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How Cheapskates Build a Quality Comment System

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First a disclaimer:

If you’re looking for the absolute best comment system for your blog, the Cadillac, the Crème-de-la-crème comment system that voraciously encourages your visitors to express their views and opinions of your content… This is NOT the post for you.

Download CommentLuv Premium and enjoy.

I’ve written this post for the cheapskates out there.

Yeah, you know who you are; don’t deny it.

You want all the benefits of quality blog products and resources, but you hate paying for them.

You’re a cheapskate… Own it.

So if you’re a cheapskate and you don’t want to pay for a fantastic premium comment plugin like CommentLuv Premium, what options are available for creating a great looking comment system without paying a dime?

Non-Wordpress Comment Systems

A very simple solution is choosing one of the free non-Wordpress comment systems such as Disqus, IntenseDebate or Livefyre.

The reason these platforms are referred to as non-Wordpress is because comments are managed off your WordPress site.

This isn’t a terribly big deal, but something to be aware of.

With each of these comment platforms you install a plugin and then sign-up for the comment management service on the platforms website - nothing complicated.

Of course, each system has advantages and disadvantages.

For you cheapskates that also like to be told what to do, if I had to choose one of the comment systems listed above, I’d would go with Disqus.

In full disclosure, I used Disqus for about three years.

It’s clean and extremely easy to use and customize. There are also social sharing and comment tracking features that made Disqus very attractive to me when I was a newbie blogger and super cheapskate myself.

However, I wanted to be able to customize the experience a little more than Disqus was able to do.

Additionally anyone who isn’t registered with Disqus has to register to comment… That’s a lot of work to leave a comment.

I also wanted to give commentors the ability to leave a link to a piece of writing they were proud of as a reward for adding value to blog (Because that’s what comments are… Value).

You simply can’t do that on Disqus.

Additional Resources from Ana

If you are still considering a non-Wordpress comment system, here are some posts that might encourage/discourage you:

Here's an opinion from Kimberly Castleberry taken from the comments on DragonBlogger.com post above:

Unfortunately there is plenty to be said (negatively) about bloggers that use dofollow and commentluv to build their communities and then switch away from it and backhand their communities with lost linkluv and linkjuice when they get big enough.

I just can't bring myself to join those ranks.

I'd gladly implement livefyre if it integrated CommentLuv Premium, but at this time my community means more to me than that next big push forward.

I can't help but agree.

Despite the fact that I recently had to take several days to clean the comments on my blog, I have no intention parting with WP system and CommentLuv Premium.

Thanks for letting me butt in, Ryan, and back to your post.

6 Plugins that Almost Give You CommentLuv Premium

I know what you’ve been waiting for…

You’ve been waiting for me to tell you the series of FREE plugins you can install that will give you the same functionality as CommentLuv Premium without the Premium.

Well I’m going to disappoint you a little.

You cannot replicate the functionality and blogger benefits of CommentLuv Premium through the free comment plugins listed below.

However, you can get close and that’s what I’m about to show you.

CommentLuv

First download the Cheapo (aka free) version of CommentLuv.

It automatically adds a link from a commentor's last blog post to the end of their comment encouraging blog visitors to share their thoughts.

Aweber Web Forms Plugin

Next you want to give people who comment on your blog (now invested in your site after commenting) the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter.

This is what Ana's check box looks like:

subscribe checkbox tgc

I prefer Aweber as a newsletter service and so does Ana (Read her review).

If you use a different service, I’m sure there is a similar plugin.

Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin

A simple check box right after the comment submit button that protects your blog from automated spambots and other spamming software.

This plugin is a comment system must and also a preferred product by CommentLuv creator Andy Bailey.

Note from Ana: and please disable Akismet; it's killing many valid comments on your blog, including mine.

Subscribe to Comments

This plugin allows anyone who comments on your site the ability to sign-up to receive notification in the event there are future comments.

This is a great plugin for recurring traffic.

Commentators will return to your blog to continue the conversation.

ReplyMe

This is a simple, but powerful plugin that sends a special email when someone responds to a comment.

This entices the original commentator to return and re-engage in your site.

You might be asking what the difference between this plugin and “Subscribe to Comments” is.

Subscribe to Comments will send notifications about ALL comments and ReplyMe is only replies.

Comment Redirect by Yoast

An even simpler, yet very powerful plugin that redirects all first-time commentators on your blog to a special Thank You page (Or whatever page you want them to go to).

A Lot of Work for Free

Free may sound great, but as you can see from the list above “Free” is also a lot of work.

