You know how some some companies provide a service you really like, and find useful, and value? They provide what you need, and they don't add lots of extra bits you don't need (or, if they do, you can opt out). Their service may not be cutting edge, but it works and it's reliable and it's provided with minimum fuss.
And then they announce a change, an upgrade, an 'improvement'. And you look at what they're offering and your heart sinks, because in your eyes the enhancement is a retrograde step. Something you don't need is being added, something you find very important is being amended, and something you completely relied on is being taken away.
This would be what's happening to Haloscan comments. Changing, upgrading, 'improving'. I am not pleased.
Let's backtrack a bit. Haloscan's been around for years, emerging back in the days when Blogger and other blogging platforms didn't provide a commenting service, so users had to add their own. Haloscan did what it had to do, and not a lot else. It enabled conversation where there was none, and it grew, and it thrived. But Haloscan was always an amateur service and eventually running it became too much. The service stagnated, rudderless - still functional but barely maintained. And then last year a young and thrusting company called JS-Kit came along and rescued Haloscan, and all its users, and the entire comments database. Hurrah! And yet not hurrah.
JS-Kit are very young and very thrusting. They have a mission statement("Think only the biggest sites can afford to offer a truly dynamic and interactive online experience? Think again!"). They have a vision("we make sites more interactive and social through lightweight, snap-on features"). And they have a new comments service called Echo.
Echo is completely unlike the ancient static textbox provided by Haloscan. Echo is evolutionary, Echo is dynamic, and Echo is fully integrated. "Publishers can quickly embed Echo on any site and turn their static pages into a real-time stream of diggs, tweets, comments, ratings and more." Yes, it's that different (see here for a flavour of the difference).
Echo's not perfect yet, it's still in Public Beta. It's a bit flash, so it takes longer to load. It's not yet available in a pop-up box, so it has to be embedded into the page. All existing JS-Kit subscribers have been upgraded already, with minimal advance warning. And all existing Haloscan users are also going to be upgraded to Echo, whether we want to be or not.
I'm in the 'not' camp. I'm perfectly happy with a pop-up box with text in it. I don't think this blog will be enhanced by a dynamic stream of interactive comments embedded into the page. I like small and simple, not intrusive and complex. For me, it's the words that are important, not any surrounding noise. But that's not an option, apparently. All legacy comment modes will be de-operationalised, all archived posts will be switched across, and Echo will take over. I'm not quite sure of the timing - could be imminent, could be within a couple of months. But change is a-coming, and apparently it's unstoppable.
I am not happy. And below is the precise moment when I got very worried indeed:
JS-Kit's staff are prone to hype and hyperbole, repeatedly declaring that their system is marvellous. They're also blind to any criticism. Don't like the new system? You're wrong. Want to modify the basics? Sorry, that would compromise structural integrity. Want to keep the old templates? You can't. Either you adapt your blog to use Echo, or bad luck, you're stuffed.
If I read the FAQ properly, my blog isn't compatible with Echo. I'm using an old Blogger template, and I can't use Blogger widgets, and I don't have post pages enabled, so I could only upgrade to Echo by ditching my current set-up. But it'll be better, say JS-Kit. But why should I change just because you don't allow the alternative, says I. But it'll be better, say JS-Kit. QED, I lose.
So, just a warning. If you have Haloscan comments, or if you use them anywhere (like here), then they'll be changing. And if you turn up here one day and comments have vanished, then I may be searching for somewhere else to put them.
Echo is completely unlike the ancient static textbox provided by Haloscan. Echo is evolutionary, Echo is dynamic, and Echo is fully integrated. "Publishers can quickly embed Echo on any site and turn their static pages into a real-time stream of diggs, tweets, comments, ratings and more." Yes, it's that different (see here for a flavour of the difference).
