New versions of Mozilla Firefox come out like clockwork, as do e-mails from confused readers wondering why I keep disabling the Disqus comments section under articles on this blog for Firefox users.
But, er, I don’t?
Comments are auto-enabled on all articles published on this blog by default, and should show up in all browsers.
On the exceedingly rare occasion I do intentionally disable comments on an article you can tell: there won’t be a comment count below the headline on article pages as it’s an anchor link to the comments section. If comments are off, there’s nothing to link to.
So if I’m not causing the intermittent issues with Disqus loading in Firefox, what is?
Firefox & Disqus Don’t Play Nice
Firefox is to blame, specifically the built-in Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) feature when set to the ‘Strict’ level.
Tracking protection is good, but Mozilla’s block list keeps changing its mind about Disqus. It will block it from loading for a few weeks. Then think “eh, it’s not so bad”, and let it to load for a few days. Then, out rolls another update and, u-turn, it decides to block it again.
This is not specific to this blog, I should add.
This is a Disqus in general issue. And Disqus is the most popular comments platform on the web, powering discussions on millions of websites, so plenty of folks have noticed Firefox’s fickle approach to loading it.
One discombobulated user opined to Mozilla: “The intermittent returns to proper operations were driving me insane. Hopefully Mozilla will either fix this soon, or give us a way to tweak ETP on tracker level instead of per website.”
Other web browsers are not affected, not even ones that claim to offer stronger tracker blocking tech built-in. I know this because those e-mails from frustrated readers usually say something like “…I tried using another browser and Disqus loads fine”.
Solutions, Man
If you want to read/make comments on this site (some would say the comment section not loading is a feature not a flaw) you don’t need to disable ETP tracking entirely – you have 2 options:
First option: switch to ‘standard’ tracking protection instead of ‘strict’. This will continue to block the most egregious trackers but will allow Disqus to load. A simple, broad solution.
Second option: create a urlclassifier.trackingSkipURLs(String) with a value of omgubuntu.disqus.com, disqus.com in about:config. This will let Disqus load for this site only (Disqus on other sites will still be blocked).
You can amend the second option for other sites that use Disqus but obviously their Disqus URL will differ. If you’re using ETP you probably won’t want to let Disqus load on all sites universally.
Comment not showing on this post? Lololol
Broaching the topic of privacy will, I imagine, result in a few puffed chests and red faces from folks itching to tell me how veeeeeryyyy eeeeeeevil I am for using Disqus in the first place.
Not entirely unfair; the platform has an icky rep!
Which is why I use Hyvor Talk, a paid, lightweight, privacy-respecting hosted comment service on OMG! Linux. But as next-to-no-one reads OMG! Linux 😅, I can afford it. Pricing is traffic-based. To use it here would could cost upwards of $200/m — Disqus is $12/m.
Why don’t I self-host comments? A certain four-letter acronym that starts with G and ends in R. Big sites are able to afford infrastructure engineers, security experts, and compliance gurus, I can’t.
Plus there’s you folks.
When OMG! Ubuntu switched from Disqus to Livefyre for a short period in 2011 many of you refused to sign-up for a new account just to comment on this site as your existing Disqus account works on all websites that use it.
The good news is you have other ways to comment on this blog’s posts.
Most articles get shared on the OMG! Ubuntu X (formerly Twitter) and Mastodon accounts, so if you have accounts there, reply or quote retweet or whatever. Some posts get shared via Facebook, Threads and BlueSky too, but their algorithms prefer “viral” content.