However, if you’re a cheapskate, you’re used to doing extra work in order to not have to pay for something.

In all seriousness though, you want the commenting experience to be as pleasant and easy and valuable as possible for the visitors of your blog.

The comment section of your blog is where relationships are built.

I wouldn’t be writing this Guest Post for you today if I hadn’t engaged Ana in the comment section of The Café and felt welcome and satisfied with the experience.

I was encouraged to return and continue engaging with the fantastic members of this community and adding value to the content wherever I could.

Now I’m here explaining to all you cheapskates how you can beat the system and create a fantastic comment system on your blog without paying for it…

Well… almost fantastic.

A comment system powered by CommentLuv Premium is pretty much the Tips and you just can’t get all that value from any other single plugin.

I’m giving you a hard time about being cheap and it’s possible it’s started to get annoying…

I’m sure it’s a sensitive subject.

But the truth is I don’t care if you’re cheap or not, it is of the utmost importance that you ensure anyone who comments on your blog enjoys the experience.

Otherwise they’re not going to comment again.

And a silent blog is a lonely blog.

Don’t have a lonely blog.

Have an awesome commenting system.

Thank you!

Ryan Hanley

Ryan Hanley is the Director of Marketing for the Murray Group Insurance Services, Inc, located in Albany, NY. You can connect with Ryan on Google+ or find Ryan at his content marketing blog where discusses the marketing methods he implements at the Murray Group.”

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Comments

  1. First, thanks for linking to my words. To give you and your readers a sense of timing, I shifted from vanilla to livefyre in the summer of 2011 and shifted back to vanilla three months later. I installed the CL Premium plugin about four months after that.

    Second, I used to employ the Subscribe to Comments plugin. For many many moons. Then ReplyMe entered my radar, and I had dual checkboxes. Now, I don’t use the first and only use the second; and don’t even use the ReplyMe checkbox.

    • Thanks for coming by, Ari.

      ReplyMe is actually not a checkbox; it’s the plugin that will send you an email to let you know that I responded to this comment.

      It happens automatically; no need to check any boxes.

    • Ari,

      I am with you, I only use ReplyMe . People who get a reply automatically get notified.

      People tend to not click checkboxes and I think it’s important they are notified of follow-up comments!

      Thanks!

  2. Hi Ryan,
    If the only thing to push people to leave comments is the comment plugin alone, commentLuv for wordpress will win the race. I’m likely to leave a comment on a blog with commentLuv enabled and once I have made up my mind to leave a comment, I’m obliged to read the complete post so as to leave a good and related comment.

    The ‘Subscribe to Comments’ and ‘ReplyMe’ plugins are two other plugins I highly recommend. I visit over 20 different plus per day because of these ‘messengers’ who always rush to me to inform me of a reply to my comment or a new comment

    • Enstine,

      Your point is great. We’re just getting people to leave a comment we’re encouraging them to keep coming back to engage in the conversation…

      Thanks!

  3. Wow, great overview and reasons to go with CommentLuv Premium, Ryan. Like you say, I’m back and forth (and will probably switch back to Livefyre when my new design goes live, as it’s better suited).

    One thing I would say is that Livefyre works directly with the WP comment system, so all comments are still owned by you. This is a big advantage over Disqus and IntenseDebate. Livefyre is also very strong from an SEO point of view, with comments showing up in search.

    Cheers, sir!

    • Danny,

      That is why I ultimately got rid of Disqus as the lack of SEO juice the comments had.

      You get all these great comments that add value to the conversation and no one can find them.

      Let me know how Livefyre works out for you!!

  4. Great overview, Ryan. I’m already using those free plugins and going to try CommentLuv Premium very soon.

    I’ve never been impressed by the external comment systems. I’d rather use the default comment system with ugly design than going with Diqus or Livefyre 😉 lol .

    Thanks for this ultimate guide, Ryan. Keep up the good work.

    • Thanks Devesh!

      I think there are certain components of comment system that are necessary… After that it’s whatever fits the needs of your audience.

      Thanks!!

  5. I totally agree with everything your saying.

    1) Purchased commentluv premium for my tiny blog and love it. My ONLY complaint is that it requires you to use your password every time there is an upgrade (which was happening frequently for a while) - although this doesn’t relate to the function of the plugin itself.
    2) Reply me is awesome. I’m actually bummed when people DON’T use it as I never remember to go back and check if anybody responded to my comment.
    3) I think non-native comment systems are a big risk unless your commenting community is one which will have already signed up for Disqus, etc. If your commenter are WP/blogging guru types this won’t be an issue. But the father you go from that group, I fear the more likely you are to miss out on potential comments.

