To make it happen, you need to add the following CSS to your Custom CSS page in your IntenseDebate account:

#idc-container-parent #idc-container {
position: relative;
padding-top: 320px;
}

#idc-container-parent #idc-container #IDCommentsNewThreadCover {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
}

For more CSS help, check out our CSS Documentation and feel free to give us a shout at support@intensedebate.com with any questions. Oh, and don’t forget to check out our other styling tips to simplify your comment section design!

As of today you can keep them all in check.  Now you can promote any IntenseDebate or WordPress.com user to help moderate comments without having to give them full access to your account settings.  You can add additional Moderators and Admins to manage your account in your Moderation Settings page.

Promoting a user as a Moderator will give them access to your Moderation and Comment History pages.  They’ll also be able to remove comments that are out-of-line directly from the comment section. We’ve got some development plans in action to further expand your arsenal of admin features.

Voting
We’ve added a new option for you to disable thumbs-down voting if you want to keep things a little more positive in your comment section. This option is available in your Comment Settings page.

Our goal with this option is to minimize voting bias and the mob mentality that can kick-in when you see a comment in the red. Votes are one of the main factors for user reputation scores, and negative votes can have a major impact on a commenter’s score, especially if they’re brand new to IntenseDebate.

Commenters might also be more likely to give the thumbs-down to users with negative rep scores, so it’s even more difficult for them to climb out. We don’t want them to feel defeated and stop commenting, especially if their crime is that they voiced an unpopular opinion on a political blog or news site (which is quite common). We wanted to give admins the option to avoid this.

On the other hand, there are some malicious comments (and commenters) that deserve the negative ratings, so we wanted to still give admins the option to offer the thumbs-down. We hope that you’ll find this helpful in further encouraging conversations.

More updates and additions to come!

While we’ve added Facebook Connect and Twitter Sign-In support, there are still too many steps and mouse clicks between you and posting a comment. We’re all about making commenting easier and more accessible to as many people as possible, and we think you’ll agree that this is a huge leap forward.  Commenting with IntenseDebate is now easier, faster, and simpler.

WordPress.com users post nearly 400,000 new comments every day, and now they are all automatically logged in to comment on your blog. And that’s not to mention the addition of over 20,000 new users every day!

So what does this mean for you?

• If you’re a WordPress.com user and you’re logged into your account, then you’ll automatically be logged into IntenseDebate as well.  All you have to do is type your comment and hit submit.
• You can login with your WordPress.com account directly from the comment section and at IntenseDebate.com.
• If you already have an IntenseDebate account then you can just keep on commenting as normal.

This means that unlike Facebook Connect and Twitter Sign-In, there are no extra clicks, and no need to remember another set of login credentials. It also means that more than 12 million WordPress.com users will be able to comment on your blog with full-fledged IntenseDebate profiles, without having to create an account or enter any details. How’s that for motivating the conversation?

Better yet, since these profiles aren’t third-party accounts, you (and all your new users) will have access to all of the awesome features that IntenseDebate is famous for: email notifications, reply-by-email, reputation scores, comment voting, comment history, Twitter integration, and more.

If you already have both IntenseDebate and WordPress.com accounts, don’t worry – we will be merging your accounts in the next phase of our integration, so keep commenting!

Commenting on your site just got a whole lot easier for millions of existing bloggers and commenters.

Welcome to the debate WordPress.com lovers!

Without further ado, we present the latest from our design labs:

Default

This is our beloved default button that’s in use across all IntenseDebate comment sections. We’ve introduced a twist with some new size variation: you can choose to only show large buttons.

Candy

Candy is the coolest of the cool when it comes to our new buttons. With 12 different color variations (in common colors ) there’s something for everyone. Our personal favorites include White, Light Blue (which is actually IntenseDebate-blue), Orange, and Green. You’ll actually find a similar button design around IntenseDebate.com – that’s how much we like them!

Glass

Glass is the classy choice. Available in White and Black, it’s a slick alternative to our flashy new Candy buttons. Glass buttons are designed to resemble clear or smoked glass.

