Allowing comments on password protected gallery

jemostrom

I've taken some photos for a friend, now I want him to be able look at hem and decide which ones to use for a web site we're working on.

I've created a password protected album with the idea that he would be able to go in and write comments on the photos ... but then he needs to have a smugmug or FB account.

Is there some way I can use Smugmug to privately show him the photos and allow him to comment without having a smugmug/fb account?

I've got a power account

denisegoldberg

Unfortunately not. New SmugMug only supports comments from signed in users on either SmugMug or Facebook. Both of these are non-starters for me; I've delayed adding a guestbook to my site until either anonymous comments are allowed or support is added for comment sign-in from a site like Google or Bing.

I've logged two feature requests, please add your input to these requests:

• add support for sign in (for comments) > Google, others
• allow anonymous comments

--- Denise

jemostrom

Too bad. I'll add my vote for this

jennrica

thought I'd add this comment here. Did add it to a couple of other threads.

"Not sure this has been mentioned before but as one who recently switched from Zenfolio to Smugmug I suggest Smugmug look at Zenfoilio and a number of other sites that easily allow comments for guidance. I had no problem with visitors making comments with my Zenfolio site and am tempted to go back. Simply put, if a visitor honors me by visiting my site and wants to comment about my work, why make it difficult? Seems like a pound of prevention for an ounce of cure."

J Allen

jennrica wrote: »

"Not sure this has been mentioned before but as one who recently switched from Zenfolio to Smugmug I suggest Smugmug look at Zenfoilio and a number of other sites that easily allow comments for guidance. I had no problem with visitors making comments with my Zenfolio site and am tempted to go back. Simply put, if a visitor honors me by visiting my site and wants to comment about my work, why make it difficult? Seems like a pound of prevention for an ounce of cure."

David_S85

I'll join this discussion once again too. I haven't had a comment since I converted to new Smug, and don't hardly expect any. For visitors to need to sign in just kills the whole comment feature completely.

Richard

+1. I've simply eliminated the comments section. Better not to have anything than to see that the most recent comment was months ago.

shniks

Richard wrote: »

+1. I've simply eliminated the comments section. Better not to have anything than to see that the most recent comment was months ago.

I agree with the above. It's ridiculous that SM is forcing people to log in. I understand they had some inappropriate comments left on some sites, but that doesn't translate into issuing a diktat that affects all the customers. SM could enable log-in for comments by default, but should have an option for Anonymous comments in the settings. That way the website owner takes on the responsibility for such comments (and can resort to login for comments if the need arises). We are all adults here and are quite capable of making such decisions ourselves - we don't need the corporation making decisions on our behalf.

My friends and I are looking at other alternatives like Squarespace et al, as some of these decisions at SM are just too restrictive - it almost feels like a dictatorship.


Cheers,

OffTopic

I'll add my comments to the discussion. I remember that the problem originally arose with some people who participated in photo sharing communities and all of the drama that arose from it, but those of us with Pro/Business accounts were penalized by the change. I don't have comments turned on by default, but I would like to allow clients to comment on a private gallery without being required to log in. It's embarrassing to tell a client to write down the file numbers of the images they want and e-mail me with their comments, but even more embarrassing would be forcing a client to create a SmugMug account in order to comment. My client is the only person viewing the images in their private gallery and if I'm worried about what he might say, that's my problem.

I often get e-mails from random visitors to my site, and truthfully I much prefer receiving those e-mails over some random person commenting "nice pic" on a photo. Many times those e-mails develop into long lasting conversations about mutual interests, and that is such a great way to turn a random visitor into a customer or business contact. The only time I want comments enabled is on a private client gallery.


It should be an option, or at least make it optional for those of us with Business level accounts. The needs of professionals and the needs of social photographers are sometimes very different.