Why Comments Aren't Available Yet
Published on 28 Jan 2015 · Filed in General · 256 words (estimated 2 minutes to read)A number of readers have asked—via e-mail, of course, given the subject of this post—why comments aren’t available yet on the new site. I’d like to take a quick moment to explain the current situation.
First and foremost, it’s not because I don’t want feedback from readers. I would love to continue to have the outstanding feedback from readers that I’ve had over the last 9 years of this site. It’s also not because it’s too much trouble (too much comment spam, too much time to moderate, etc.). It’s not because enabling comments is too difficult, either.
If not these reasons, then why? With a static site generator like Jekyll, I’m left with very few options for handling comments. The most common way is to use a service like Disqus, but there are a number of privacy and security concerns around Disqus (see here for just one example). As a result, I’m hesitant to put my readers in the situation where the privacy of their information is outside my hands. At least with WordPress, readers’ personal information was under my control alone. Not so with a service like Disqus (or any of the hosted alternative solutions).
I’ve tried to mitigate the loss of comments through the social sharing links below, but they are a poor alternative. I recognize that, but it doesn’t change my concerns about protecting my readers’ privacy and security.
If you have any suggestions for how to resolve this situation, I’m all ears. Drop me an e-mail or hit me up on Twitter.