Comments and likes from outside Smugmug, without the need to log in, please!
![travelways](https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/uploads/customavatars/15/navatar_39615.jpg)
Hi,
I know this has been addressed already quite a long time ago, but nothing has been done so far...
I'm participating in other photography sites for more socialization, exposure, fun, etc., but I have all my pictures on SmugMug, and I'd like to share them.
I think this is good for me to diversify the marketing horizons, but at the same time good, if not great for Smugmug in terms of having incoming links, to the business site.
Unfortunately, I'm reluctant to place any links to my Smugmug gallery vs. direct uploads to those sites, because I cannot not get any comments or likes, or traffic to my Smugmug site...
I know the reason for not unlocking this feature is related to the possibility of receiving spam, but if we are notified about these comments, we can simply delete them.
On the other hand, this is actually a gross sales pitch from Smugmug. You are obliging people to make an account with your business (at least this is what it seems to be), in order to make a comment. Is this not a little cheap? It really doesn't look good, and in my opinion you are actually losing credibility and popularity.
Can you please make this feature available for the benefit of us, the users?
Thanks,
Tatiana
TravelwaysPhotos.com ...... Facebook
VegasGreatAttractions.com
Travelways.com
Comments
It's time for this. If you guys can't figure it out maybe Zenfolio can help. Just a thought.
I'd like to keep bringing this up. I think this is very important and not sure why this can't be done. I think having guest comments is one of the best ways to interact with others and maybe also allow them a chance to slowly warm up to wanting to sign up. Forcing them to sign in to comment seems like a negative thing to me.
Here are two examples. I used to have a very popular Incredible India photo gallery on Pbase. 10 years it got so popular that I was getting 1000s of hits and also people were recognizing me in my hometown in India. This was before Instagram took over. It inspired me to keep shooting and every chance I got, I was travelling. See my gallery on Pbase here. pbase.com/yardbird/incredibleindia I moved away from Pbase because it wasn't keeping up with technology. But scroll down past the galleries and you will see how many comments were there and the interaction was great. I followed up with everyone who left their email.
Now look at the my gallery here on Smugmug. Yes, I love the presentation, the app, the mobile ease, the e-commerce but I've completely lost contact with people. I am in a bubble.
https://beautifulworld.photography/IncredibleIndia
Can we please enable guest commenting?
Thanks
Karthik
http://www.beautifulworld.photography/
http://www.karthikraja.blog
I'm in agreement with the previous posters. Something needs to be changed, and that first step is to do away completely with the need for a Smugmug login to post comments.
We need guest commenting!
Follow me on:
Instagram | Facebook | Flickr
Wix and Squarespace have the ability to add 3rd party commenting systems like Disqus. SM honestly should too.
Follow me on:
Instagram | Facebook | Flickr
As was mentioned, we can delete the comments that are spam and we can disallow comments, so those two features minimizes spam.
Also, the comment feature is a black box over black background - which my Dad had a hard time finding.
thanks,
scott
ps I didn't know a password was needed since (but my Dad mentioned it) since running sugmug as a guest isn't something I do very often (and is hard to enable it seems).
That explains the lack of requested comments. Seems comments without logging in could be allowed on Unlisted galleries so only those with a link could post a comment. I have an Ancestry section that I have asked family to comment or help identify photos but now it makes sense why most aren't doing that.
Let me add my vote to this. I've been using SM as my 'gallery' site, linked to my blog. My blog posts link to photos on SM, but visitors aren't exactly made to feel welcome there. No one, ever, creates an account to leave a comment. And this restriction really discourages anyone from browsing and ultimately buying.
I'm currently looking at other gallery options specifically for two reasons: this one, and better SEO.
Most people today tune out and move on as soon as they're confronted with that tedious "create an account" thing. I know I do.
blog.jimhphoto.com
I have been here for over 10 years and lol...I didn't know you had to be logged in to comment either...no wonder there are no comments. I like to see this as well or as others have said allow us to utilize Disqus.
Fuji X shooter
Thoughts and Images
Just realized this thread was started almost 4 years ago. Clearly, what we want is never going to happen here. I think it's time I looked at some more up-to-date gallery sites. Suggestions, anyone?
blog.jimhphoto.com
We do support logging in via Facebook and Google alongside of SmugMug accounts to leave a comment. As far as I recall, this has been available since we didn't accept anonymous comments anymore all those years ago. While we don't have an option for Apple ID log ins, I added this as a feature request for our team.
If you're on a Power plan or up, you may actually use our "private sharing" feature that allows you to invite people via email and once they accept the invitation by creating a free guest account (or logging into their existing SmugMug account), they'd be able to view the content you shared with them.
SmugMug Support Hero
As an alternative, I also provide a guest account login (give them the user name and number of guest account I created) to everyone in my club to use, if they can not figure out how to respond to the guest invitation. I remind them that they have to leave their name, along with the comments, or I can not updated the metadata of the photo(s) they have contributed.
All would be solved by not being logged in, or at least not have the galleries exclusive access to just unlisted or private invite.
Thank you for your consideration,
Kim (I have several Smugmug accounts serving clubs and family groups).
Bump.