ANNOUNCEMENT: Let's Disqus

Issue 1, Semester 2

DE MINIMIS EDITORIAL TEAM

Last semester we let you know we’ve been thinking about the comments section and whether the system needed any changing. Before we make any big changes, it’s important to us that you know why we’re doing this and that you can be a part of the discussion on what happens (because we love our readers).

A lot of you responded to us with lots of opinions (thank you!). 74% of respondents felt that a challenge for us was that there are comments of a bullying/harassing nature, 63% that people felt empowered to leave nasty comments, and 52% that comments contained personal attacks. By contrast, 7% felt that there were no problems. Of some of the changes that you felt would be beneficial, 47% said commenters signing up to a commenting platform would be a good change. Still, 44% wanted the option for commenters to remain anonymous and 47% that commenters could use a pseudonym when commenting. In light of all of this, we wanted to trial a new commenting platform next week, which is one used on news and blog sites across the interwebs (Disqus).

​Commenters need to sign up for an account using an email (which remains anonymous, we can’t see it) or Facebook/ Google. You can be as anonymous or transparent as you want about who you are (call yourself HorsePersonLover_13 if you want), but you’ll need to sign in to comment. If you love the system or hate it or you’re somewhere in-between, please disqus (haha) and let us know how you feel.