I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Self-hosted blogs and the role of comments

  • Many argue a simple $5 VPS + static site (Hugo, Jekyll, etc.) is enough for a blog, especially if you drop comments.
  • Others push back: any write-capable backend (comments) adds attack surface, upgrades, migrations, and spam handling—so “no-maintenance” is unrealistic.
  • Without comments, the blog can be pure static files; with comments it becomes closer to an app and needs real ops work.

Disqus: from quick win to liability

  • Early Disqus was praised: easy to add and initially ad‑free.
  • Over time it accumulated heavy tracking, invasive “chumbox”-style ads, and large JS payloads that slow pages and bloat simple blogs.
  • Several report discovering sleazy or scammy ads on their sites only after disabling ad blockers or being alerted by readers.
  • Some note you can pay or beg for an ad‑free tier, but call the practice “enshittification” and a bad fit for personal sites.

On-site vs external discussion

  • One camp says: skip embedded comments, link out to HN, Reddit, Bluesky, Mastodon, etc., or just provide an email address. Benefits: less spam, easier moderation offloaded to big platforms.
  • Critics say this fragments discussion, depends on closed, ad-filled platforms, and often makes older threads unreplyable or hard to find. They miss 2000s-style blog comment culture and persistent, page-local discussions.

Alternative commenting systems

  • Self-hosted or FOSS options mentioned: Isso, Remark42, Commento (abandoned), Hyvor Talk, Valine, Coral, Talkyard, Comentario, nocomment (nostr), Cactus.chat (Matrix), GitHub-based tools like Utterances and Giscus, Cloudflare Worker or serverless DIY setups, API Gateway/Lambda/DynamoDB.
  • Git-backed comment storage (JSONL + git pushes) sparks debate: fans like simplicity, portability, and backups; critics cite moderation pain, history rewrites, potential abuse, and misuse of git versus a proper database.
  • Fediverse/ATProto ideas are popular: using Mastodon or Bluesky threads as the canonical comment stream embedded into posts.

Spam, moderation, and value of comments

  • Many say spam waves and low-quality posts made them disable or regret comments entirely.
  • Others insist comments can add corrections, updates, and community knowledge, provided someone pays the cost of moderation and curation (e.g., email “letters to the editor,” selective publishing, WebMentions imports).

Advertising, tracking, and ad blocking

  • The thread broadens into criticism of web ads: scammy creatives, weak reporting tools, malvertising, and tracking tokens.
  • Several express blanket refusal to host ads or third‑party adtech on personal sites.
  • Heavy reliance on adblockers, Pi-hole, and DNS-level blocking is common; many note they’ve forgotten how bad the default web looks.