Remark.as - privacy-first, portable comments

Would this be something under the control of each individual user, or something, say, a WriteFreely instance admin could set instance-wide rules for? Asking because should I move toward setting up a WriteFreely community I would want to disallow comment anonymity, and certainly disallow being able to morph oneself between different single-use usernames, because that feature risks preventing me from being able to punish code of conduct violations site-wide.

Great point. Again these are still just ideas for now. But either way, the version usable with WriteFreely would be configurable by the instance admin first, and then by the individual users. (And perhaps the ability for users to configure things themselves could be configurable by an instance admin.)

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I’d like to suggest another feature as well: the ability to add a custom action if a comment matches a given criteria (e.g. a regex match or any other text processing - maybe allow JavaScript?). Let’s say that I’d like to cold-bloodedly delete without previous verification any comments matching a given regex (like offensive words or phrases) or keep long comments (char count) on hold (hidden) until approval, because maybe I’d like to respond to them in another blog post instead of in a comment session.

Maybe I didn’t express myself well enough. It’s just an idea, though.

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Hi,

Why we can`t show activity pub reactions below the content? For example, I published content and someone in mastodon respond via tooth. Why not show this below the content? If you think the cause for abuse, maybe a little moderation tool fixes this problem.

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Forgive the slightly extreme comparison, but having comments or not is the differentiator between thinking oneself to be infallible and knowing that you aren’t. It’s dictator vs. scientist, closed vs. open, Trump vs. Denmark. Openness is more than being open to content, it should also include being open to discussion.

Now, “comments” by or in themselves aren’t really needed. What seems to be needed is a pingback/webmention system, one that is “open” enough to not be stuck inside the own architecture. IndieWeb/POSSE like webmentions, integration of Twitter/Mastodon content, with linkback and the goose’s fed.

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@matt, do you know Derek Sivers blog? He gets hundreds of comments by thoughtful people without spammers or trolls getting published.

It’s a shining example of how good comments on a personal blog can be. No social media required.

Here’s an example post, right on topic for Write.as users.

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Not sure for me, but for a friend of mine new to write.as: yes, definitely.

We would both contribute for a crowdfunding campaign.

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Wow. That’s cool. I’m a fan of comments on blogs.

I really like comments and think it can be very stimulating. And such as Write.as is approaching itself I really think it could be stimulating and nothing that would attract trolls in the first place. I know Micro.blog has limited the search function to minimize spam/trolling in their comments/mention feed. When is Remark.as live?

Hi! Is this project active?

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Seconding what the last commenter asked: is Remark.as still actively in development? I know Snap.as is currently taking precident, which is great and I understand the limitations, given the small team that makes up Write.as. As I’m considering dropping the $100 for a year of Commento, I just wanted to check whether this is going to be on the horizon at some point. Thanks!

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Sorry for not getting back on this earlier! At this point, we’ve figured out the core features for Remark.as – mostly revolving around protocols we want to support which will let everyone start commenting. So we plan to start development in the first quarter of next year! (See our roadmap.)

As with other brand new tools like Snap.as, at launch, we’ll start by including Remark.as with your Write.as Pro subscription. And when we have something ready for you to try out, we’ll let you know on this thread and Twitter / Mastodon.

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Cool.

Any updates now that we are in 2021?

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At what point is the development of the Remark program?

I would like to know also. Still getting acquainted with the platform here and trying to figure out the best way to integrate comments for my kids’ blogs, especially. They want to see a little something from family or friends in response to their posts. Ideally, in our case, the commenting ability could be limited to just those people who have access to the blog (through the link or password etc). For our use, focus on privacy is paramount. To have a “sacred place” to express, and create and interact . Would love an update on Remark.as or ideas from others how they have used alternatives. Thanks!

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@matt, I am curious if the email response is live yet? We tried testing it out in the family and I don’t think it worked (yet). DO you have an update? Thank you!:slight_smile:

Not yet – we should have the option for email responses available to everyone this month!

Beyond this, we have a couple large migration projects on our plate that have taken priority at the moment, so unfortunately, major development on Remark.as will be delayed until those are finished. But one of those projects should be complete this month, and we’ll get to work on Remark.as as soon as we’re freed up a bit.

I’ll keep everyone updated as we nail down a release date.

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@matt , will the “weekend” project version of Remark.as be in queue anytime soon? I would love to have it available and really like it’s simplicity. cf: I was aiming to have made some progress on Remark.as by this point in 2021, but... — Micro Matt

I’d say… possibly :slightly_smiling_face:

I have started hacking on it in my free time, and I would like to get something out there for everyone to start playing with, since I know a number of people want this. But I can’t make any promises on a timeline just yet.

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