I am trying out a new comments system using Disqus. Sometimes I get comments via my home-brewed Flickr-based system but it does not feel that they come often enough to entirely warrant the work in setting each one up (finding the next suitable picture and adding it to the end of the blog post). I have considered changes before, including third party systems and writing my own but, a couple of years on, have not managed to find time to get it done!
The current version of Disqus was easy to integrate and you can sign in to post comments using a range of ids. I will be interested to see if this encourages more discussion although, since the primary purpose of my blog is to allow friends and family to see that I’m alive and well, I shall not be too disappointed if it does not.