Why I’m Ditching CommentLuv
Back when I first installed it, CommentLuv — the plug-in that fetches and appends the title of a commenter’s last blog entry to any comment they leave here — the thing was accurate, helpful and non-intrusive. With the latest “upgrades”, it’s now anything but.
Some of you, in fact, may have noticed that CommentLuv has taken to appending outdated entry titles to your comments. That is because the makers of CommentLuv decided that if you want accuracy you have to register at their site. Personally, I’m not a fan of having to register in order to use something billed as “free”, so I haven’t bothered.
If you do register, however, you then have the option of picking which recent entry title you’d like to post. Again, what was once helpful is now bloated and adds to the increasingly numerous steps involved in posting comments on blogs (entering data in the fields, typing the comment, answering the captcha if there is one, scrolling down the CommentLuv entry options… blech).
Most of all, the plug-in has become a downright eyesore that sneakily inserts links back to the plug-in homepage. Yes, I realize this is ostensibly configurable — you can go to Settings -> CommentLuv and opt to display nothing next to the latest entry title.
All that does is eliminate the gaudy button CommentLuv now tries to slip in by default. What you get, instead, is a stupid little red heart with a pop-up that shows whether a commenter has a CommentLuv profile or not. And since I hate both stupid little red hearts and pop-ups, it pisses me off.
So, goodbye, CommentLuv. You’re relegated to the dustbin around here as being just another plug-in that got too big for its britches. Somehow, I don’t think you’ll be missed.
If they had merely added the feature to choose a post or no post, I’d have been happy. But I agree with you that the little red heart with pop-up is awful.
I hate anything on a website that does something I didn’t tell it to do. Pop-ups are extremely annoying.
Yep, and forcing people to link back to your site via such stupid things really irritates me.
I did fine blogging for almost 6 years without CommentLuv and, in all honesty, I don’t think it ever brought more comment traffic. So, good riddance, I say.
Bah… B’bye now! I thought it should have been left alone, as it was.
Ditto.
Well, there went MY only use for CommentLuv…
Fun while it lasted.
Full marks for being a clever idea. But you can just hear them salivating for the draw-ins.
It never worked for me, because of DNS redirection at my site. However, thanks for being so gracious. That they ruined it for everyone is a shame on them.
It was a neat idea that worked until somebody decided that Hope (nobody notices) and Change (the way it works and hope nobody is the wiser) would make it all better.
Puts me in mind of something….can’t quite put my finger on it….
And, you know, it really didn’t drive traffic.
Or perhaps it’s the quality of the commenting or post titling that failed me.
Nah, it’s that damn controller.
Two things pop into mind.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and bigger isn’t always better.
Unfortunately it’s synonymous with so many things. Just when you’ve come to enjoy the simple things, some fool comes along and alters it, adds to it, and pretty much creates more work for the user.
Reminds me of Windows
What was easy and workable in XP became a chore in vista.
Well, of the handful of blogs where I comment from time to time, maybe two have CommentLuv set up, but only EV ever showed my links.
Guess I can ditch the stupid little sidebar badge on my site now.