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- Using Reddit for Blog Comments
Using Reddit for Blog Comments
A little bit ago I wrote a post about how I was disabling comments on my blog, and how I’d be using Twitter and email for comments instead.
One of my fellow pentester buddies, Rob Fuller (@mubix), commented that he liked the idea, but that he’d rather just use Reddit.
I told him I’d like to have something, like Reddit, as an offsite comment system—similar to what Paul Graham used to do with his essay comments and Hacker News. Rob then came up with the idea of creating our own subreddits and using them for that purpose.
I thought it was brilliant, and we had both created our respective subreddits within five minutes.
Advantages
There are a few things you get from doing this:
Reddit is the best comment system out there in my opinion. The way it handles voting, nesting, editing, notifications, permalinks, etc. makes it my favorite by a long stretch.
It’s off-site, meaning not on my website. I like that. It’s almost a barrier to entry for commenting, where if you really care enough to say something insightful, you’ll go. But if you’re just going to slather on some trollage you’re likely to skip it. That’s perfect.
The conversation is more permanent than on Twitter. I think Twitter is still more dynamic and interactive, but as some have pointed out, it can also be annoying and fragmented.
In the event that something is popular and there are many comments, you’re already on Reddit, which could drive traffic.
I can include in my post footer (which I already have) a link to the subreddit, so anyone who wants to comment can find the comment area pretty easily.
Anyway, I am eager to see how it works. Comments welcome.