  6. Genius post. Agree about CommentLuv - it is the way to go if you don’t mind spending a few bucks. Heck, the free version is pretty good actually!

    Just my 2 cents on Disqus- it drives me nuts. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve not commented on a blog because I didn’t want to have to deal with the Disqus login feature. Maybe its just me, but I think it causes people to lose comments.

    @larryphoto

  8. Hi Ryan,

    I think it’s very important as bloggers that we make sure our comment area is an inviting place. Sometimes I visit blogs that I don’t want to come back to just because they have a very uninviting comment system that really suck and where you have to spend few minutes just to find out how the heck you can leave a comment.

    I think that no blogger who cares about getting comment should use such system like these, but go figure, they still do.

    CommentLuv premium is one of the best investment I’ve made on my blog. No doubt.

  9. I use IntenseDebate for my blog. It has number of addons including CommentLuv that makes it a superior among other commenting systems.

    • Problem is many bloggers won’t comment on IntenseDebate because you need to log in, George.

        • I didn’t say it was mandatory, Bilal; from all the research I’ve read, the reader engagement goes down on blogs that use a non-WP commenting system.

          In the end, it’s your choice.

          • Bilal and George,

            I have to concur with Ana. From dropping Disqus to going Native I’ve seen an amazing increase in Comments…

            Only personal experience but what I’ve seen.

            Thanks!

  10. Hi Ryan, seeing on blog engage I’m always running big guest blogging contests there’ two things I had to do to be a success! 1. Do follow, everyone wants do follow blog links. 2. install the comment luv system, this is a must in order to have a successful guest blog community.

    • Everyone get’s messed up about DoFollow… What negatives do you see?

      It seems like all you get is more engagement and the small amount of Link Juice lost comes back to you Ten Fold in comments?!

      Thanks Brian!

  11. I personally think it is a mistake to use any commenting system that takes the comments off your blog and puts them at a mercy of a third party. That third party then has WAY to much power over the content of your blog.

    I saw a lot of blogs using Facebook comments a while back, including this one and it made me cringe. Facebook changes its services more often than I change my underwear and all it would take was for Facebook to decide it didn’t want to support off site comments anymore, and POOF, all of your comments are gone. Plus, on more than one occasion I accidently used the Facebook comments and it appeared on my Facebook profile and I had to sanitize as I use Facebook for personal use, my friends don’t want to have their newsfeeds cluttered up with notificatons that I commented on some blog.

    • Completely agree Jonathan… I’m so glad I woke up and took back my comments…

      I mean read above, it’s not that hard for even beginners to set up a nice comment system using native WP Comments…

      Thanks for the great thoughts!

    • I did try FB comments for a short time and absolutely hated it, Jonathan.

      It’s created to benefit the bloggers, not the readers.

  12. Loved the informative post Ryan!

    I can speak for myself that CommentLuv Premium is sure doing wonders for my blog, though I have just about recently switched over from Bloggers to WordPress and had installed it right away.

    However, I wanted to ask one question about my writing blog, which is still in its transition phase to WordPress. I had Discus on it while it was on Blogspot, and when I switched it to WordPress (Thesis)- some of the posts showed zero comments, while the others had all of them intact. How, what, and why did this happen? Is there any way I can get the lost comments back?

    Also, I would like to know that can Discus work along with CommentLuv Premium, as I want to add it to my writing blog, but don’t want to loose my previous Discus comments.

    Thanks for sharing 🙂

    • Harleena,

      Your question about losing Comments is actually a good Crowd Sourcing question as I don’t have the answer for that. You may need to ask Disqus directly.

      I have read about people integrating the Free version of CommentLuv wish Disqus but I’m not sure if CommentLuv Premium integrates.

      If you’re going to use CommentLuv I might just drop Disqus all together.

      Thanks!

  13. Hi Ryan,

    That was a very interesting post and perfect timing for me. I’m using CommentLuv Premium on my blog, and I’m very satisfied with it, and I wouldn’t switch unless something brand new and a lot more powerful was launched (and it didn’t have to be free). But, I am working on a blog for a client of mine (Norwegian client), and since there are “different rules” in Norway, I am not sure exactly what I’ll be doing. When I say different rules, I’m mostly saying it because not a lot of people are commenting on blogs and almost everybody are using Facebook (not so much Twitter, G+ etc..). That’s what I have been considering installing a system that can use Facebook login, or Facebook comments.

