I've Built a Comment System (So We Can Have a Chat)
You've probably noticed that for its entire life, Mostly Bollox has never had a comments section. That was a deliberate choice. Frankly, most comment systems are a complete pain in the arse. They're bloated, slow your website down, attract spam from every corner of the internet, and are often a security risk. I wanted no part of that nonsense.
But, as well as being my personal space for ramblings, this blog is also my workshop. It's where I test out new ideas for my day job in web design and SEO. A lot of my clients run blogs and they all face the same problem: they want to engage with their readers, but the standard comment systems are just too much hassle.
So, I decided to try and build a better solution myself. A super simple, lightweight system that was unique to this site and could potentially be adapted for my clients.
Building it with the Robot
I didn't build this entirely on my own. The whole thing was built back-and-forth with Gemini, Google's AI.
Now, I'm not a PHP coder and make no claims to be one, so for a job like this, I'd normally have to work with one. But the process with the AI was actually pretty effective. I'd describe what I wanted, Gemini would spit out the code. I'd upload it, find a bug, tell the AI what broke, and we'd work through the fix.
A project that would usually take a week of back-and-forth with a coder was done in about three hours. That's a massive saving in both time and, ultimately, money, and a proper example of using AI as a tool to get something from a rough idea to a working reality.
How It Works (Without Getting Too Nerdy)
The goal was to avoid all the usual bloated nonsense. The logic is dead simple:
No Database: Instead of a big, clunky database that slows everything down, the system just uses simple text files to store the comments. Each blog post gets its own little file to keep track of what's been said. It's fast, secure, and incredibly simple.
A Sneaky Spam Trap: I hate those "click on the traffic lights" CAPTCHA things as much as you do. So, we're using a "honeypot". It's a hidden form field that only spam bots can see. If the bot fills it in, the system knows it's spam and just bins it. A human never even sees it.
Proper Moderation: Nothing goes live until I've given it the nod. When you submit a a comment, I get an email. I can then approve or delete it from a simple, password-protected admin page. No spam gets through.
Welcome to Version 1.0
Let's be honest, nobody in their right mind uses a "Version 1.0" of anything, do they? You always wait for Version 3, after all the bugs have been found and the proper features have been added.
Well, you're looking at Version 1.0.
This system is brand new, and if you choose to leave a comment, you are the official beta testers. The guinea pigs. I've done my best to kick the tyres and make sure it's stable, but the real test is letting it loose in the wild.
So, for the first time ever on Mostly Bollox, the comments are on. Give it a go. Leave a comment below, tell me what you think, or just try to break it.
Cheers.