The Intense Debate Install Story
Along with some theme and plugins changes I’ve recently done, I’ve also had a play with Intense Debate (ID), a system complete with WordPress plugin for managing comments.
Phase One
Last week using my old theme I couldn’t get anywhere with the comment import. It kept crashing out at 9% done. Support were very helpful and gave me a link for a settings cleaner plugin.
I tried all manner of permutations (after doing the defaults three times) to get it to work. But it wouldn’t work so I removed the whole shebbang…
Phase Two
You’d think that’d be the end of it…. Not Half! It’s Reesy you’re dealing with here, you know. I hunted around for different themes and decided that Atahualpa 3.3.2 looked like a good option.
Northumberland Coat of Arms
Well it works! The sickly sweet colour scheme is my invention. Coupled with a few Gibbets and Flying Fucks in the text, it’s my sort of contrast! It’s actually Vladamir Prelovac‘s fault. His homepage changed last month to a bizarre minimalism, completely at odds with his previous theme and the ones he’s designed, that it got me thinking that over-the-top (OTT) is okay! In fact, I’ve even morphed the Northumberland (or Provence, if you prefer) Flag into my Gravatar!
I particularly like the way the comments thread out now.
FYI: Atahualpa has over 200 customisations in it. Nearly all clever CSS work is removed for you – just follow the instructions for each area as you go along, check it in a browser (or three – I check in Firefox, Opera and IE8), and away you go.
Anyway, after fiddling with the theme and twiddling loads of header images etc, I thought I’d give Intense Debate (ID) a go again – and it worked! All comments loaded as per defaults and the interface is pretty neat, actually. However, problems started to arise….
- First, the supplied widget code wouldn’t show recent comments, only those from years ago, which is no good!
- Second, the Gravatar loading was skanky.
- Third, it removed the functionality of Tan Tan Noodles spam filter. This was actually a big deal. I don’t use all the functionality of the tool, but I think the regex pattern filter does a hellova goood job. In usage, it traps the same as Akismet, nearly!!!
- Fourth, I instantly got four spam comments! There’s the proof!
- Fifth, and finally – this morning the thing has been slowing the website down dreadfully.
- Sixth, and probably not finally, as I got the fifth one wrong, in an effort to keep some of the ID functionality (which is good, it must be said), I’ve played with the ID settings.
- Seventh, I’ve turned off the website ID interface which restores the neat comments sytem in the theme – RESULT! Instant speed boost!
Phase Three
So that’s where I am now. Further twiddling will have to wait as I go under the knife tomorrow…