A reader writes:
I have a suggestion for the Download the Universe website, of which I am a regular reader. The current commenting system might make some people, including me, uncomfortable because it requires us to login through Facebook, Twitter, and similar systems. For example, if I choose to use Facebook-based login system, I have to let the app access to my basic info (including my friends IDs!). This is beyond what I am willing to share just to put a comment on any website. This might also be a reason that the website does not receive many comments.
I suggest you to make it a bit easier for people to comment.
Having experienced years of spam blizzards at my own blog, I thought requiring people to log in to comment would spare Download the Universe from the web’s marauding bots. But I have also shared the commenter’s irritation at having to let everyone know exactly what we’re reading or listening to simply to gain access to those words or sounds.
So as an experiment, I am dropping the registration requirement. Quiet lurkers, please take this opportunity to share your thoughts about these reviews. (And please let us know about other ebooks worth reviewing!)
Janne says:
A bit too focused on iPad apps rather than actual device-independent books. I’m on the fence on dropping the RSS feed or not since I can’t access most reviewed works anyhow.
Sherri says:
I enjoy the reviews, but I’ll never comment if I have to login with Facebook, because I don’t have a Facebook account. I do have a Twitter account, but one I want to keep on an island, as it were, not linked to anything else.
Kevin says:
Carl, do you have any experience with the various commenting API’s like Discuss? I have no idea how hard it would be to set up that kind of framework, but I think there are spam-filtering functions built in.
Also, I imagine that this site will never garner the same level of traffic as your discover blog, so spam may just not be much of an issue.
Manuel says:
One thing that I learned a while back is that the spam comments should not be my concern (the commenter). So, if you get those pesky spam comments then it is your job to kill them and let us then freely post here (semi)anonymous comments. Otherwise, great job debunking or reviewing books and so forth.
Rosalie says:
This is an interesting conversation but misses a big point – it presumes you have Facebook and Twitter accounts to share. I do have a twitter account, but *only* to get around these restrictions when I feel the rare need to comment.
As quiet a lurker as I am, I have only just discovered this site – which is just wonderful – but it would have been a real disappointment to find I couldn’t comment with linking up to FB or twitter.