# Development progress: Remark.as **URL:** \ **Category:** Development\ **Tags:** remarkas\ **Created:** [December 15, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031 "2021-12-15T23:51:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/matt/32/2760_2.png) [@matt](https://discuss.write.as/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/1 "2021-12-15T23:51:48Z")
Over these next couple weeks, I’m working on an early, usable version of [Remark.as](https://remark.as). I’ve been [writing](https://micro.baer.works/writing-a-twitter-thread-introducing-remark-as-remark-as-and-poking-fun-at) [about](https://micro.baer.works/working-on-something-else-today-but-some-quick-thoughts-on) it a bit on my microblog, but wanted to share in a more interactive way, so I’m going to share my progress in this thread. Would love to hear thoughts and first impressions on everything. So please feel free to share whatever comes to mind! * * * _From today_: Not at all final, but here’s where Remark.as profiles ([T883](https://phabricator.write.as/T883)) are now. Each profile is associated with a Write.as blog, with data on top, so you can have an independent avatar and bio here. ![Screenshot from 2021-12-15 15-46-47](https://discuss.write.as/uploads/default/original/2X/4/42b1fb42a27d997d3c9f480f7d2d6ca6ad3e8879.png) ---
**Author:** ![tmo](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/tmo/32/1937_2.png) [@tmo](https://discuss.write.as/u/tmo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 1:19am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/2 "2021-12-16T01:19:38Z")
Looks good! I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, can’t wait to give it a spin! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DavidBlue](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/davidblue/32/258_2.png) [@DavidBlue](https://discuss.write.as/u/DavidBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 2:40am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/3 "2021-12-16T02:40:20Z")
Very exciting! I love everything about what I’m seeing. Thanks for letting us in on your process! ---
**Author:** ![dino](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/dino/32/645_2.png) [@dino](https://discuss.write.as/u/dino)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/4 "2021-12-16T04:01:01Z")
Probably an unrelated question as to the main functionality of remark.as, but would this allow me to follow specific blogs without going through read.write.as? But yeah I like what I’m seeing in that screenshot and am looking forward to see how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![jas](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/jas/32/3452_2.png) [@jas](https://discuss.write.as/u/jas)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/5 "2021-12-16T13:35:12Z")
Looking good, @matt, I’d love to give readers the opportunity to comment on my blog posts. I’d be curious to know whether comments have to ‘sign in’ or be write.as members, or this will also be open to the public. In an ideal world, I think commenting-for-all would be great, whilst reducing the likelihood of spam (with a name/link they’d have to share, or an ‘i’m not a bot’ checkbox or something?). I’m sure you have your own well-thought out ideas around all this. Nice work, and I’m looking forward to seeing this develop and go live 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/matt/32/2760_2.png) [@matt](https://discuss.write.as/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/6 "2021-12-16T15:44:17Z")
> [@dino](#): > > would this allow me to follow specific blogs without going through read.write.as? Yes, that’s exactly right. This is the “buddy list” feature (as it’s called now), where you’ll be able to follow the blogs you want – at first ones on Write.as, and eventually anywhere on the web. Read.Write.as will also link directly to the Remark.as conversation for a post, if comments are enabled for that blog, so it all ties together. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/matt/32/2760_2.png) [@matt](https://discuss.write.as/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/7 "2021-12-16T15:54:55Z")
> [@jas](#): > > Looking good, @matt, I’d love to give readers the opportunity to comment on my blog posts. I’d be curious to know whether comments have to ‘sign in’ or be write.as members, or this will also be open to the public. Thanks, @jas! We’ll be rolling this out slowly, starting with a small group of people and gradually letting more in, so we can stay on top of potential bugs and evolve it around the community. So at launch, commenting will only be for Write.as users (Pro users, in particular). But comments will be publicly visible, so anyone can still read them without signing in. You’re absolutely right that spam can be a problem, and I don’t have particular solutions for it yet, besides limiting who has access to the comment section. But the eventual goal is open access – we’ll just have to feel out our way there. I could imagine plenty of gradual approaches, e.g. your email subscribers can comment without signing in, or maybe there’s a secret link you can send to anyone who wants to comment. ---
**Author:** ![jas](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/jas/32/3452_2.png) [@jas](https://discuss.write.as/u/jas)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2021, 1:52pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/8 "2021-12-17T13:52:37Z")
I like the idea of commenting for Write.As members and subscribers, with comments available for all to read 🙂 It would mean I could end my posts with a “comment” call-to-action, rather than (just) saying “hit reply or email me”. I feel that blog comments can help nurture a sense of community and facilitate discussion/connetion, in addition to the 1:1 relationship between myself and each individual reader. Looking forward to seeing this roll out. =] ---
**Author:** ![ahribellah](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/ahribellah/32/2322_2.png) [@ahribellah](https://discuss.write.as/u/ahribellah)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 12:18am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/9 "2022-02-12T00:18:27Z")
It hit me today, as I was looking at the Cafe: It would be nice if you could eventually have a private Cafe that worked as a sort of forum for all of your own blogs, but doesn’t list everyone else’s blog posts, especially considering the base Pro plan comes with three (non-shareable) blogs and the five-year plan ten. I have mixed feelings about the idea of people finding my content for the first time through a shared forum. Reddit and other forum-like websites have taught me that a disproportionate number of people never read beyond the title and this will become ever more of a problem as the use of Remark.as ramps up and it becomes more of a continuous stream of posts that are being interacted with. ---
