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What are Your Thoughts on Idris Elba, being ‘a fool at 40’ and Disqus? #acting
Thursday, June 14, 2012 at 6:40PM 
I shouldn't have to log out to comment on my own blog!
If this blog was human, it would be a toddler with an entire life ahead of it by now. Although it isn’t human, it still has endured some growing pains -- one of which it has yet to overcome where commenting is concerned. Over the last few months since I moved The Madlab Post to Squarespace, I’ve received email from readers who experienced difficulty commenting on my posts.
Some comments did not show up after they were left while others were not posted at all and the rest sat in this blog’s “moderation” queue (oftentimes, without my knowledge) until I approved it to be displayed. This week, I had a similar experience to some of you who have encountered trouble posting comments on this blog. When I tried to post a comment -- even when logged in to Squarespace, a red message stating “unable to post” kept showing up above my comment.
I found that to be strange, inconvenient and also unacceptable -- I mean, how can one not be able to post a comment on his or her own website/blog?! That is just plain silly. So, I’d like to consider a possible solution -- implementing Disqus on this blog.
Could Disqus be the answer to our commenting problems with Squarespace?
As many of you may already know, Disqus is a universal commenting system for blogs and websites. It’s kinda like Gravatar, but for comments.
Although lots of people have their own Disqus profiles, you don’t have sign-up for one to leave a comment on a blog -- you can just comment as usual using a Name/URL field or any one of your other online profiles (Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) that are available.
So, what do YOU think? -- As a reader of this blog, would you welcome Disqus for leaving comments? If not, what are your thoughts on how I can best handle the current commenting hiccups that some of us are encountering with Squarespace?
Also, actor Idris Elba (who stars in the sci-fi movie “Prometheus,” which is now playing in theaters) is featured on the cover of this week’s Jet Magazine. His cover and feature story comes at a fitting time, since he is the June 2012 King Dong for The Madlab Post.
Chellebee, who founded the King Dong series back when this blog was in it's infancy, nominated Idris Elba last month during Jude Law’s reign. According to Chellebee, Elba is FOINE!!! and a multifaceted player in the entertainment industry.
Since I agree that Elba is one hot guy, I picked up a copy of the current Jet Magazine issue to learn more about this “multifaceted” aspect of him that she’s talking about. In the coming weeks, I’ll highlight some of the takeaways from his feature story but for now, I’d like for you all to shed some light on the following Idris Elba quote. This Golden Globe winning actor explains to Jet magazine that although he is not a religious person, he wants to work on his spirituality as he moves forward.
“My Father always told me that a fool at 40 is a fool for life.” - Idris Elba
What does this “a fool at 40 is a fool for life” mean? Does it mean people are set in their ways once they reach 40? Does it mean that 40 year-olds are lost if they don’t know where they stand or if they don’t have spiritual grounding? What exactly defines “a fool at 40?”
Reader Comments (5)
From the blogs I visit that implement Disqus, it works great. I say go for it!
As a blog reader, I welcome whatever change you feel will help improve the commenting process. After all, all that happens is you remove it or change it if you don't like it or if you continue getting reader feedback that the comment process is not improved.
Idris Elba is very hot. And yes, the accent is a plus. You can hardly hear it when he's in movies though. Very good actor.
Disqus works really well for our blog. Some don't like it, but I think it's great.
Herman,
Thank you for your feeback regarding possible solutions to the commenting issues that have been occurring on my blog. Most of the blogs that I visit that have Disqus setup on them are usually easy to use. I have, however, encountered a few blogs with a lengthier page load time because of Disqus, so that is one of the aspects of that particular commenting system that I am concerned with.
Angela,
Thanks for being willing to roll with whatever changes I try to make to try to improve the commenting experience. I appreciate your willingness to adapt and like you said...I can just revert back to the default/standard in-house commenting system that Squarespace has in place, if I (or more importantly...WE, since we all comment on this blog) don't like Disqus. I've only watched Idris Elba's performances in "Obsessed" and "Sometimes in April"....I don't think I've ever seen him in an interview or outside of a fictional character role, so I've not heard his accent. My loss, I guess, since you say it's a plus to his good-looking non-fictional self :)
Maurice,
Thank you for chiming in on this comment system discussion. Your viewpoints helps a great deal, especially since you experienced Disqus from both sides...the front end (as a blog commenter) and the back end (as a blogger). I noticed that you use it on your blog and have actually enjoyed the quick and streamlined process of leaving comments on your blog because Disqus sends me notifications when you reply to my comments. I know of a fellow blogger or two who kinda loathes Disqus but I've liked it for the most part, from a commenter's point of view...I just am wondering if I would have the same positive experiences from a blogger's point of view.
To all of you guys and gals,
I have been doing some research on Disqus this weekend and it looks like the platform isn't able to import existing Squarespace comments, so if I were to implement Disqus now, the comments that are currently on my blog will be removed, never to resurface again and I don't want to lose them. So, I started looking into another commenting system called Intense Debate. The latter (Intense Debate) seems to be able to be installed without losing old comments but the installation seems a little confusing, so I'm going to have to do some more weighing of pros and cons with regards to the features and installation process, before making a decision on whether to add a third-party commenting system or not.
both Idris and Jude are nom nom.
Be carefull with Disqus I'd personally never use it at my site since majority of readers hate it since they have to write in their names, mails and sites every time they visit and most people don't have the time and will opt not to do it at all. This is why most people have gave Disqus a cold shoulder :)