We experienced a brief outage this morning due to our server migration.  IntenseDebate is now back up and running, and you can rest assured that we’re up for the long haul.

Switching over servers last night went smoothly, however we overlooked a bug in the new configuration.  In the process of moving to our new infrastructure we implemented some newer technologies in our stack like nginx and php-fpm.  Luckily this issue was brought to light this morning and we were able to correct it quickly.

We apologize for the inconvenience.  This marks our final push over the the Automattic servers.  From here on out you can expect the same reliability and excellence in service that Automattic ensures with all of their products.

Thanks for your patience,
The ID Team

Posted by Michael Koenig in News

We’re extremely pleased to announce that IntenseDebate will now be joining the Automattic team! This is a big day for us and we couldn’t be more stoked about what it means for the future of IntenseDebate.

So what does this mean for you, our valued users? A couple of things:
1.) We will be temporarily going back into an invite only system. This won’t affect our current users, but new installs will require an invite code. This is just to give us a little time to ramp up the hardware and get our ducks in a row as we join the Automattic team.

2.) You’ll be seeing IntenseDebate a lot more often. We’re really excited about the distribution possibilities this opens up, so expect to see our comment system and use your IntenseDebate profile on a lot more blogs.

3.) You can look forward to tighter integration with some of the other Automattic joints including Akismet and Gravatar.

But don’t worry!
You will still be able to use IntenseDebate on Typepad, Tumblr, Blogger, Movable Type, and other platforms with more to come! We will continue to improve our comment system and your commenters’ experience. IntenseDebate will continue to enhance and encourage conversation on your blog and build your reader community.

It’s business as usual except we will be ramping up in size and features, and integrating more closely with other Automattic properties to provide an even better commenting experience. The IntenseDebate name and logo isn’t going anywhere – it’s just going to get way more Intense! It’s been a long road to get here, but we’re just getting started…

Posted by Jon Fox in News

The fellas decided it was a good idea to send me to Las Vegas to represent IntenseDebate at this year’s BlogWorld Expo! Can you believe it? Man do I have them fooled. Gotta love a job that sends you to Vegas.

Make sure you stop by our booth and say what’s up! I’ll have some t-shirt’s and we’ll be having the real “What Would You Do For An IntenseDebate T-Shirt” Contest. It’s Vegas so who knows what’s going to happen. There’s a good chance that it could get weird.

So come on by the Las Vegas Convention Center this Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, and Sunday, Sunday, Sunday and let’s get funky in Vegas. If I’m not at the booth it’s because Vegas got the best of me. Please let the rest of the team know so they can send out a search and rescue party.

Just kidding.

But not really.

Posted by Michael Koenig in News

At IntenseDebate we’re all about shaking hands, kissing babies, and contributing to the community. I may be stating the obvious here, but IntenseDebate cares (period). With that in mind we are extremely pleased to pledge one percent of our overall equity to the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado.

EFCO (as it’s known in the halls of many a Colorado high school) is a philanthropic program with the mission of assisting entrepreneurs and start-ups in giving back to the community. I can’t explain it better than how the good folks at EFCO describe their mission:

Rather than wait for success to encourage philanthropic activity, at which point the successful entrepreneur is likely to be besieged by requests, we decided to create a new program to help all entrepreneurs contribute early in the creation of their companies to the long term health and sustainability of Colorado.

Along with our fellow EFCO members, we are delighted to have the opportunity to contribute and become involved at this stage in our company.

Yeah that’s right, we’re IntenseDebate and we bring change you can believe in.

Posted by Michael Koenig in News

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