Social9 Comments - Disqus Alternate | The Privacy Respecting No Cost Cloud Commenting System
Comments are a big deal, seriously. They're not just an afterthought; they're a crucial part of your blog, just like the article itself. Think of it this way: the comment section is where your readers actually get to hang out and chat with each other, all because they're into the same stuff you're writing about. It's where they can ask questions, get discussions going, and yeah, sometimes even crack jokes or share pictures, depending on how cool the comment system is. Some systems even throw in social sharing tools or built-in communities, which is pretty neat for reaching more people. It's basically a growth hack. It all comes down to what kind of vibe you want and which comment system you pick.
Why Comments Are So Great
1. Interaction
Are you writing for yourself or for people to read? Having comments open means you can actually talk to your audience, making them feel like they're part of your blog's world.
A lot of times, the chats that happen in the comments – whether it's you talking to readers, or readers talking to each other – can be just as important, maybe even more so, than the article itself. They bring up good questions and add details that help everyone understand the topic better.
2. Feedback
Besides the chats, comments are also a super easy way for your audience to give you feedback. Do they dig what you're doing? Should you maybe do more of something else?
Let them steer the ship – they'll tell you straight up what they like and don't like, and you can then tweak your blog accordingly. It's like getting free advice.
3. Content Ideas
Just a quick look through the comments on any post can give you tons of ideas for new content. Are there parts of your posts that your readers don't quite get? Are there things they want to hear more about? Dive deeper into those topics in a new blog post.
Plus, some folks (I've done this myself in comment sections) will just go off on a tangent and tell you exactly what they want to learn about, and that you should totally write a post on it. Pretty cool, right? If you're struggling to come up with fresh content ideas, your comments section could be a lifesaver.
4. SEO
Did you know that the comments your users leave can actually help your seo performance? All that free content generated by users fills up your page and search engines notice it when they crawl your site. In fact, if your commenters are always dropping keywords you're trying to rank for, your post might start showing up higher for those keywords (most of the time).
But, be careful with this. We really, really suggest you manually check all comments to make sure only good stuff gets added to your site. Otherwise, it could backfire.
Also, lots of comments tell Google that people are into your blog and enjoy interacting with it. Because of that, they'll look at your blog more favorably and rank you better.
5. Community
When you have comments open, you'll probably notice the same people popping up again and again. When you chat with them, you start building your own little community around your blog, which makes them feel more loyal.
On the flip side, WordPress comment systems have their issues. That's why a lot of publications either don't have comments at all or get rid of them after a while. For example, NPR ended up blocking its comment system because they felt the news was more about the article. And the comment threads often devolved into negativity.
What's Wrong With Most Comment Systems?
1. Spam
The second you open up your comments section, you will get flooded with all sorts of ridiculous pingbacks, trackbacks, and comments made by bots, even if you think you don't have much of an audience. The truth is, you do have an audience... it's just that most of them are bots.
Nothing's more annoying than spam comments. They're the bane of a blogger's existence, and each one steals precious minutes from your day.
2. Moderation
You can install all the spam blockers you want, but spam messages will still sneak through now and then. Moderation can be a massive time sink.
Even with a relatively small number of comments, the time it takes to read each one can really add up. Couldn't you be doing better things with your time?
3. Negativity
To be a blogger, you gotta have thick skin. It's just how it is. You can't make everyone happy, and with the internet's anonymity, you're bound to run into trolls. Having a different opinion is totally fine and should be encouraged, but some people just enjoy saying nasty things.
What Does the Community Need?
When we were looking for alternatives to Disqus or WordPress comments, we found some things the community commonly looks for.
Here's what I was looking for:
- Respects privacy
- Easy to moderate comments
- Allows anonymous commenting
- Doesn't add a ton of javascript to my site
- Matches my site's theme
Keeping all these requirements in mind, we came up with our product, Socia9 Comments.
What is Social9 Comments?
Social9 Comments is a custom version of Commento that lets you encourage discussion on your website. If you have a blog, you can add this so your readers can leave comments. It's fast, doesn't bog down your site, has a modern look, and is pretty secure. Unlike most other options, Social9 Comments is lightweight and focuses on privacy. We'll never sell your data, show ads, embed third-party tracking scripts, or sneak in affiliate links. Here are some of the features that'll make you want to use Social9 Comments:
Privacy First
We, the Social9 team, make it super clear that privacy is a top priority with our service. Comments is also free from third-party tracking and advertisers. This alone was a huge reason for me to choose it.
Unlimited Free Cloud Version
We don't charge anything for comments. You can use our cloud version, which is fast and secure. All other providers charge for cloud versions because there are infrastructure costs involved when hosting services in the cloud. We host everything on AWS cloud. Comments is free because our goal is to offer a complete social solution, not just comments. Hosting on AWS means your comments will be reliable, fast, and secure, thanks to their robust infrastructure.
Allows Anonymous Commenting
Letting your visitors quickly and easily leave an anonymous comment is super important because we all value user privacy. Leaving an anonymous comment is as simple as clicking a checkbox, then typing your comment. You don't have to add any personal info, not even a name.
If you want to get an email notification if someone replies, you can also sign in with your Google, GitHub, or Social9 accounts.
Doesn't Add Loads of JavaScript
The javascript for Social9 Comments is only about 14 KB. Even on a slow connection, that's a tiny amount of extra data. On a modern internet connection, it's just a fraction of a second added to your load time.
Look & Feel
When you visit a website, it can be really jarring if the comment section doesn't match the rest of the site's style. By default, Comments looks pretty good, but you can make it look exactly like the rest of your site.
Easy Installation
Just use the universal HTML snippet to embed Comments. You can do this by pasting this html snippet after each blog post, for example:
And that's it! You now have Comments on your website with automatic spam detection, fast servers and CDNs, oauth providers, and a whole lot more built-in!
If you have any questions about any of these comment systems, feel free to reach out to us on our contact page.
What is Social9?
Welcome! Social9 is your all-in-one platform to get more traffic and boost audience engagement by using social media.
Social9 offers free tools like a social sharing plugin, a cloud commenting tool, a url shortener, and a twitter post scheduler (beta) that help your website grow.
It provides seamless website integrations with the latest tech, out-of-the-box analytics, and many other "FREE" features to get you started!