Disqus: A little less disqusion, a little more action please

Ben Moss.
August 23, 2012
ThumbnailIn May this year, our editor suffered an unfortunate accident. Having booted up his machine and fetched his morning coffee he sat down at his desk to review the overnight comments: we're lucky enough to have a global readership and it's always a pleasure to read the opinions of subscribers from Arizona to Azerbaijan. It was when his gaze settled on the number of pending comments that he fell from his chair, hot coffee sprayed liberally about his person. There were more than 500,000 posts awaiting approval. We pride ourselves on engaging with our audience, but half a million responses in an eight hour period is unprecedented at WDD. What had happened? Had we gone viral? Had we been name-checked by Barack Obama? Had we included a cute picture of a kitten skateboarding in the previous day's article? Well, not quite…

The Disqus bug

Like many of the blogs you'll find online, we use Disqus to allow our readers to comment on posts. Generally speaking it's an excellent, easy to use solution. However, it turns out that it has a rather unfortunate bug. Around 0.00004% of the comments were actually for us, the other 99.99996% belonged to sites ranging from neo-Nazi political parties to the Miami Herald. This presented us with two problems: firstly, we weren't going to be able to review 500,000 comments without skipping lunch; and secondly, if we can moderate other sites' comments, can they moderate ours? We jumped straight onto Disqus' support channel to ask for help. Their reply was "We've received a few other scattered reports of this happening and are currently investigating what might be the cause." Almost as quickly as it appeared, the bug vanished. Problem solved.

The Disqus bug 2: this time it's personal

At the end of July, the bug reappeared. Perplexed and concerned we contacted Disqus via their support channel and again via Twitter. This time we nailed it, we worked out exactly how to replicate the problem. Then we sent screenshots and instructions for reproducing the issue to Disqus to help them solve it. We never heard back.

Reproducing the Disqus bug

So, for the benefit of other site owners that rely on Disqus, and in the hope that we'll see some action on the issue, here are the six simple steps required to gain moderator status at any number of publications.

Step 1: Log into your Disqus account

Log in

Step 2: wait for your site's comments to load

Review comments

Step 3: open one of your articles in a new tab

Open article

Step 4: scroll down to your comments and log out

Log out

Step 5: return to your moderation window and click any of the filter tabs

Click filter

Step 6: gaze in wonder at the Disqus bug in all its splendor

Step 6 With the Disqus bug in effect, we can choose to approve, mark as spam, or delete any article. By selecting the comment we can edit it. Clicking on the article title in the comment allows us to visit the article that is being commented on. Fortunately, as you can see from the above screen shot, user email and IP addresses aren't distributed.

What damage can the Disqus bug do?

The short answer is: a lot. Disqus' website says "Millions use Disqus! From niche blogs to global brands, interesting conversations are everywhere." And they're right, CNN, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, Wired and PC Magazine all utilize Disqus for their comments. Of course the bug doesn't allow us to edit articles, only the comments are handled by Disqus. What it does allow us to do is approve comments, mark legitimate posts as spam (reducing users' reputations), delete comments and even edit comments. Needless to say, we haven't done any of these things, but every few weeks when we see zero comments on our site we do wonder if someone else has them. And if our comments go missing, who else has had their comments hijacked?

The United States Marine Corps

Does the official blog for the U.S. Marine Corps know other Disqus users can moderate their comments? Marines commentMarines site

CNN

How would the executives at CNN feel if they knew comments on their site were out of their control? CNN commentCNN article

The Independent

The Independent is a national broadsheet newspaper in the U.K. Independent commentIndependent article

Fox Nation

Amongst several Fox websites affected is Fox Nation. Fox commentFox article

Harvard

It isn't just news media that's affected, comments on Harvard Grad. School's website are vulnerable. Harvard commentHarvard article

The Washington Examiner

The Washington Examiner is one of many print publications whose online presence has been affected. Washington Examiner commentWashington Examiner article

Toronto Sun

It isn't just pending comments that can be moderated. This comment on the Toronto Sun website had already been approved by their editors, we could have unapproved it, marked it as spam or rewritten it entirely. Toronto Sun commentToronto Sun article

Nelson Mandela

How would the Nelson Mandela Foundation feel if it realized its comments could potentially be moderated by one of the far-right groups that also use Disqus? Nelson Mandela commentNelson Mandela article

What next?

We sincerely hope Disqus are on top of this issue. We hope a bug fix is just around the corner. We hope that by the time this article goes live Disqus will have rectified their service and the problem will be resolved for good. If not, our editor won't be the last person sprawled on the office floor, in a puddle of hot coffee, first thing on a Thursday morning. [ Update: we're delighted to report that the team at Disqus are working hard to resolve this issue and that they don't believe that the bug is as bad as it appears. For more details, check out their comments below. ] Thumbnail includes an image via Shutterstock.

Ben Moss

Ben Moss has designed and coded work for award-winning startups, and global names including IBM, UBS, and the FBI. When he’s not in front of a screen he’s probably out trail-running.

Read Next

10+ Best Resources & Tools for Web Designers (2024 update)

Is searching for the best web design tools to suit your needs akin to having a recurring bad dream? Does each…

3 Essential Design Trends, April 2024

Ready to jump into some amazing new design ideas for Spring? Our roundup has everything from UX to color trends…

How to Plan Your First Successful Website

Planning a new website can be exciting and — if you’re anything like me — a little daunting. Whether you’re an…

15 Best New Fonts, March 2024

Welcome to March’s edition of our roundup of the best new fonts for designers. This month’s compilation includes…

LimeWire Developer APIs Herald a New Era of AI Integration

Generative AI is a fascinating technology. Far from the design killer some people feared, it is an empowering and…

20 Best New Websites, March 2024

Welcome to our pick of sites for March. This month’s collection tends towards the simple and clean, which goes to show…

Exciting New Tools for Designers, March 2024

The fast-paced world of design never stops turning, and staying ahead of the curve is essential for creatives. As…

Web Tech Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond

It hardly seems possible given the radical transformations we’ve seen over the last few decades, but the web design…

6 Best AI Productivity Apps in 2024

There’s no escaping it: if you want to be successful, you need to be productive. The more you work, the more you…

3 Essential Design Trends, February 2024

From atypical typefaces to neutral colors to unusual user patterns, there are plenty of new website design trends to…

Surviving the Leap from College to Real-World Design

So, you’ve finished college and are ready to showcase your design skills to the world. This is a pivotal moment that…

20 Mind-Bending Illusions That Will Make You Question Reality

Mind-bending videos. Divisive Images. Eye-straining visuals. This list of optical illusions has it all. Join us as we…