For a long time this site hasn’t had comments. When I moved from WordPress to a static site generator, the old commenting system didn’t come along for the ride. The result was simple pages, fast builds, and a very quiet comment box that no longer existed.
I’ve gone back and forth on whether to bring comments back. Most days I enjoy the focus of writing and publishing without worrying about moderation. Other days I miss the conversations that used to happen underneath posts. I’ve had emails and DMs that would have been even more useful as public threads, where other readers could add context or correct me when I get something wrong.
Today I’m trying something that splits the difference: comments are back, powered by GitHub.
Why comments disappeared
When I moved the site off WordPress, I also left behind WordPress comments. I didn’t migrate the old comment data and I didn’t add a new system. That was intentional at the time. I was getting a lot of spam and the moderation overhead was real. Switching to a static site meant fewer moving parts and fewer headaches. The downside was I lost the public back‑and‑forth that makes a blog feel alive.
Why bring them back now
I still like static sites. I also like feedback. I write a lot of opinionated pieces and I don’t always nail it. Comments make my thinking better in public. They surface edge cases, they add links I missed, and they keep me honest. I don’t want to turn the site into a forum, but I do want lightweight conversation right where it’s relevant.
Why GitHub
The new setup uses GitHub Discussions through a small client called giscus. It attaches a thread to each post based on the page URL. If a thread doesn’t exist yet, the first comment creates it. You sign in with your GitHub account, you post, and your comment lives as a discussion in a public repository I set up for this purpose.
There are a few reasons this makes sense for me:
- I already use GitHub every day. It’s one less dashboard to watch.
- Identity comes for free. You need a GitHub account to comment, which lowers drive‑by spam.
- Moderation tools are solid. I can lock, pin, move, or label threads as needed.
- The discussion is portable. It lives outside the site build and won’t get wiped by a deploy.
Spam was a big part of why I turned comments off when I left WordPress. I was drowning in junk. Using GitHub means the default barrier to entry is higher and most of the obvious garbage never makes it through the door. If you’re a real person with a GitHub account, great. If you’re a bot, this isn’t worth your time.
How it works here
At the bottom of each post you’ll see a comments section. Click “Sign in with GitHub” the first time. After that you can react with emojis, reply, or start a new comment. All of it lives in the Vheissu/ilikekillnerds-comments repository under Discussions. You can subscribe to a thread if you want replies emailed to you, or you can ignore it if you’re just passing through.
I’m not going to add comments to every static page, but you’ll find them on posts from today onward.
If you tried to comment here in the WordPress days and your message got drowned in the spam filter, I hear you. This setup should be better. It won’t be perfect, but it’s a good trade for the kind of site I run.
Thanks for reading and for sticking around while I tinkered with the plumbing. If you have thoughts about this post, try the new box below and let me know how it goes.