How to comment on Paolo Amoroso's blog
This blog is hosted at Write.as and uses the default commenting system of the sister platform Remark.as. The Discuss... link in the footer of every post leads to the Remark.as comment box, which does the job but requires a paid account.
To provide alternate options I added to the footer a link to email me and now I'm experimenting with comments from the Fediverse.
The blog has the Fediverse presence @paolo@journal.paoloamoroso.com you can follow. On Mastodon you'll receive a toot for every new blog post. To comment, reply as usual to the toot. But be sure not to delete my Mastodon handle @amoroso@fosstodon.org prefilled in the edit box, which is different from @paolo@journal.paoloamoroso.com
This setup is motivated by a limitation of the blog's Fediverse presence and based on a workaround Write.as founder Matt Baer suggested.
The problem is the blog is unable to receive Fediverse mentions or reactions, so Matt suggested to mention a Mastodon handle anywhere in the blog posts. This way the blog posts' toots automatically include the right Mastodon account in replies, in my case @amoroso@fosstodon.org
When replying to a toot, Mastodon highlights the textual handles of any extra mentioned accounts and typing anything deletes them. That's why you need to pay attention, for example by pressing the right arrow key to un-highlight the handle and move the cursor to the right spot to begin typing the reply.
How did I set up Fediverse commenting on Write.as? In the blog settings, under Customize > Post Signature I inserted this code in the signature, i.e. the footer Write.as appends to posts:
<!-- comment -->
[Email](mailto:info@paoloamoroso.com?subject=Reply%20to%20Paolo%20Amoroso%27s%20Journal) | Reply @amoroso@fosstodon.org
The <!-- comment --> shortcode inserts the Remark.as link (I had to insert spaces to escape it, remove them in your signature). The email link has an ordinary mailto URL. And the Fediverse commenting option is just my Mastodon handle.
Discuss...
Email | Reply @amoroso@fosstodon.org