Our WordPress beta plugin is running better than ever! We have released the latest version of the IntenseDebate beta plugin for download so please upgrade your plugin. If you haven’t given IntenseDebate a try yet, then now is the perfect time!

What’s new?
Version 2.0.16 includes the following bug fixes and feature improvements:

• WordPress comments on mobile devices: We’ve added the ability to easily degrade back to the standard WordPress comment system for mobile browsers.  Not all mobile browsers support Javascript and this allows your mobile users to still get the full comment experience with the WordPress comment system, and our syncing features, while still having IntenseDebate enabled. Our mobile browsing feature is enabled by default and is located in your plugin settings page.

• Importing: We’ve added some fixes for the initial import which should help eliminate some of the errors people were receiving before.

• Theme Compatibilities: Some users were having issues with their theme being broken after activating our plugin.  In most of these cases the issue was caused by <noscript> tags in the comments template.  We’ve now added a check to catch this issue and output a stock comments template instead to prevent this issue in the future.

• We’ve also fixed a handful of bugs around the syncing process to make this system better than ever.

Thanks again for all of the great feedback. Keep it coming, we are always looking to improve our plugin. In addition to any feature enhancements, please contact us with any bug reports or styling issues and we’ll get everything taken care of.

Posted by Michael Koenig in WordPress Plugin

You can’t rush perfection. Like wine, code needs to mature to ensure excellence. This has been on the down-low for months. We’ve been taking our time to massage out all of the knots, dot all i’s and cross all the t’s. If you’ve listened closely you might have heard quiet whispers about our new IntenseDebate WordPress plugin. Over the past couple of months I have been recruiting testers for our private alpha testing. When I first told our good buddy, Chris Farley about our new plugin for his blog ViewfromaFarley, his response was:

I started reading this e-mail and by the time I was finished I was ecstatic. This is everything I’ve been looking for in Intense Debate and more. These features are great for bloggers!

I would be more than happy to be a tester. Strange as it may sound, I’m getting as excited about the new plugin as I am about the new iPhone.

And with good reason… The new IntenseDebate WordPress plugin is one of a kind, featuring advanced integrations that you won’t find and can’t get anywhere else. I can’t spill the beans on our full feature list yet, but one of the key ingredients is complete data sync like nothing you’ve seen before. That’s all I can say right now, but let your imagination run wild with this – if you can dream it, well, we’ve most likely done it.

Private beta starts Sunday, August 24th with the public release following shortly thereafter. If you would like to get in on the beta, drop me line at support@intensedebate.com. If we’ve already chatted about it there’s no need to email, I’ve got you covered. For all of my alpha testers out there who have yet to receive the plugin, there’s no need to email – I know who you are and you’ll be hearing from me soon.

Peace, I’m outta here!

Posted by Michael Koenig in WordPress Plugin

I’m pleased to announce that our amazing comment platform Intense Debate is now compatible with WordPress 2.5.  That’s right!  Install it on your blog today and give your readers the tools to have a real conversation about your blog.

Not convinced?  Have a look at what people are saying about us!

Posted by Michael Koenig in WordPress Plugin

Today we enter an open beta where any publisher with a Typepad, Blogger, WordPress, or website can add an Intense Debate comment system to their site. Over the past few months we have made many site upgrades and bug fixes to get to where we are today and, while not perfect, we felt pushing a launch now would put Intense Debate in a great position moving forward.

While we open our site, we also make new features available that make Intense Debate truly special. We have heard from our critics that to be a true friend to the publisher and user we must use OpenID. We agree. Intense Debate will now make an OpenID sign up available to users. OpenID will make it easier for users to sign up for our service and also makes us not “another login.”

We have also made a great upgrade for our publishers in how our comments display. Now someone can click on their comment link and see the comments drop down from the actual post. This keeps the reader from having to go to a separate page to view and make comments. For readers who want to read the comments in a new window, we are now making this functionality available as well. Many users on video sites enjoy this so we felt compelled to build it.  You can adjust this feature from the blog settings page in your Intense Debate admin panel.

With all the new features you might overlook our new design elements. The new homepage is almost entirely redesigned with a new header that runs throughout the site and an intro video to spotlight our most important features. The new design makes better use of space and will help with usability.

We have also added some options for those with Typepad or Blogger blogs. We now offer an install on all of your posts or just those with no comments. Previously, we only offered an install on posts with no comments.

Sometimes it isn’t easy to know all that we offer. As mentioned before, we now have an intro video. To be even more clear, we have created a features page with some lengthier descriptions. Check it out!

And as if all this wasn’t enough, we’ve also included a completely new user dashboard.  Find out all kinds of great statistics about you and your friends.  See the latest comments from you, your friends, or all of Intense Debate.  Also get the latest news and updates on what’s happening with Intense Debate.  We put everything you need in one convenient location.

Along with the new features several bugs have been fixed. The most notable pertains to our login system which has been completely rebuilt to make it more scalable and solve some firewall issues.

We continue to search out feedback. Please feel free to drop us a line anytime at contactus@intensedebate.com

Posted by Isaac Keyet in Blogger,News,TypePad,WordPress Plugin

We are happy to announce the release of our updated WordPress plugin.

Like our recent Blogger release, the new WordPress plugin incorporates both an importer and an exporter into the mix. With the importer, bloggers will be able to bring all of their previous blog comments into Intense Debate comment format. This is made very easy by simply clicking one button in a blogger’s WordPress control panel. The exporter is also simple and also allows our WordPress publishers the ability to give our system a try risk free. They can always deactivate our system and have all their ID comments exported to their WordPress system.

We will be notifying our WordPress publishers of this upgrade.

Along with the WordPress plugin upgrade we have release a series of bug fixes and optimizations. This includes a rewrite of the login system and optimizations to make our system load faster.

You may also notice some changes to our design as we make improvements based upon feedback. This includes some small changes like the collapse button within the comments and the RSS button.

Over the last week we have also released our new anonymous avatars. This is based on open source code found here http://digitalconsumption.com/forum/180. These avatars are generated according to a user’s ip address and uses a combination of shapes and colors to create a unique avatar for each commenter. The problem this helps to solve is where one anonymous commenter tries to impersonate another by using the same screename and url. With each user having their own different avatar, it is also nicer to look at because there is no longer the empty box with a question mark for each user.

As always, if you have more suggestions for how we can get better you can leave a comment on this post or leave a note in our forums.

Posted by Isaac Keyet in WordPress Plugin