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Low Friction Blog Comment Setup

By @nibl
    2019-08-30 12:31:59.232Z

    I want to use Talkyard for blog comments. I’m having trouble setting it up the way I want. Could you tell me how to achieve the following:

    • moderate all comments always
    • only name and email required without account
    • no login required

    So basically, a new commentor just has two fields that ask for name and email each time they comment. They do not need to sign up for an account. They do not need to login as a guest or any of that extra friction.

    Since all comments would be moderated, there will be no issue with spam or trolls.

    Is this at all possible?

    Reply
    • 9 replies
    1. In reply tonibl⬆:
      KajMagnus @KajMagnus2019-09-01 03:55:00.006Z

      About moderating comments always: Currently at most the first 9 comments can be enqued for moderation (and the person isn't allowed to continue posting more than 9, until you've reviewed those first 9.). — I can change this, so you can choose to continue moderating for as long as you want / "forever" (seems like a good idea to me).

      The other things: "only name and email required without account" and "no login required": Do you want to only allow that kind of login? Or, people who want to sign up with e.g. Google or Facebook, should they be able to do that?

      In any case, here: https://your-talkyard-server/-/admin/settings/login you can un-check Google, FB, etc to remove that type of login. And uncheck Allow creating local accounts to prevent creation of username/email + password signup.

      not need to login as a guest

      Hmm guest "login" is typing a name and an email, no real login. Maybe the problem is that I use the words "Login" and "Guest", which makes this sound extra complicated?

      Here's the login dialog, and it appears once one clicks "Reply":

      There's only a name and an email field — to me this seems to be what you're looking for? (As mentioned, you can remove the Google etc buttons if you want. And the "Or create an account ..." text — you can remove it by disabling username + password signup.)

      Maybe if I change the bottom button title from "Login as Guest" to "Submit comment"?

      Reply
      1. KajMagnus @KajMagnus2019-09-01 04:19:47.612Z

        Hi agani @nibl, now I had a look in the login dialog, and, there're some annoying issues when one disables all login methods, except for "Guest login". Namely that some "Login with" and "Or sign up" texts are still visible. (I don't know about anyone trying this before :- )).

        It'd be nice if the "login" dialog looked sth like this, if you disable everything except for "guest login" or maybe I should rename that to "No-login":

        What do you think about this dialog?

        Reply
        1. N@nibl
            2019-09-01 06:45:12.071Z

            @KajMagnus this looks much better when no login is required.

            I think it should also say why an email address is needed – to reduce spam, and so the commenter can be notified of replies (correct?).

            Reply
            1. N@nibl
                2019-09-01 06:48:53.305Z

                One other suggestion specific to blog comments. The button would make more sense if it were “comment” instead of “reply”.

                Reply makes sense in the forum context, but comment makes sense as a blog post comment.

                I found myself wondering why there was a button that said reply. I didn’t press it. I kept looking around for something else, until I realised it must be reply to comment. I guess the word reply makes sense when you’re in direct communication with someone like in via chat, email, or a forum.

                Reply
                1. In reply tonibl⬆:
                  KajMagnus @KajMagnus2019-09-01 06:52:29.952Z

                  Ok, thanks for the feedback. — Actually, the email address isn't required. It's if one wants to get notified about replies, yes (but not to stop spam).

                  Since in this case there's no real login & the email adress won't get verified, people can type any email address, so I'm thinking there's not any point in requiring an email address, for this "No-login" comment submission. People who don't want to type an email, could just type abcd@example.com instead. ... However I thik it's nice if people get notfied of replies, so they can continue replying & talking? ... So I tried to make it look as if the email address is required.

                  Reply
                  1. N@nibl
                      2019-09-01 07:05:28.659Z

                      I agree about the email address inclusion. It has been one of the biggest weaknesses of blogs that you were not notified when people responded to your comments. Very often people never went back to the thread because they had no clue anyone had responded.

                      Secondly, one often found a blog by following a search engine link and never went back to that blog again. Email notifications are the only way to keep that connection to a visitor.

                      It would be good to inform visitors who are not logged in about the benefit of staying in the conversation via an email notification. It just needs to be made clear that the email address will only be used for that purpose and absolutely nothing else.

                      Reply
              • Progress
                with doing this idea
              • KajMagnus @KajMagnus2019-09-12 07:57:52.030Z

                @nibl I'm in the progress of changing / simplifying the "Guest login" or "No login" dialog, to this:

                And if you keep Google and FB etc login enabled, it'll look like this:

                Any thoughts? (Sorry for the late reply.)

                About "Comment" instead of "Reply" — hmm, maybe it'd be good with "Post comment" for replying to the blog post itself? And when replying to another comment, the button text could be "Reply"?

                Reply
                1. @KajMagnus marked this topic as Planned 2019-09-12 08:17:22.379Z.
                2. @KajMagnus marked this topic as Started 2019-09-12 08:17:25.373Z.
                3. N
                  @nibl
                    2019-10-06 20:05:31.247Zreplies toKajMagnus⬆:

                    Yes, I think “post comment“ at the top, and “reply” below existing comments.

                    Maybe the form could be simplified. If you are asking for name and email for both existing logins and new signups, then all you need are the two fields and below it two buttons.

                    Maybe place one button above the other:

                    Login

                    - Or -

                    Sign up

                    Sorry about the late reply, but I had to think about it a little.

                    Reply
                    1. N
                      @nibl
                        2019-10-06 20:08:40.214Zreplies toKajMagnus⬆:

                        Then you can get rid of the top bit asking for name and existing login. It would no longer be needed.

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