Archive for blogging
Disqus Comment Management is Live
Posted by: | CommentsI have officially switched LCC’s comment management over to Disqus. This is a big step, and it kind of makes me nervous. With any luck, it will be a positive step toward even more engagement through comments.
Previously, in order to leave a comment you needed to “register” on LCC and I needed to moderate your first comment. After one successfully moderated comment, you could comment anywhere just by logging in, no moderation needed.
The change to Disqus makes it a lot easier to comment in general. You can login using Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, or a Disqus account (which I highly recommend since it is becoming a very useful service). From there, you can leave a comment and have the option of posting to Twitter or Facebook about the post. I hope you’ll utilize this feature, since it will help spread the word about what’s going on at LCC on a regular basis.
If you already have a Disqus account, be sure to claim any comments you’ve already made by clicking on your name in a comment and going through a few easy steps. The plugin will search for any comments associated with your email address and apply them to your Disqus profile.
Disqus also has the interesting feature of “liking” comments as well, kind of like Digg or Reddit. “Likes” are applied to the commenter’s profile and are pretty fun to use.
The comment CSS styling within posts is a bit off of the native styling, which is a bit annoying but I’ll fix it over the next week or two. For now, I’m just glad the system works fine and the comment migration worked without a problem.
So, all ye stupendous thinkers and readers, comment away! Let nothing stop you! Make some noise!!!
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LCC Quietly Hits 1000 Comments
Posted by: | CommentsAnother milestone for LCC has gently come and gone… Congratulations to Daniel Hewitt, Lee Shelton, and Markham for breaking the 1000 comment mark, submitting comments #1000-1002, respectively, on the Gay Rights, Marriage, and Government Intervention post.
LCC has gone from just a few readers in late 2008 to over 400 now (depending on how Feedburner feels at the given moment), and the interactivity has definitely picked up as we have grown. I love hearing your comments, questions, feedback, and especially disagreements. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Your contribution to this site means a lot – to everyone. Let’s keep building this community!
In honor of this auspicious occasion, I will be making a transition to the Disqus comment management system in the next week. Disqus will make it even easier to submit, share, and manage comments, and hopefully it will encourage even more participation from all of us!
(And for any WordPress users out there… Akismet has blocked over 7500 spam comments. Crazy! Gotta love Akismet…)
(And for any WordPress users out there… Akismet has blocked over 7500 spam comments. Crazy! Gotta love Akismet…)
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Would you rather have Disqus-sion or IntenseDebate?
Posted by: | Comments
Dear LCC Readers,
I’m sure that I am much to blame for this, but I would love to see even more comments on LibertarianChristians.com. Have you noticed that LCC recently surpassed FOUR HUNDRED subscribers? That’s incredible! We need to have a better way of interacting with each other. So, I have been considering upgrading the WordPress comment system for LCC to a 3rd party software solution, but before I do so I’d like to get your input on the topic. After all, you are the folks who ultimately drive the discussion forward here! So, help me figure out what would work best for this blog:
The two competing services I am considering are Disqus (pronounced "discuss") and IntenseDebate. If you have had significant experience with either please speak up! There are some neat features to each one; let me outline some of them for you, most of the advantages have to do with social networking…
Disqus – http://disqus.com
- Login with Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, a Disqus account, or comment as a Guest
- You can use Facebook Connect to make your comment appear your Facebook wall.
- You can send your comment to other social networking services, such as Friendfeed.
- Real-time updating (no more comment moderation!)
- Track your commenting history with a Disqus account (free, of course)
IntenseDebate – http://intensedebate.com
- Login with Facebook, Twitter, and OpenID, ID account or comment as a guest
- Better comment threading
- Better email notifications (even reply by email)
- Comment voting and reputation points
- Keep your Gravatar
- Track your history with an IntenseDebate account (free)
I must admit, in the past I have been very much annoyed by both solutions, but with the recent improvements to each service I’m ready to make the switch if it seems like a good idea to many people. In particular, the ability to comment with Twitter and FacebookConnect is a major selling point (to me at least). This will allow new readers to comment more easily and you can share your thoughts with others via social networking websites. Pretty cool!
So, please comment with your opinion especially if you have experience with either of these services – you have my complete attention! I’m particularly interested in WordPress integration, loadtimes and server load, and ease of use for commenters. Should I just try one and see how it goes?
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Tags: blogging
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New 404 Page (Monday Silliness)
Posted by: | CommentsHopefully, you will never see a 404 page on LCC. 404′s come up whenever someone tries to access a page on a website that is no longer there, perhaps because the page was deleted, the user typed the URL incorrectly, or they followed a bad link. This can be pretty frustrating, so I thought it would be fun to create something a bit more… interesting. Here’s what the 404 page will look like from now on…
Why Might This Page Not Exist?
- Baptist explanation: There must be sin in your life, Everyone else opened it fine.
- Presbyterian explanation: It’s not Gods will for you to open this link.
- Word of Faith explanation: You lack the faith to open this link. Your negative words have prevented you from realizing this link’s fulfillment.
- Charismatic explanation: Thou art loosed! Be commanded to OPEN!
- Unitarian explanation: All links are equal, so if this link doesn’t work for you, feel free to experiment with other links that might bring you Joy and fulfillment.
- Buddhist explanation: ……………………………………………..
- Episcopalian explanation: Are you saying you have something against homosexuals?
- Christian science explanation: There really is no link.
- Atheist explanation: The only reason you think this link exists is because you needed to invent it.
- Church counselor’s explanation: And what did you feel when the link would not open?
I can’t remember where I picked this up, but I thought it was pretty hilarious. Here’s to hoping you never have to experience the dreaded 404 page for real…
- Baptist explanation: There must be sin in your life, Everyone else opened it fine.
- Presbyterian explanation: It’s not Gods will for you to open this link.
- Word of Faith explanation: You lack the faith to open this link. Your negative words have prevented you from realizing this link’s fulfillment.
- Charismatic explanation: Thou art loosed! Be commanded to OPEN!
- Unitarian explanation: All links are equal, so if this link doesn’t work for you, feel free to experiment with other links that might bring you Joy and fulfillment.
- Buddhist explanation: ……………………………………………..
- Episcopalian explanation: Are you saying you have something against homosexuals?
- Christian science explanation: There really is no link.
- Atheist explanation: The only reason you think this link exists is because you needed to invent it.
- Church counselor’s explanation: And what did you feel when the link would not open?
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Tags: blogging
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RefTagger
Posted by: | CommentsDuring my regular excursion through the world wide web today, I came across a nifty little plugin for WordPress that will make quoting Bible verses extraordinarily easy for Bloggers. It’s called RefTagger, and it was produced by Logos. They also make the Logos Bible Software package, which I think is the premier Bible Software for Windows right now.
RefTagger sees Bible verse references in your posts and automatically converts them to hyperlinks to bible.logos.com, and if you hover over the link with your mouse a tooltip window will appear with the full text quote.
Here’s an example: John 3:16
How cool is that? 
See more examples in Josephus on the Origin of the State.
Now, existing hyperlinked Scriptures will not be re-linked, so some of my earlier articles (like my New Testament Theology of the State series) will still keep their links to SearchGodsWord.com. But that’s ok. RefTagger will make life a lot easier.
Other bloggers who read LCC: You can use RefTagger on a variety of platforms, including Blogspot, Movable Type, and different types of forums. Check out their website for more details.
All in all, I think I can recommend the RefTagger software very highly. Well done, Logos!
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Norman is the creator and primary writer for LCC. Learn a little bit about him in the