As some of you might know, IntenseDebate is part of a bigger family of services on the web, brought to you by Automattic. We work on many projects on the internet, from supporting bloggers around the world at WordPress.com to supercharging self-hosted websites at Jetpack to fighting spam at Akismet — and much more.

If you’re interested in getting involved and joining a team dedicated to making the web a better place, consider joining us — we’re currently hiring. Take a look at the available positions, including developers, engineers, designers, and other wranglers. Maybe you will be next to join us — and contribute to awesome projects like IntenseDebate!

So, don’t be shy — come work with us.

How do you decide when someone is a troll?

It depends. Sometimes, it might be tempting to get into an argument with a commenter, or to watch an intense debate unfold between two commenters on your site. It’s up to you to decide what is challenging, critical, and healthy — and what is flat-out inappropriate.

Sometimes disagreements between regular readers can turn into trolling. Let’s say two of your readers, Jim and Jane, get into an argument about the morality of eating meat on one of your recipe posts. Is this trolling? No. But if Jim continues to pop up in the comments of every post after that to try to pick a fight with Jane about vegetarianism, then he’s trolling. Ultimately, it’s your site — it’s up to you to decide when someone has become a bully and when it’s time to ban them.

On IntenseDebate, you can automatically flag comments for moderation if they contain a keyword, or are submitted by a specific commenter based on their email address or IP address.

Things to note

• Entering a keyword will flag any instance of that particular word, including partial matches. What if you’ve noticed that a particular problematic user seems to get into a heated argument every time you or someone else brings up religion? You can flag the keyword “religion” for moderation. But choose your keywords wisely, especially when adding two or three letter keywords (like “the” or “ex”). This may cause a lot of false hits and inundate you with too many comments to moderate.
• Separate multiple entries with a space — a space in an entry designates that it’s a separate entry. This means you can’t stipulate phrases to be flagged — for example, the inputted phrase “Facebook privacy settings” identifies three separate entries rather than one phrase (in other words, you’ve entered “Facebook,” “privacy,” and settings” into your keyword list).
• Flagging an IP address can be handy for blocking comments made by spammers who don’t leave an email address, especially if they change their email address.
• Easily block trolls from commenting by entering their IntenseDebate or WordPress.com username or email address in the text field.

What does this mean?

If you previously used a WordPress.com account to log in to IntenseDebate, you’ll now do this using WordPress.com Connect. Once you’ve connected your account once, you should be all set. If you used an original IntenseDebate account to log in, you can continue to do so using those details.

When prompted, authorize IntenseDebate to access your WordPress.com account:

The benefit of switching to WordPress.com Connect is that it means your account information is managed in one, super-secure place (WordPress.com) and ultimately streamlines your online experience — for example, you can use this same account to log into other products, including VaultPress, Akismet, Polldaddy, and Gravatar. It also means you can take advantage of additional security features on WordPress.com, like the recently-launched Two Step Authentication.

Note: We also fixed a bug with Twitter authorization, so if you or your commenters were having any trouble logging in to comment using a Twitter account, that should be working now. If you have feedback or questions on any of these updates, please contact us. Thanks!

Your moderation options

IntenseDebate offers some powerful moderation options. On your Moderation Settings page, you can customize your settings to filter and moderate by keywords, the number of links in a comment, and commenters’ email addresses or IP addresses.

You can also enable a profanity filter, ban specific usernames, and automatically approve comments from users who meet a minimum reputation score, which you can specify in your settings.

Comment moderation 101

Sure, you’ve set up your moderation options, but that doesn’t mean you’re done. Comment moderation is a regular part of the blogging process. The discussion you generate is just as important as your content. Here are some moderating tips:

