Comments on: Simple commenting system

Question: Simple commenting system

bjork24 — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:39:18 -0800

Is there a simple PHP/MYSQL commenting system available anywhere on the internets? The Google has failed me.

All I'm looking for is a very simple commenting script, like what you'd see on any given blog, but I don't need all the bloggy stuff. Just a form, a database connection, and output. I'll style everything myself, of course, but I'm too lazy to roll my own (last time I did, it got bombarded by spam). Any suggestions?

PS - Searching google for anything that involves the words "comments" or "commenting" is very difficult.

By: bjork24

bjork24 — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:42:04 -0800

Also, the website I'm putting the comments on is a 100% custom job. It's not a blog framework or anything.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:03:18 -0800

What are the comments going to be attached too? You say you don't want all the "bloggy stuff" If you just want pages where people can comment on, you could always setup a wordpress install and just hide the front page.

By: bjork24

bjork24 — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:07:25 -0800

The comments will be on dynamically-created product pages.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:08:11 -0800

I've used Blogkomm on numerous occasions - so easy, never buggy. Doesn't require MySql though. You do need to assign unique IDs to your posts, but don't need to actually blog.

Perhaps you should search using the word guestbook instead of comments, since comments are usually associated with blogs.

By: peacheater

peacheater — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:14:33 -0800

My boyfriend implemented PHP/MYSQL-based Talkback for his lab's internal pages (which is why I can't link to them) and is very happy with its performance and simplicity. He said that this was the best commenting system he found. He used it for static pages but it also works for dynamic pages.

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:30:35 -0800

It seems like a good route to hunt down code like this would be to look for PHP / mySQL samples for the web-based HTML editors that are out there, like FCKeditor. I would think that any basic sample showing how to store posted content to a database would get pretty close to the functionality you're looking for.

By: web-goddess

web-goddess — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:41:47 -0800

Don't completely rule out rolling your own. I added a ridiculously simple question to mine - "What color is an orange?" - and I haven't had a single spam comment since. Spammers are pretty stupid.

By: meta_eli

meta_eli — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:34:40 -0800

like FCKeditor. I would think that any basic sample showing how to store posted content to a database would get pretty close to the functionality you're looking for.

I prefer TinyMCE. But commenting is a bit tougher than it looks. You've got to be very careful filtering input or you open yourself to all kinds of XSS and javascript injection attacks

Spammers are pretty stupid.

Or your blog is just too small. The day they figure out the answer to the question will be a bad day.

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:21:27 -0800

You've got to be very careful filtering input or you open yourself to all kinds of XSS and javascript injection attacks

Yeah, and SQL injection attacks, etc. But security analysis is something that should be applied to every web application, not just commenting, even when (some might say especially when) you're using someone else's code or product.

By: web-goddess

web-goddess — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:09:08 -0800

meta-eli - I was actually getting hundreds of spam comments a day before implementing the change. And this was on a system that I rolled myself, so it wasn't as simple to compromise as simply pointing a bot at a Wordpress or Movable Type blog. Yet adding that one extra field - one that a robot couldn't guess the answer to - was enough to kill them off completely.

By: kamelhoecker

kamelhoecker — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:43:37 -0800

There are also hosted commenting solutions. e.g.
instacomment
spipra