For years I’ve skirted around adding a comments section. Every time I think about including it, the echo chamber usually says it’s a bad idea, and for good reason. Moderating spam and hateful comments can be a very arduous task, and might far outweigh the benefits of having a few good conversations.
However it’s always interesting to read discussions and feedback generated when some of my stories gain traction on social media.
I’m not interested in managing a dedicated user forum, but I am taking a chance with a comments section in hopes of building some type of a community to get feedback from my readers.
After months of searching, I’ve settled on using Vox’s Coral Talk, which is the same comments system used on sites like The Verge, Washington Post and the Financial Times. It’s actually quite a popular commenting tool, but it’s mostly used by news websites.
I played with the idea of using other systems like Disqus and Hyvor, but settled with Coral as I have full control and can keep stored data in house. As Coral Talk has a self-hosted option, that’s what I went with.
As a result of self-hosting, data does not need to be shared with third party comment management systems such as Disqus (which we all know inserts way too many advertising trackers on your website).
About comments
Users can sign up for an account, either with an e-mail address or via their Google account. I’m working on adding Facebook authentication as well, but it will take some time to restore my business profile.
Signing up for accounts does mean adding friction, but guest commenting is simply not on the table as it is a breeding ground for spam and abusive commentary.
So far the comments section is part of a trial, and if it doesn’t get the desired traction, or if it becomes too much of a burden to moderate, I may just delete it entirely along with all user data.
At the end of the day, I want to bring some type of community value, offering a space to ask questions, add to the conversation, and even correct me when I make mistakes.
