Over the next couple of weeks Blogger will gradually roll out redirects to country-code URL’s (or ccTLD’s) for all Blogger sites. Per Blogger’s support page:

If you’re in Australia and viewing [blogname].blogspot.com, you might be redirected [blogname].blogspot.com.au. A ccTLD, when it appears, corresponds with the country of the reader’s current location.

This update will unfortunately cause a major issue with our Blogger Widget installation, where the same post will show different sets of comments depending on which ccTLD your readers visit.

The good news is that Blogger sites using our Template installation are all set and will not be affected by this change. You don’t have to do anything, so kick back and relax.

The not-so-good news is that if you are using our Blogger Widget installation, you will need to switch over to our Template installation to ensure that everything runs smoothly. It really is essential that you do this. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t bother you. Don’t worry, we’re here to help and we hope to make this as painless as possible.

Please note:

• You won’t lose any of your existing comments if you follow the instructions below.
• Custom domains are not affected by this change. However, we would ideally like to discontinue our Widget installation. The Template install is much more stable, and future backend updates will most likely only apply for Template installations. We realize that it’s a pain, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Here’s how you can switch over to the Template installation:

1. You will first need to uninstall the Widget from your site. The following instructions are for the updated Blogger interface. If you are using the old Blogger interface, please switch over to the new interface temporarily. You can do that by selecting the “Try the updated Blogger interface” link at the top of your Blogger dashboard.

 

2. Go to your Blogger account and find the blog that you have the IntenseDebate Widget installed on in your blogs list. Click the down arrow, then click Layout.

   

 

3. Locate IntenseDebate in the sidebar and click the Edit link.

   

 

4. Select Remove from the edit screen, then select the orange Save arrangement button at the top of the page.

   

 

5. Next your will need to reinstall IntenseDebate using the Template installation method. To do that go to your Blog Tools tab in your IntenseDebate account. Select Reinstall and follow the installation instructions. You should be all set.

 

6. If you want to switch back to the old Blogger interface, click on the little gear symbol on the right side of the page below your profile picture. Then select the option to switch to the “Old Blogger interface” and you’ll be all set.

Again, we’re here to help. If you come across any issues, you can contact us here. Make sure you include the URL of your blog when you contact us.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. For more information about Blogger’s ccTLD redirect change please check out their support documentation here.

Posted by Michael Koenig in Blogger,News

We love it when the entire Automattic team gets together – it gives us an opportunity to hang out and work side-by-side. During our last meetup in San Francisco, fellow Aussies, Beau Lebens and Alex Shiels, sat down to brainstorm some ways to improve our Akismet spam filter integration in IntenseDebate. A short-while later they cranked out a completely reworked integration that has drastically improved the accuracy of our spam filtering.

If you haven’t already, please make sure you enable Akismet in your IntenseDebate account at http://intensedebate.com/edit-site-moderation.

Please give us a shout at support@intensedebate.com if you continue to encounter spam issues. Thanks!

Posted by Michael Koenig in features,News

Yesterday we identified and corrected a temporary bug with our email notification system. The issue prevented new comments from being adding to our email queue, and emails notifications were not sent for around a 12 hour period. We’ve updated our email systems to optimize performance, and to prevent this from occurring again.

Missed email notifications are being sent now and should be caught-up within the next couple of hours. Sorry for the inconvenience – we appreciate your patience.

Posted by Michael Koenig in News

It’s that time again folks: time for another release of our WordPress plugin!

Version 2.8 is available right now in the WordPress Plugin Directory, and you’ll be prompted to upgrade within your WordPress admin panel in the next few hours if you’re already running it. With this version you’ll be able to install our IntenseDebate widgets directly through your WordPress admin panel without having to insert them directly into your theme.

To add an IntenseDebate widget to your sidebar, select the Appearance tab in your WordPress admin panel sidebar → select Widgets → drag the IntenseDebate widget from the Available Widgets or Inactive Widgets area on the left into the Sidebar area on the right. When you see a dashed line appear, you can drop the widget into place. You can also change the order of the widgets by dragging and dropping them around in the sidebar.

Please note: in order to use this widget install method, your theme must support widgets.

We’re also working on some very-cool backend updates to our sync and import queues. More details to come. 🙂

Posted by Michael Koenig in WordPress Plugin

Happy May 5th everyone. To celebrate we’ve released two updates: bit.ly URL’s for tweeted comments, and comment voting for everyone.

We used to use tinyurl.com for link shortening when you sent a simultaneous tweet when commenting. Now we’ve switched to bit.ly and you can track real-time click data for your tweets.

And in the spirit of freedom, we have enabled comment voting for everyone: IntenseDebate, WordPress.com, Facebook Connect, and Twitter Sign-in users, along with Guest commenters.

Both of these updates have been requested frequently so we’re happy to deliver. Enjoy! 🙂

Posted by Michael Koenig in features