I’ve set up the WP comments alongside the WP-Discourse plugin and I just noticed that it’s also possible to embed comments via javascript, as seen on Hacker, Hack Thyself
In scrolling through the JS embedded comments, I see a lot more features (number of replies, clickable dates, replied-to indicators, seemingly cleaner oneboxes, etc) than I see on the WP comments and I’m wondering, are there any hidden benefits to the WP comments coming from the WP-Discourse plugin itself?
AFAIK the main thing is that Wordpress comments are the “low code” solution for using Discourse for comments, so it’s usable by non-tech people on their wordpress instances.
Haha, I’m learning that right now as I try to customize the JS embeds
I just noticed another benefit of WP over the JS embed: it seems that with WP Discourse comments, I can show comments even from a site that has login required, whereas with the JS embed that doesn’t seem possible.
Ah, yes, with JS embedded comments, I’m able to see the comments on a private Discourse when I am logged in to the Discourse, however, not able to see them if I am not logged into the Discourse, a la:
Conversely, with WP Discourse comments, I’m able to see the replies from a private instance even if I am not logged into that private instance or not even a member of it.
I currently have it set up where my Discourse site is login required and yet I want public, non-Discourse users to see the comments on the WP site, so the WP method seems to work best for now.
If I want to allow only Discourse members to see them or I decide to remove the login required option, I’ll probably go with the JS embed because I like the added functionality it gives out of the box.