[Plugin: Disqus Comment System] Disqus comments do not match WP records, nor showing up on posts

Hi Allie,

It looks like you were referring to our document on syncing, which copies comments from Disqus back to WordPress. This should be done automatically by default.

Here’s our document about exporting (and importing into Disqus): https://docs.disqus.com/help/24/

Try the Manual Import steps on that page and that should bring in your remaining comments.

Thanks for the reply.

I have finally realized the problem was that the initial export from WP to Disqus did not complete (25% short) and the more recent records did not get uploaded in Disqus. The loaded old comments are actually showing up on old posts. But I did not see any error messages in Disqus. Is there a place in Disqus to check the upload results that tell me if an upload is successful or not?

Also, I do not want to try the manual export solutions for obvious reasons. So if incomplete export happens in the initial export, will re-export via the automatic approach from WP to Disqus fix the issue, i.e. will Disqus be able to ignore the previously uploaded records and only pick up the previously missed comments? Related to this – can I delete the site in Disqus altogether once the initial export fails, and create a new site using a different shortname to try the auto export from the start again?

Thanks!

If the export script doesn’t finish, it’s usually because there weren’t enough server resources. This could mean that not enough were allocated by the host, or other plugin(s) are taking more of those resources (which is why one suggestion is to disable the others).

We obviously won’t suggest tweaking resource allocation, which is why the manual import option exists. If your concern is duplicating comments, that’s not a problem since we’ll just ignore any of the comments you’ve already imported. If you have any other concerns about using that method just let us know!

Thanks again for the details – it helps a lot in understanding how Disqus works when processing imports from WordPress. What confused me was that on the WordPress side within the Disqus plugin, the exporting process appeared to be finished within minutes, and I got this message stating “your comments have been sent to Disqus and queued for import!” while at the same time, within Disqus, the page for this particular site stated “Your import has been successfully uploaded and queued. We’ll email you when your import has completed. Import may take up to 24 hours to complete.” So it sounds like the issue was on the Disqus side.

Related to how Disqus works with WP on the automatic data sync between the two systems – how does this work? How does Disqus import any new comments made to Disqus back to WordPress database without access to our WP installation?

Lastly, we have multiple sites within our Disqus account, and some of them are not needed anymore. I would think that I can simply delete those sites within Disqus without having any impact on the sites that are still active, correct?

Thank you in advance for enlightening me on the inner workings of Disqus !

I have gained a lot of insight into how the DISQUS plugin works in the last few months.

Basically, for syncing back to your blog, a wp-cron entry is added every time someone visits your page and loads the comment form (the cron task isn’t overwritten if it already exists) – this is done via an AJAX request back to your site.

When wp-cron runs, it instructs the plugin to initiate sync from DISQUS to your local db, which sucks in the missing comments. The huge problem here is, as I found out, only new comments are going to get sucked in. Not edits to comments, not changes to their moderation status, not deletions – just new comments. So, if you ever turn off DISQUS and as far as search engines are concerned, you’ll end up with comments that are potentially way out of sync.

This is a big problem, and according to the team, it’s the next big (huge) ticket item on their plates. They want to do it right, and that’s going to take time.

Thanks much for sharing the info, archon810! Your post prompted me to read Disqus code and disqus.php seems to tell a lot of the plugin’s inner workings with decent amount of comments. Where do you find the code for the wp-cron entry when syncing back? It’s be nice to have an “official” workflow diagram between Disqus and WP with details like you have found out to save us some trouble… It’s good to know that there will be improvements coming at some point.

Just search the code for wp_schedule_single_event($ts, 'dsq_sync_forum'); and you’ll see it in disqus.php.

Yeah, a diagram would be awesome.

I do have a bit of a working diagram for occasional reference: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/15229959/Screenshots/08ckcsfds-oj.png but it’s certainly not complete nor is it pretty. Would you guys find something like this useful? If so,
1. What more would you like to see in the diagram? Or is this sufficient
2. Would you find it useful to be opened up for collaboration? If so, what platform do you feel is best to do so? It might be good to include in some form in the GitHub repo itself, whether as an image, text file, or otherwise.

Best,
Tyler

Hi Tyler,
Thanks much for sharing this! Are you with the Disqus team? Your current diagram is a great start – I would like to see the data flow and exchanges between WP and Disqus clearly in such diagram, especially those interaction points. It will also be helpful to know how Disqus works on its end after getting information from WP. The diagram does not have to be so detailed down to every method call involved as long as the exchange points and critical functions are marked.

To your second question on collaboration, I am not clear what you mean. Do you mean that we, the end users of Disqus, would be able to have input on how the application will be designed and developed? Again, I am assuming that you are with the Disqus team and know the design of the application. Please clarify.

Thanks!
Allie