    On the other hand, I really like the fact that the comments are stored on the blog, and that I feel that I am in more control if I use the regular WP comments. I’ll have to think about this for a few more days 🙂

    Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts.

    • Jens,

      The Facebook Comments is very enticing for a lot of people. I mean everybody’s comments are published in their Facebook stream…

      But what if someone doesn’t want their comment on Facebook?

      Does that stop them from commenting?

      I don’t know the answer but it’s certainly something to consider.

      Thanks!!

      • Yes, there is a little check box that the commenter could use to not have comments flow back to facebook.

        Facebook is a resources hog, the worst commenting system a blog could have.

  15. Spot on about Disqus, Ryan.

    So many times I wanted to get into a discussion on a topic , or leave a comment to add my own experiences in relation to this, yet, I kept getting the Disqus run around.

    I use the standard Commenluv at present and am very happy thus far. I have looked into some of the other options out there, both free and paid.

    Slightly off topic, I have noticed some sites that do not enable comments at all.
    Some of those sites are doing quite well, and have a number of quality posts.
    So I wonder if they are doing this to avoid spam, or is this something to do with link juice(Not wishing to let it leak out).

    • Daniel,

      There are all different reasons that Blog don’t allow comments.

      I was recently reading an article the other day about a successful blog didn’t have comments and the reason was that they wanted to drive the conversation on their Social Platforms where more people could participate.

      I thought that was an interesting concept.

      Thanks!

  16. A great article with lots of valuable information, thanks! CommentLUV premium and dofollow links sounds like the way to go if you want comments. Unfortunately it seems to only work for WordPress blogs and not BlogEngine. Well, you can actually integrate IntenseDebate with BlogEngine and then run their CommentLUV plug-in.

  18. Excellent post Ryan - picked up lots of tips from this. I think the comment redirect by yoast is definitely going to boost my conversions. It’s amazing how these little plugins can dramatically boost conversions and free up time.

  19. Ana, I stick with and swear by (not at) blogger/blog*spot’s native comment system. It’s easy for me to manage, has its own “spam trapper” and gives me control.

    Once upon a time I added Haloscan comments as an alternative, existing side-by-side with blogger’s system. I loved it. My readers loved it. Suddenly, there was no more Haloscan. Lesson learned: stay with features offered by your native system whenever possible. It’s always essential to have a “back-up” as well!

    Blog On!

      • True it is a third-party system but what you continue to fail to understand. Livefyre syncs up with your already established WordPress comments.

        The comments simply lose the link quality after the syncing process.

    • Again, as pointed out Livefyre and Disqus sync all comments back to WordPress database, so no comments are ever lost (only the threading of the comments). But you make a good point, the same would be true if Andy suddenly won a 350 million dollar Powerball and decided to retire in Cancun tomorrow, the plugin would age and eventually be outdated unless he sold it to someone willing to take it further and develop it. This is a risk with anything, plugin or external commenting system.

      • Excellent point. Andy has created a plugin. It is not an actual commenting system.

        Hey have you seen the new “triberr” commenting system?..

  20. I should point out that Livefyre and Disqus both have guest commenting now and don’t require sign up or registration to comment, both also sync the comments with your WordPress database so if you were to switch all of the comments would still be retained and left intact on your WordPress blog. I love CommentLuv and 100% it is true that there is huge backlash if you have an established CommentLuv system and abandon it for another external commenting service, this is why a commenting system should be researched and chosen from inception of your blog. I would have loved for Livefyre to be intelligent enough to read the CommentLuv Database tables and record the latest conversations as “recent comments” keeping the links intact, it is something the Livefyre team could do without requiring buying and integrating CommentLuv directly and would make conversions between the 2 platforms simple.

    Really I am on the fence, I would be using CommentLuv if I wasn’t using Livefyre, I have used it for 3 years prior to Livefyre and it is only the real time updates and social media engagement of Livefyre that I like. One other feature however is with Disqus and Livefyre a user can leave an image or video URL in the comment and the actual video thumbnail and image thumbnail will show up in the comment, this is a really simple but cool feature.

    I also think CommentLuv could become a viable external commenting system some day to work around the limitations of WordPress commenting, or at least ajaxify itself so that it is capable of more dynamic real time updating without needing page refreshes.

    • Just as a side note, Justin: when I left you a comment (or 2 comments, I should say) on your broken links post, LiveFyre was driving me nuts.

      First, I couldn’t figure out why other commentators’ comments link to their sites and mine links to my LiveFyre profile.