Square

For those of you that might want something a bit more square, we now offer a variation to the Default buttons which features small rounded corners. It’s perfect if you don’t want your button too big, or don’t want it to stand out too much.

Head on over to your Blog Layout page to check out the new buttons and activate them.

Subscribe without posting a comment:
This option is located in the RSS menu in the top right of the comment section and is available to everyone: IntenseDebate users, along with commenters posting either as Guests, with Facebook Connect, Twitter Sign-In, or OpenID.  You can opt to receive email notifications for a single post or for comments on all posts.

Subscribe when posting a comment:
When you post your comment you can opt to receive email notifications for all comments or just for replies to your own.  This option is available to all commenters (IntenseDebate accounts, Facebook Connect, Twitter Sign-In, OpenID, and Guests).

Subscribe automatically (for IntenseDebate users only):
This option is enabled by default for all IntenseDebate users.  You can configure your settings at http://intensedebate.com/edit-user-account.

More tips to come!

In case you’re not familiar with it, Google Buzz is the latest creation from Google Labs and is built into your Gmail interface.  Per Google:

Go beyond status messages
Share updates, photos, videos, and more.
Start conversations about the things you find interesting.

Our Google Buzz Plugin gives you the option to share a blog post right through your IntenseDebate comment section. Just select the “Buzz It” icon at the top right of the comment section → login to your Google Account → add a message → hit submit and you’ve buzzed.

Please note: in order for it to work properly your Buzz account needs to be setup.

You can enable it in your Plugins Directory at http://intensedebate.com/plugins.

Like all IntenseDebate plugins, adding advanced features to your comment section is a piece of cake: just visit your Plugins Page at http://intensedebate.com/plugins, and select “Activate” next to the plugin. That’s all! There’s no additional code for you to manually install, so there’s no need to get your hands dirty messing around with your template.

Interested in flexing your own coding muscles and developing a super-slick plugin? Check out our Plugin Resources and documentation. You can also check out our Plugins blog post for more information.

Luckily our good buddy and fellow Boulderite, Josh Fraser, wrote an excellent plugin for moving your IntenseDebate comments from Blogger to WordPress. Josh’s plugin has been around for some time now (over a year!) and it’s been tested pretty thoroughly – so far it has performed flawlessly (a testament of Josh’s coding wizardry).

So, if you’re planning on moving from Blogger to WordPress, you can download Josh’s Blogspot2WP plugin at http://www.intensedebate.com/misc/blogspot2wp.zip. You’ll need to install it the old-fashioned way, via your FTP client, and drop it in your WP-Content → Plugins folder. Make sure you install, activate, and run the Blogspot2WP plugin before you install the IntenseDebate WordPress plugin. Give us a shout at support@intensedebate.com with any questions.

Please note: IntenseDebate is and will always be platform agnostic, and will always be available for use with any CMS and blog platform.

Some info if you’re interested in moving your blog from Blogger to WordPress:
Making the transition is pretty painless thanks to the Blogger importer built-in to the WordPress core. You can use the importer to transfer all of your Blogger posts, native Blogger comments, and users.  The importer is available in your WordPress admin panel under Tools → Import → Blogger. You can learn more about importing in the WordPress Codex.

Today we released version 2.6 of our WordPress plugin, which is available in the WordPress Plugin Directory, or via your WordPress dashboard.  It’s been a while since we released a new version of our WordPress plugin (over 2 months actually).  That’s because we’ve been pushing-out all the new features and code on our end, rather than making you update all the time – no one likes upgrade fatigue.

Version 2.6 has a few minor changes that are needed to make the IntenseDebate plugin fully compatible with certain combinations of WordPress 2.9 and PHP.

If you’re already using the plugin without any problems then it’s not critical that you update, but it’s always a good idea to stay up-to-date with the latest versions. If you had any problems getting the plugin working previously, now is a great time to give IntenseDebate another try.  Version 2.6 should be the perfect cure for your plugin fever.

Download the latest version now and give it a shot!

In case you’re not familiar with it:

WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.