What? Not everyone likes and dislikes the same things that I do?
I tend to forget that my likes and dislikes are not the same as others’. I made the mistake of not offering an option on my site because it isn’t something that I would use. I’m not going to classify this as excessive pride. Instead, I’m going to look at it as caring about my own needs rather that the needs of my readers. And this is a mistake, potentially a big one.
Last week I discussed commentful, which I use for tracking comments that I leave on other sites. I asked what other people use to track comments. Both Scam and Trisha said that they like to subscribe to comments via email and use that feature when the plugin is installed.
Prior to those two comments, I did not have the Subscribe to Comments plugin installed. Why didn’t I? Because I don’t like to subscribe to comments and receive updates to comment thread’s via email. The couple of times I have subscribed the emails have annoyed me. But then, I don’t really like getting email (please don’t stop emailing me) :-) What I mean is that other than comment notifications for this site, emails from friends, colleagues, and family and some newsletters I don’t like email. I can’t keep up with it and I constantly have a number of unread messages staring at me that I know I should take care of.
Just because I don’t like subscribing to comments via email or receiving extra email does not mean that my readers feel the same way. I only received two comments, but 100% of the commenters said that this was their preferred method of keeping track of comments that they have left. I made the mistake of putting my needs before those of my readers.
As you can see below, Subscribe to Comments, has been added. Unfortunately, I am having a problem with the styling as I don’t like the way it looks by default. By installing and activating the plugin the feature was added in that location. The read me file for the plugin states the following:
Optional: if your WordPress theme doesn’t have the comment_form hook, or if you would like to manually determine where in your comments form the subscribe checkbox appears, enter this where you would like it: ?php show_subscription_checkbox(); ?
Unfortunately, when I tried that, I had two subscribe to comment checkboxes; one in the location shown below and the other where I placed the code. Either I am being dense or something is missing from the instructions. How can I use the code provided in the read me file and remove the default code added when the plugin is activated? Does anyone have advice on how I can style and place this the way that I want?
One plugin feature that I do like is the ‘Subscriptions’ area that is created in the Admin area of WordPress. It gives me this powerful spy like feeling of being able to see who has subscribed to the comments on my site ;-)
So, due to 100% demand, I have installed the plugin although it is not a feature that I use when commenting and I am still hopeful in locating some assistance with the styling of it.
photo credit: brianscott
Even though i myself don’t like this plugin very much. I have this installed because of Reader’s requests.
Madhur Kapoors last blog post – Control your Computer from anywhere using RealVNC
Hi Madhur,
Thanks for stopping by. I did notice that you had it installed on your blog. I think the lesson I learned here it to not to assume the needs of my readers. Hopefully being able to subscribe to comments will get more people to leave comments.
Do you have any suggestions about styling it?
Do you leave many comments? Do you keep track of them? If so, how do you do that? I’m using commentful, which is ok but has been down today. I’ve considered installing Disqus on this site as well. Have you tried it or taken a look at it? If so, what do you think?
Not knowing how to place the subscribe to comments box means I’ve got two of them as well, so I’d be interested to know if anyone has a solution.
Scams last blog post – Is This Why Some People Don’t Get Results With The Apple Patch Diet?
Yay! A gravatar for Scam.
I ask a lot of questions but my readers rarely answer them ;-) I’ve searched around a bit too and haven’t found a solution. I hope I do because I really didn’t want to add the plugin and I don’t want to keep it if I don’t like the way it looks.
Yay!
I added the gravatar back to this email days ago – it sure took it’s time appearing!
Shame I forgot to subscribe to this post though, considering what it’s about :oops:
Scams last blog post – The Obituary Of Dolores Aguilar
lol – that sounds like something I would do.
I actually tried using cocomment a long time ago, but at least then, it didn’t work with a lot of blogs so I stopped using it.
And I don’t remember how or what, if anything I did with my subscribe to comments. Sorry. It looks like my theme is very different and maybe that is part of it.
I liked cocomment but I upgraded to Firefox 3 it didn’t work for me anymore.
I can’t seem to find an answer to this question :-) Maybe I will play with it more this weekend.
Thanks!
I do leave comments but keep track of them very rarely. For that i do prefer Subscribe to comment. You just receive the latest comment on your email, and when your work is done, just unsubscribe from it.
Madhur Kapoors last blog post – Wipe Your Hard Drive Clean with e-maxx
I also choose what I make available based on what I personally like. Probably not the best plan. I can’t imagine the email load of heavy commenters who subscribe to the threads. (Shudder.)
But I guess it’s time to let go of what I like and give people a buffet of options… Thanks for the kick in the rear!
Sara at On Simplicitys last blog post – The Reality Behind the Wedding of Your Dreams
Hi Sara – Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
It’s hard to keep the needs of the reader in mind. I still resist adding features that I don’t like but that my readers do.
Hopefully people who subscribe to comments don’t leave too many because you’re right, they would be inundated with email.