosted blogs have the same leeway to use plug ins and comment systems.
If not, ignore that!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I am on a self hosted wordpress. i have now clue what is wrong with my commenting system. i only use the native one, no third parties. i am about to do a clean reinstall, because i think the issue is maybe some form of conflict.
@susansilver Sorry to push you in that direction…
I liked CommentLuv and used it for quite a while but I started to get killed by spam which is why I switched systems.
@TheJackB But, what’s cool, you have LiveFyre, and I can see your blog post in “my latest conversation” and I can click right there in one move. Strategic — chess.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing It only works if you have LF on your blog. As you know I used to but I turned it off and moved to DISQUS. The new version is awesome.
Anyhoo, LF links to the last post I put up when it was still live.
@TheJackB So, you do or don’t have LF on your blog? I can still see your “latest conversation” in comments right now?
I love CommentLuv too; but it’s not compatible with DISQUS 🙁
Any suggestions?
@Mark_Harai I’m with you, I hate LiveFyre and am not going to leave Disqus anytime soon.
@geoffliving Cheers Geoff!
Their last upgrade was a disaster… Felt bad for their users.
Enjoy your Sunday sir : )
@Mark_Harai @geoffliving Hmm, I didn’t have any issues with any recent LiveFyre update. But, then again, Mark, aren’t you having issues that required coding help from Triberr to get something to work on your blog?
@geoffliving @Mark_Harai You know the critical nature of link love and sharing previous/current posts, Geoff? Without Triberr, I’d be absolutely non-existent on your blogs because I’d have to do a Google search, look through Twitter streams or subscribe to find you (quicker).
So, you see? I wonder how many lazies are out there like me? In varying degrees, like 50 shades?? Heh.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @Mark_Harai Sure, sure, RSS is dead for the most part. I definitely believe in Link Love, seem to write a post about it every couple of years (https://geofflivingston.com/2011/03/01/why-you-want-the-link-love/). It’s important to keep it at the forefront, so I applaud you for writing this.
@geoffliving @Mark_Harai Fascinating statement…why do you believe RSS is dead, please? Is it because my Google Reader is at ~3K blog posts unread and unvisited but with every good intention?
I prefer to get blog posts emailed to me; hands down. I need efficiency of information distribution and when it’s too difficult I won’t try harder. I just have no more time.
People are exiting stage left — the early adopters; they’re leaving in droves because the time commitment of all this sucks. Yep, there’s my next post.
But, only after I get your thoughts!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing The early adopters are leaving? I don’t know if I agree with that. I suppose it depends on who you are talking about, but there are quite a few old timers out there.
@thejoshuawilner OMG; my head is spinning…are YOU an old-timer or a newbie, Josh? Not sure I’ve seen you around these parts much…Heh.
@Mark_Harai Hmm; I’m so not a plug in expert. I’m gonna ask the stream!
I was going to say exactly what @Mark_Harai said. I have disqus and you might be able to reach my blog by just clicking on my name. I have my details on Livefyre and they are kind enough to take you directly to my website.
@Hajra @Mark_Harai I had Disqus for a year and then switched to LiveFyre. I always say the former is the Cadillac and the latter is the Mercedes or BMW. It depends on the goal of your blog.
When clicks and time are so critical, Disqus causes more time. I have tried to find people’s blogs on Disqus, but quit that as it became increasingly difficult. It rather posts comments you make on people’s blogs, like a log.
Look at my experiment and what the cat dragged in! Kudos to you guys for holding fort over the weekend as I sat through kidlet’s weekend soccer tourney! Thank you all! I just may need to post on Saturdays a tad more!
I hope livefyre had that feature to link to the latest blog post.
I’m a big Comment Luv fan. Have you ever tried it, Jayme? I especially like seeing the posts of other commenters. I have discovered a lot of informative articles that way.
Livefyre and Disqus don’t provide the same information about commenters so I don’t find them as useful to me as a reader.
I’m with you Jayme. I love CommentLuv. Am considering livefyre because it’s a good community builder. Can they work together? Will find out soon and will report back. 🙂
I like CommentLuv, but like @Mark_Harai said, it’s not compatible with Disqus, which is what I use (and prefer). Sure I could switch to Livefyre, but even then, it only shows your most recent posts if you use their software on YOUR blog. So, while you will get the recent posts when you visit other Livefyre sites, I won’t. I guess that’s an encouragement to sign up with them, but I know a good portion of my readers don’t use it. So, here we are….at an impasse. Maybe I just need to go back to WP comments so I can get CommentLuv!
LF only gives ‘CommentLuv’ to other LF users; I don’t want to limit to any single comment system, so I opt for native WP w/ other plugins – including CL. Been lucky, easy to deal with w/ little spam I get. Always liked the idea of CL, so that people can get to know each other in comments, so I can see what others have written lately.
And you’ve got me thinking on another post idea w/ your ‘was here click’ to show you’ve read, even if not commented (but then, maybe you’d just share socially?). Thinking about reciprocity and networking and that tit-for-tat mentality. Like you, I can’t get to every blog all the time; but also wonder why do we bother if really, we never get any love back? Except for a rare few STELLAR writers out there, I can drop so many and not miss a thing. IDK. Just typing out loud. FWIW.
I have never used ‘CommentLuv’. in my articles like this one https://www.ontoplist.com/articles/after-builders-cleaning-tips_50acd828d22a8/ i usually do not need a comment platform at all!