IntenseDebate is feature packed and we’re always adding new bells and whistles. Of course, you know this by now and are likely pretty familiar with our tools. Still there might be some cool features that you never knew existed. We’re guessing that you’re familiar with our email notifications, but there’s one method of subscribing to comments that might be overlooked (I know this because I recently forgot it existed).  This post outlines three methods for commenters to opt to receive email notifications for comments posted.

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! 😉

Posted by Michael Koenig in features

Introducing Jon’s latest creation (he wrote it over lunch today!): the shiny new Google Buzz IntenseDebate Plugin.

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.

Posted by Michael Koenig in features

UPDATE (1-18-2011): There is a new Blogger > WordPress comment importer! The plugin is available in the WordPress Plugins Directory here. Hat tip to Swashata and Gautam Gupta for their contribution to the ID and WordPress community. 🙂

UPDATE: our Blogger to WordPress comment import plugin has been temporarily disabled while we make some backend changes. The plugin will be available again once we’re done. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks for your patience!

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I’ve received a lot of emails lately from IntenseDebate users interested in moving their blog from Blogger to WordPress, along with their IntenseDebate comments. Moving your IntenseDebate comments from one blog platform to another may seem like a simple task, but the changes in post ID and URL structures can lead to some difficulties.

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. 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.

Posted by Michael Koenig in Blogger,News,WordPress Plugin

WordCamp Boston is tomorrow, and I’m on my way out to the East Coast to attend (and try some New England clam chowder). If you’re in the Boston area or are planning on attending WordCamp, drop me a line on Twitter to meetup. I’ve got swanky new IntenseDebate stickers for your laptop! 🙂

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.

Posted by Michael Koenig in community

We recently reached a major milestone for the IntenseDebate WordPress plugin: we’ve passed 100,000 downloads of our plugin through the WordPress repository!

Even cooler yet, that statistic does not include the total number of Blogger, Typepad, Movable Type, Tumblr, Joomla, Squarespace, iWeb, Ning, Omeka, Drupal, or Generic installs of IntenseDebate.

Thanks for your continued support and for helping us spread the word about IntenseDebate.  Here’s to the next 100,000!

Posted by Michael Koenig in News