It’s that time again folks; time for an update to the WordPress plugin. Version 2.3 features several updates that correspond to a lot of work we’ve been doing on our end to improve performance, make importing more robust and generally improve your experience. Here are the details from the Changelog (which now appears in the WordPress plugin directory!).

1. Fixed a bug where if you didn’t have a blog title configured in WordPress, you wouldn’t be able to authenticate with IntenseDebate to set up the plugin,
2. Switched to using PHP native json_* functions where available to increase performance
3. Limited the size of outgoing sync requests to speed up communication between blogs and intensedebate.com and avoid maxing out request/response sizes (on both ends)
4. Added a tag to the error_log info for easier debugging/filtering.

We have a lot planned for the next version of the plugin, most of which is based on feedback from you all out there. Work has already begun on v2.4 and we’ll get it into your hands as soon as possible. You should get an upgrade notice for v2.3 in your WordPress admin panel soon, if you haven’t got it already.

If you haven’t started using IntenseDebate on your WordPress website yet, there’s no time like the present: Get started now and enhance your comments!

Posted by Beau Lebens in WordPress Plugin

We’re trying some new things on our end, and we’d like to get you in on it. As we continue to optimize our backend and UI, we’d like to get your feedback on what you’d like to see in IntenseDebate. We value your opinion and we want to develop features that you want, so let us know (it’s so much easier than guessing!). 😉

We will be announcing Facebook Connect integration shortly (we’re ironing out FBC & Safari 4 integration), so please don’t request it because it’s right around the corner.

We’ve put together a PollDaddy survey and we’d love it if you took a minute to give us some feedback. Many thanks!

Posted by Michael Koenig in features

We’ve been working away on a new version of the IntenseDebate Plugin for WordPress, and now it’s ready to come your way. This version contains a bunch of improvements and enhancements, mostly on the backend, and is also WordPress 2.8 compatible. Here’s the full list of changes, which is now included as a Changelog in the readme file included with the plugin (and which can be seen in the WordPress Plugin Directory):

1. Compatible with WordPress 2.5 – 2.8
2. Fixed a bug where versions of WordPress below 2.7 would turn off comment threading in IntenseDebate when saving Discussion Settings in WordPress
3. Improved performance of the queue system used to sync details back and forth with IntenseDebate (reduced the number of database requests made significantly)
4. Improved overall compatibility with WordPressMU (and props to Israel S. for contributed code!). Compatible WordPressMU 2.6 and 2.7.
5. Improved debugging/logging options (you can now save debug details to your error log, database or both)
6. Improved the initial import process (and there are some more improvements coming on this one)
7. Improved security of the options page via better use of nonces and whitelisted options within WordPress (where available)
8. Improved syncing of comment moderations
9. Improved translatability so that we can get the plugin localized into other languages!

So as you can see, there’s a lot more in there than just WordPress 2.8 compatibility. In amongst all of this, there have also been a number of small improvements to the way that IntenseDebate interacts with WordPress and presents information to you while you are moderating comments.

If you’re using WordPress 2.5 or higher, or WordPressMU 2.6 or higher, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to this new version to get all the latest goodness!

If you haven’t started using IntenseDebate on your WordPress website yet, there’s no time like the present: Get started now and enhance your comments!

Posted by Beau Lebens in WordPress Plugin

Big news! We’re migrating our avatar system over to Gravatar! We’re all part of the Automattic family and Gravatar has it down, so as the saying goes, “why recreate the wheel?” This is going to be a gradual process so don’t panic.

What is a gravatar?

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why not on any site?

We’ve rolled out the first steps of this process. We now check to see if you have a gravatar and if you do, we’ll automatically use it. If you are using an IntenseDebate avatar instead of your gravatar then you’ll notice a change (unless your gravatar and IntenseDebate avatar are the same!). Our apologies for the inconvenience.

Next up, you might have noticed the blue message in your IntenseDebate account prompting you to verify your email address. This is to make sure you are who you say you are. 😉 If you haven’t verified your email address yet, please go ahead and do so.

We’ll keep you posted on the next phases of this project. If you haven’t discovered Gravatar yet, check it out and create your own!

Posted by Michael Koenig in features

We’re excited to introduce two new plugins: AddToAny Share Buttons for both your comments and your posts!  Enabling AddToAny Share Buttons lets your readers share, save, bookmark, and email comments using any service, such as Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, and over 100 more social bookmarking and sharing sites.

Enable AddToAny Share Buttons on your blog by visiting your Plugins page and select the Activate link next to the plugin.  And don’t forget to check out our other plugins like PollDaddy polls, Seesmic video comments, YouTube, and Smileys.  The AddToAny Share Buttons plugins were developed by our friend Pat, who helps run AddToAny blog share buttons.

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

Many thanks to Pat and his team for their phenomenal work and addition to IntenseDebate!

Posted by Michael Koenig in features