We know how much you love the Captcha commenting system now in use on Crossfade. Who doesn't enjoy struggling to read nonsensical phrases to prove they aren't evil robots. We hate to break it to you, but Captcha is going away. Crossfade and the other Miami New Times blogs are switching to Disqus to make commenting, interaction with writers and other readers, and community building much easier. We'll give you a minute to regain your composure.
Disqus is the same system used on many Tumblr blogs, as well as CNN.com, TechCrunch, FoxNews.com and more. We've decided to make the switch because Disqus offers some really cool features, including:
Instant gratification
Comments go live as soon as you hit send, which means bantering back and forth on a story's points or merits will be more like an online chat and less like waiting for your comment to be approved by an archaic spam filter. Disqus also lets you comment via your smartphone, so you'll never have another l'esprit de l'escalier moment.
Threaded conversations and gold stars
No more confusion over who you're responding to. In addition to commenting on a post, you can comment on other readers' comments, inline. You'll also be able to share your clever statements on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, and "like" comments of others.
Get comments via email
You can subscribe to comments on any blog post and also be notified when someone replies to your comments, instantly, via email. You might never get any real work done again.
Commenter profiles
Be as anonymous or as open as you want to be. Disqus allows you to create a profile for yourself, or log in through Facebook or other sites you already use. Profiles also allow you be a part of various Disqus communities.
So give the new system a whirl and let us know what you think. As always, we look forward to hearing from you in the comments.
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