**Author:** ![tmo](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/tmo/32/1937_2.png) [@tmo](https://discuss.write.as/u/tmo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 12:51am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/10 "2022-02-12T00:51:21Z")
I agree 100%. The Cafe should be at the very least an “opt-in” thing (like Read.write.as is). If people want to have a Public comment feed for a single post (or ALL posts), it could be an option (like a community discussion type of thing). But if I have comments on a handful of posts I’ve made, I don’t see why the Cafe needs to hear/see them (edit: went and looked and they are NOT on the Cafe, as the entirety of the blog is set to “Unlisted” - so that is good). But in regards to a “Private” feed, I think that is already done with the personal remark.as URL for the user? Such as remark.as/tmo is where my posts live and has the comment link to the right of a particular post. And then all (expanded) comments are in the “Mail”. I think that’s how it is? Anyway, Cafe is a cool thing for a public/forum-like dialogue if someone wants to go that route, but it should definitely be opt-in. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![thrillperil](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/thrillperil/32/1767_2.png) [@thrillperil](https://discuss.write.as/u/thrillperil)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 11:05pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/11 "2022-03-25T23:05:41Z")
is there a repository for remark.as, so that we can create bug reports ? ---
**Author:** ![ridwans](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/ridwans/32/842_2.png) [@ridwans](https://discuss.write.as/u/ridwans)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 9:17am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/12 "2022-03-28T09:17:07Z")
I still find Remark.as Cafe pretty slow to load up. I keep getting the “502 Bad Gateway” error. Don’t know why or what’s causing it. Any help is much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![000](https://discuss.write.as/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/0/258eb7/32.png) [@000](https://discuss.write.as/u/000)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/13 "2022-03-29T22:22:55Z")
I have the same issue; far more often than not I get the “502 Bad Gateway”. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/matt/32/2760_2.png) [@matt](https://discuss.write.as/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/14 "2022-03-29T22:31:26Z")
Yeah, this is the issue with the slowness: > [@Remark.as cafe slow/never loads](https://discuss.write.as/t/remark-as-cafe-slow-never-loads/4754/2): > > Yeah, I need to optimize the database queries there. I hope to get to that soon. Will just be a bit longer before I can get to that. Thanks for being patient! ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/matt/32/2760_2.png) [@matt](https://discuss.write.as/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/15 "2022-03-29T22:32:08Z")
> [@thrillperil](#): > > is there a repository for remark.as, so that we can create bug reports ? Feel free to start a topic in the #Feedback > Bugs category! ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/matt/32/2760_2.png) [@matt](https://discuss.write.as/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 5:53am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/16 "2022-04-05T05:53:37Z")
The Cafe loading issues should be fixed now! I’ve also made these changes: - Posts with most recent replies will show up at the top of the Cafe - Now you can chat in real time there, if you want (off by default) ---
**Author:** ![codergator](https://discuss.write.as/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@codergator](https://discuss.write.as/u/codergator)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/17 "2022-10-01T00:41:50Z")
As a Pro user with a blog, Remark will **not** allow unpaid users — the general public — to comment on my blog, will it? ![Screen Shot 2022-09-30 at 6.47.29 PM](https://discuss.write.as/uploads/default/original/2X/2/2eacd1ab1a6db8bc9a5ac70127581c145a35b464.png) FYI, this is kind of a showstopper for me. I’m considering moving to [Wordpress.com](http://Wordpress.com) because the commenting system is very friction-free. No login nor payment required to simply comment. ---
**Author:** ![PaoloAmoroso](https://discuss.write.as/user_avatar/discuss.write.as/paoloamoroso/32/1659_2.png) [@PaoloAmoroso](https://discuss.write.as/u/PaoloAmoroso)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/18 "2022-10-01T14:10:52Z")
You’re right, Remark.as doesn’t currently allow unpaid users to comment. As a workaround and additional option for unpaid users, in the Write.as customization settings I added to my blog’s signature this code to let readers reply by email with subject `Reply to blog post`: ```auto | [Reply by email...](mailto:me@example.com?subject=Reply%20to%20blog%20post) ``` ---
**Author:** ![sfsspace](https://discuss.write.as/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sfsspace](https://discuss.write.as/u/sfsspace)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 6:31am UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/19 "2022-11-12T06:31:53Z")
Perfect, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![karsten](https://discuss.write.as/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/e47c2d/32.png) [@karsten](https://discuss.write.as/u/karsten)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://discuss.write.as/t/development-progress-remark-as/4031/20 "2022-11-12T15:40:07Z")
You may also get a comment system like Giscus instead of remark.as to your website, I have a somewhat detailed guide at my blog: > **[Adding the good ol' comment section to Write.as](https://blog.karsten.ooo/adding-the-good-ol-comment-section-to-write-as)** > > Edit 2022/10/28: Shout out to fellow writer Dino for their code on ignoring static pages! Write.as has their comment system called “Rema...