      Then, when I tried to comment as a guest, turned out that it’s impossible to do because LiveFyre wants you to create an account.

      In the end, I ended up with 2 comments without ANY links or even an avatar.

      That’s why I’d never comment on non-native systems, unless I really need to - too frustrating.

      • As a guest you can’t get a backlink to your site, that is true. You need to create a Livefyre account and put your blog URL in your profile to get a backlink. But you can comment as a guest after entering information just click “skip registering and leave comment as guest”. But since it collected all info you needed to register already the design was to encourage registering.

        The simple truth is tens of thousands of bloggers were willing to sign up for Disqus or Intense Debate accounts to comment on those blogs, Livefyre should be no different, with over 10k blogs using Livefyre it is silly to say “I don’t want to register for it” yet you have a Disqus, Intense Debate, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, WordPress.com, Blogspot…etc accounts).

        External comment systems are the only ones that allow you as a user to keep track of your commenting history, patterns, track how many comments you left on sites without having to visit each and every site, it is like your own comment tracking history. This is something CommentLuv could never do, and it may not be something that most care about but it is still something for people who want to see where they have been, how many comments they have left in last 30 days without having to manually cut and paste each blog link in a spreadsheet. This could also see how many comments were “liked” by others showing what types of comments, conversations were valued. This type of engagement cannot be found in a WordPress commenting system or plugin and only Disqus and Livefyre have this.

        There are some things CommentLuv does better, I really like that you can configure it to +1, tweet or share an article to offer more link incentives. I think this encourages more article shares than LiveFyre or Disqus. Damn It, I just wish they would hybrid all the best features of CommentLuv and Livefyre into one system, I even mentioned to the Livefyre team they should offer to pay or buy into CommentLuv for integration into Livefyre.

        • I do have an account with LiveFyre. And of course, my website is added to the appropriate block there as well.

          However, when I comment while logged in, the comment always links to my LF profile and never shows the last post.

          These little problems are enough to never want to comment on LV blogs.

          • There is about a 2 minute delay in the comment for Livefyre system to pick it up, it defaults to showing profile link then updates to show blog URL after a moment or two. If you look in HTML source code of the blog it shows the user’s actual weblog URL once it finishes loading the page and the Livefyre commenting system finishes loading.

            I use DropMyLink to comment on a ton of Livefyre blogs now as often as CommentLuv blogs.

  21. Very insightful Ryan. I’m always looking for ways to streamline processes. I am very “hip” to letting the plugins do all the work. Now folks can get back to good ‘ol fashion article writing and provide their readers with rich content. Leave the rest of the work to fancy plugins!

    When the information is credible, and the experience is worth while, readers will come back for more. Let’s keep those comment systems up to par bloggers!

    Take Care.

  22. Hey Ryan,

    I have to admit that for now I’m doing all the hard work, but I’m not cheap! If I could - I would. 🙂

    Just installed the Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin because of you, and I changed my comment reply to the replyme. I like being able to control what I”m saying in the reply message on some level.

    Also, the comment redirect has proven to be totally effective for me. I just added it in the last month and it has increased my email conversions in a big way.

    I learned all this stuff separately so it’s nice you put it all in one place.

  23. I’m usually a cheapskate I admit. I’m always searching for free ways, thing is I started my online career from scratch, meaning zero budget and I got to a point where I earn a living. Don’t get me wrong I’m all about buying quality stuff online but sometimes I find it much better to throw a second look for some free version that dose basically the same thing. As far as comments goes, I never had a popular blog where people just comment much.

    PS: CommentLuv Premium still rocks though

  24. Hey Ryan.. I totally agree that ComLuv Premium is the best system for WordPress. I use it on every site I build and not only does it bring in quality traffic and commenters, but it adds legitimate feedback to blog posts which also helps SEO. Do you dofollow your commenters or have you left that option off?

    • Tanya,

      I just went DoFollow on all comments about a week ago. I was Member Only but I’m not pushing for registered site members so I didn’t see that as a benefit.

      I want people to come and enjoy commenting on my site so I DoFollowed…

      Thanks!

  25. I am not a fan of 3rd party comment systems, but the big sites that use them might be partially doing so to reduce the database comment table space and usage. For the smaller or average sites I think the traditional WordPress comment system is great and serves the purpose. I already have to much to manage and would rather not add something like Intense Debate, Livefyre, or Disqus to the mix. If I had to pick only a couple of plugins CommentLuv would definitely be at or very near the top of the list.