• Reply to comments. Your job doesn’t end when you hit the “publish” button, right? When readers leave comments, keep the conversation going in real time. Use the Reply-By-Email feature to respond swiftly to comments via email — especially when you’re on the go — before your thoughts slip your mind.
• But don’t reply to every comment. If you receive a lot of comments and you reply to each with a simple “thanks,” your discussion will suffer. These comments, while friendly, are terse and ultimately meaningless. Where’s the debate? Your replies should always add something substantial that builds on the conversation, so avoid stagnant, dead-end comments.
• Keep it error-free. Carefully read every comment you approve and edit if needed. While these are other people’s words and thoughts, this is ultimately your site, so treat it like a newspaper or publication. Ensure the copy, whether in your own posts or in the discussion threads, is clean and free of mistakes and misspellings. Trust us — errors looks bad. Period.
• Police, but do so politely. We know you love lively debates, but don’t encourage nasty and abusive comments. They intimidate new readers, derail conversations, and distract you from good blogging. It’s your site — set your rules! Give people polite warnings, but if they continue on with offensive comments, ban them. Your commenters also have the ability to report abusive comments with the “Report” button.
• Post commenting guidelines. If you feel like a sheriff on your own blog — how not fun, right? —  consider posting commenting guidelines. It’s a transparent way to let readers know what comments you approve and delete and helps to deter unwanted behavior. (Check out the WordPress.com News blog’s guidelines as an example.)
• Play around with the keyword filter. The keyword filter tool on your Moderation Settings page is handy. Entering a keyword will flag any instance of that particular word, including partial matches, so be careful when adding two or three letter keywords — “the,” for example, includes words like “theme,” “theory,” etc. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, this filter tool becomes quite powerful.
  
• Knock on your neighbors’ doors, too. Networking and developing intellectual and professional connections with your readers is one of the best parts of blogging. If you have loyal commenters, visit and comment thoughtfully on their sites as well, keeping in mind the commenting tips you’ve learned.

For more details on moderating comments, visit the moderation support page.

As for IntenseDebate updates, we’ve upgraded servers to PHP5.4 to improve performance, removed OpenID, and fixed a bug with Facebook Connect that prevented you from logging in using Facebook if you were already logged into Facebook. 

If you have questions or comments about IntenseDebate, send us a note.

This time around we thought it’d be helpful to offer tips on commenting in general. What’s the point of setting up and using IntenseDebate’s features if you make comments in the blogosphere but no one engages with you? We’re all for an intense debate, but your comments must always help to generate a lively, healthy, and constructive discussion.

Here are some tips on how to be a more thoughtful and effective commenter:

• Read entire posts and responses. With IntenseDebate, you can respond to and moderate comments on-the-go with the help of email notifications and the handy reply-by-email feature. But be careful, as other commenters can tell if your comment is made in haste. Always read a post in its entirety before leaving a comment. Use the option to subscribe to all comments so you can read all other comments before adding your own.

• Contribute something new. A post often acts as the springboard for a new conversation. Instead of a simple “great post” or “thanks for writing this” or “I really enjoyed your take,” add something substantial and new to move the discussion forward — add another point to the original post, respond to a question posed by another commenter, or ask your own follow-up question to which the original poster or anyone else can respond. Remember: your reputation score is based not just on the quantity, but the quality of the comments you make across all sites with IntenseDebate.

• Get to the point. A comment is exactly that — a comment. Succinctness is important, and a comment should never be the length of a blog post. If you have a lot to say on a particular subject, leave a teaser in the comment section that summarizes your stance, and then link to a relevant post on your own site that expands on the topic. You not only express what you have to say, but also draw readers to your own site.

• Avoid blatant self-promotion. This type of comment is easy to spot — a quick, thoughtless comment saying “thanks” or “check out my site” with a link to your own site or blog. Don’t do this — moderators may delete your comment, and if you leave shameless plugs like this on a regular basis, you may be banned from leaving comments on other sites.

• Ensure your account settings are up-to-date. Users want to learn more about you — with whom they’re interacting, and who they’re challenging! Make sure your commenter profile is updated with your display name and description, correct links to your blogs/sites and external services (social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), and a current picture (Gravatar).

If you’re in Australia and viewing [blogname].blogspot.com, you might be redirected [blogname].blogspot.com.au. A ccTLD, when it appears, corresponds with the country of the reader’s current location.

This update will unfortunately cause a major issue with our Blogger Widget installation, where the same post will show different sets of comments depending on which ccTLD your readers visit.

The good news is that Blogger sites using our Template installation are all set and will not be affected by this change. You don’t have to do anything, so kick back and relax.

The not-so-good news is that if you are using our Blogger Widget installation, you will need to switch over to our Template installation to ensure that everything runs smoothly. It really is essential that you do this. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t bother you. Don’t worry, we’re here to help and we hope to make this as painless as possible.

Please note:

• You won’t lose any of your existing comments if you follow the instructions below.
• Custom domains are not affected by this change. However, we would ideally like to discontinue our Widget installation. The Template install is much more stable, and future backend updates will most likely only apply for Template installations. We realize that it’s a pain, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Here’s how you can switch over to the Template installation:

1. You will first need to uninstall the Widget from your site. The following instructions are for the updated Blogger interface. If you are using the old Blogger interface, please switch over to the new interface temporarily. You can do that by selecting the “Try the updated Blogger interface” link at the top of your Blogger dashboard.