    • Ray,

      That is a very good point. If a large website that doesn’t need to worry about the SEO and control features of a native comment system may not mind a 3rd party system.

      Thanks,

  26. Many bloggers find commentluv premium very useful for them and to their commentators as well. I also like your discussion about the similar commentluv plugin. Though there are some I am not familiar with.

  27. I’ve been on the fence too and at the end decided for Livefyre. It has many benefits and once logged in you can comment in a snap, plus as Danny said it has seo benefits and I’ve also received traffic directly from comments searches. And the Livefyre team has a top class customer service and answer in a snap. For a free service it’s amazing. I just hope one day they won’t sell it to Google. 🙂

    From what I’ve seen CommentLuv is just as great so probably it all goes down also to personal preferences. I’m comfortable in commenting with both and I think they both have many strong points and few weak ones. There isn’t the Mac-Microsoft thing. They are both great. Imho. 🙂

    • Just got back from a blog where I wanted to leave a comment, but didn’t, because the blogger used LiveFyre. lol

      • Ana,

        I had the same thing happen. Apparently I DO have a LiveFyre account, but forgot my password, so I could not log in as a guest or through FB or Twitter. It took longer than it should have to get a PW reset email and I just gave up because I forgot what I had wanted to say in the first place.

        I also think the third party comment platforms bog down and slow down a blog. I think Discus does this in particular.

        Thank you for lining up the free options. I pay for commentluv premium, but I know many mom bloggers would prefer not to…I’d love if they could take advantage of some of the free options.

        • I am not sure why some bloggers keep using those systems when they know their readers don’t like them…

      • So having a bias against the new kid on the block, Livefyre is really helping to further the argument? I myself couldn’t stand having to have 5-8 different plugins tied to the native commenting system.

        Because of course as most of us know if one or a combination of some didn’t get updated, well there goes your site into the swirly ball hell. And then wasted time worrying about what comments are valid. Too time-consuming

        I’m happy with Livefyre’s system and looking forward to being able to socially interact with readers of my site.

        • Believe me, Tony, I don’t do comments for fun.

          Yes, they are time-consuming, link-draining, and frustrating.

          And yet, they are what makes my blog the way it is. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

          I chose the native commenting system with only one plugin (mind you), CommentLuv Premium, because that’s what my readers like best.

        • Tony,

          I think you are missing the point of article…

          The recommendation is the Single Plugin CommentLuv Premium or if you want a third party plugin like Disqus or Livefyre.

          But if you want to Build a Free system like CommentLuv Premium you can do so with these plugins…

          It’s not necessarily the best option, but it’s a way for people that would like to try CommentLuv without paying they can do it.

  28. Hi Ana,

    I’ve been using commentluv on my site for a short time and like the concept and features. It’s pretty simple. I’m about ready to get the premium and install it on my college time management site as well.

    Do they still have an affiliate program? Because I’d like to be sure a friend I’ve heard the most about it from gets the credit.

  29. CommentLuv is a PLUGIN - if not supported or updated continually it will hoark up your site just like all of the other 5-8 plugins that you use to block spam, try to get commenters to subscribe, reply or even get the occasional share for.

    Livefyre and Impermium keep all of these extra plugins that rely on each other out of my site and I have to spend less time “moderating” comments.
    SPAM dies against the wall with Impermium, something the writer said nothing about.

    btw, I’ve clicked the + button 5 different times, and not once did I have to hit “share” so do you think this was +1’d five time to my G+ account?

    • Google +1 button is different from sharing something to your G+ streams, Tony; sort of like the difference between Facebook “like” and “share”.

      Spam dies, but so does the community.

  30. As a blogger everyone considering a commenting system should take the time to learn and research each one and make a decision, you can always change later but remember changing from CommentLuv to another commenting system will have more penalties than switching from an external commenting system to CommentLuv in my opinion, people who comment for the CommentLuv link will not likely come back as loyals if their hundreds of comment links or gone just from you switching a commenting system. I did unfortunately alienate and upset a lot of my readers who commented as a result and those people rarely return to comment on my blog since.

    Plugins are worth paying for, I bought CommentLuv premium because I believe in it and use it on some of my smaller sites. I also bought Popup Domination, Formidable Pro, WP Touch Pro and several other plugins because I think quality products are worth purchasing and testing.

    Don’t let “Free” be your only factor for choosing a commenting system, if you want to reward your commenters with a dofollow backlink to help entice and encourage them to comment, then spend the money and buy CommentLuv no other plugin rewards your commenters as well as CommentLuv.