 

2. Go to your Blogger account and find the blog that you have the IntenseDebate Widget installed on in your blogs list. Click the down arrow, then click Layout.

   

 

3. Locate IntenseDebate in the sidebar and click the Edit link.

   

 

4. Select Remove from the edit screen, then select the orange Save arrangement button at the top of the page.

   

 

5. Next your will need to reinstall IntenseDebate using the Template installation method. To do that go to your Blog Tools tab in your IntenseDebate account. Select Reinstall and follow the installation instructions. You should be all set.

 

6. If you want to switch back to the old Blogger interface, click on the little gear symbol on the right side of the page below your profile picture. Then select the option to switch to the “Old Blogger interface” and you’ll be all set.

Again, we’re here to help. If you come across any issues, you can contact us here. Make sure you include the URL of your blog when you contact us.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. For more information about Blogger’s ccTLD redirect change please check out their support documentation here.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

There’s a nifty new option in your moderation page to re-check all of your approved comments for spam with the click of a button.

Just click on the “Re-check For Spam” button and we’ll do the heavy lifting for you, and run all of the comments on your site through Akismet again.

Think of all of the time that will save you. While we do that, you can take some time away from your computer and slow things down. Go relax with a beverage and rest your eyes for a bit. You can read an old-fashioned newspaper (you know, the kind that you can tear), or catch-up with a long-lost friend – after all, IntenseDebate is all about connecting people.

When you get back, head over to your moderation page again. If we’ve found any spam, there will be a notification waiting for you. If there isn’t one, then your site is spam free.

Keep in mind that the more comments you have, the longer it will take for us to re-check them all. If you return to your moderation page while we’re still checking, then the “Re-check For Spam” button will be greyed-out and inactive.

You can learn more about the rest of our moderation tools at support.intensedebate.com/moderation and read our past posts on our moderation options here.

Complete instructions are available in your Comment Settings page, and you can access your Facebook APP ID at https://developers.facebook.com/apps.

You may need to clear your browser cookies and cache when you’re done. We have some great instructions on how to do that here.

That should do the trick! Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about this change.

———
Update – If Facebook Connect still doesn’t work after you update your API Key to use your APP ID, then it’s likely that you will need to refresh cache for your comments. The easiest way to do that is to post a new comment and that should force the cache to refresh.

But, as you may know, we offer a super-easy way to add custom CSS to bring your own personal style to IntenseDebate through your Custom CSS page. By adding a handy snippet of CSS, you can hide the guest commenter information fields (Name, Email, URL), which will effectively remove the option to post comments as a guest.

Why is this cool?

I’m glad you asked. Currently commenters that post using Facebook Connect and Twitter Sign-in are considered guest commenters since they aren’t posting with an IntenseDebate or WordPress.com account. The issue is that if you disable guest commenting in your moderation settings by requiring readers to have an IntenseDebate or WordPress.com account, you would remove the options to post using Facebook Connect and Twitter Sign-in, which isn’t ideal.

So without further ado, here’s the CSS you can add to your Custom CSS page to get rid of guest commenting:

#idc-container-parent #idc-container .idc-postnav-label,
#idc-container-parent #idc-container .idc-c-m.idc-signup {
display: none !important;
}
#idc-container-parent #idc-container
.idc-postnav-list {
margin: 5px 0 8px;
}

That last little bit adjusts the margin to make up for the hidden fields so there isn’t a gaping space where the guest commenter fields used to be. Feel free to tweak that as you’d like.

Make sure you check out our CSS documentation, along with the rest of our guides to change the font size; text, background, and link colors; width of the comment section; and move the comment box to the top of the comment section.

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Update 1-28-11: You can add a URL field for Guest commenters in the comment form by enabling the option in your Comment Settings. Make sure you disable CommentLuv in your Plugins page to ensure that the URL field shows up properly.

We will have this updated and back in action soon! We appreciate your patience.

—

Howdy! It’s time for an upgrade to the IntenseDebate CommentLuv plugin.

We have temporarily deactivated CommentLuv on IntenseDebate while we change the tapes and switch over to the new version.

We will post a status update once the new version is installed. Our apologies for the inconvenience.