NOT All My Loving – CommentLuv Deactivated

| Created: April 10th, 2008
WordPress Opinion 48 Comments

This post was supposed to be titled All My Loving and announce the adoption of the CommentLuv plugin. In combination with my very own KeywordLuv plugin, I would have indeed been giving you all my loving. Unfortunately, I had a problem with CommentLuv and have deactivated it. For now…

NOTE: This post was released on April 10, 2008. The problem that it discusses has long been fixed. In you are using the latest version of the CommentLuv plugin you will not experience this problem.

The Bad – Huge Increase In Database Size

I first noticed the problem when my daily database backup was emailed to me. The size had increased by almost 50% compared yesterday’s backup. I tracked the problem down to CommentLuv 0.999.

It seems there is occasionally a problem where each and every feed is stored in the wp_options table in the database. That means the entire feed (all 10 posts), of everyone who leaves a comment, is being stored in my database! Not only that, it stores the entire feed for each comment you leave. RT from Untwisted Vortex left 8 comments, so I have 8 copies of his entire feed.

In the last few days, 58 comments invoked CommentLuv. The wp_options table grew from 0.5MB to 3.5MB. I couldn’t let that continue, so I deactivated the plugin and manually cleared out the stored feeds (they aren’t needed).

When I went to Andy Bailey‘s site to report this, I found this is a known problem, which will be resolved in the next version. From his post discussing the upcoming CommentLuv upgrade:

** Currently, there are some cases of the default include of MAGPIE saving each and every feed cache to the WP database in WP_OPTIONS/OPTION_NAME which tends to make it grow quite large, also some users have reported it being set to “autoload on” which can have an effect on load times.

I wouldn’t expect this to affect many people, but if you’re worried it may be a good time to do a backup and see if its significantly larger than expected.

UPDATE: If you are affected, Andy has posted a way to clean the database.

The Good – Great New Features In Next Version

While at Andy’s site, I found that he is doing some really cool things with the next version of CommentLuv. These include:

  1. ‘AJAX-ifying’ the plugin, so the commentator’s feed is parsed while they are writing the comment.
  2. Removing the reliance on PHP and WordPress functions, so that potentially it can work on other blogging platforms such as Blogger.
  3. My favourite: Adding a dropdown list of your last 5 posts, so you can choose which one you want CommentLuv to add to the comment.
  4. And of course, resolving my problem!

Brilliant! You can try out a demo on Andy’s CommentLuv Ajax Preview post.

Final Thoughts

If you’re wondering why CommentLuv disappeared, that’s the story. I think CommentLuv is a great plugin and about to get better. I’m committed to running it on my site, but it will have to wait for the next version. In the meantime, at least you can get some KeywordLuv here.

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48 responses on “NOT All My Loving – CommentLuv Deactivated”

  1. Adam Dempsey@FileMaker Plugin

    AJAX-ifying’ the plugin, so the commentator’s feed is parsed while they are writing the plugin.

    I guess you mean ‘writing the comment’

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Adam,

      Yes, I meant when they are writing the comment. Thanks for picking this up, I’ve fixed it now… 🙂

  2. R.J.@Link Building Bible

    I am sorry you couldn’t get commentluv working….

    keyword Luv is awesome… i’ve used it a few times already on other sites…..

    And, I am way excited about the AJAX one coming up…. because you can choose which feed you want.

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi RJ,

      Yes, being able to choose which post you want to use for CommentLuv is exceptionally cool! I’m looking forward to that as well.

  3. Mark @ TheLocoMono

    Wow, that’s good to know. I have it on mine but I hadn’t upgraded to the .999 version yet. My DB hasn’t increased at all so it must be that specific version. I will have to take a closer look to it. Looking forward to trying your Keyword plugin. Does it do anything to the DB?

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Mark,

      I had the problem with version .999 of CommentLuv. I don’t know exactly which versions it affects – but I’m pretty sure it was only certain versions. Even then, I believe it was not a problem for most people.

      KeywordLuv doesn’t do anything to the DB (well apart from adding a single entry to the wp_options table to store the parameters). If a commentator adds name@keywords in the Name field, that’s what’s stored in the DB. KeywordLuv simply intercepts this when the page is being built and moves the name part outside the link.

  4. RT Cunningham@Microsoft Windows Vista

    I just deleted 27000+ rows out of the table. I’ll have to check it couple of days to make sure it doesn’t grow again. I can’t wait for the new version!

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      RT,

      I can’t wait for the new version either… The ability to choose which post to use really adds value to the commentators…

  5. Greenie@Promo Picnic Items

    Obviously it’s pretty understandable given the size of the DB increase that you and many others will pull it until it is updated. The idea of a dropdown is perfect as it would greatly increase the ability of the commentator to leave relevant links versus whatever was last written.

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Greenie,

      Totally agree. As I said in the comments on the FiddyP site, I actually sometimes hold of commenting on other blogs until I finish a half written post… Terrible, I know, but sometimes I really want a more relevant post to be used.

  6. Marc@aerobatics instruction

    I will also remove the plugin from my blog. Was not aware of any problems thanks…

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Marc,

      I didn’t mean to just remove it, because it’s not a problem for everyone. Anyway, there is a new version out now, with this problem resolved – Go get it!

  7. limth@The-Radio-Station

    Thanks.

    I have also removed it from my blogs.

    Keep us updated. Thanks Again

  8. Olivier@Immobilier

    Interesting one… I didn’t thought about the impact on the database. Thanks for the note. Will see next version, hope it comes out soon.

  9. Tim@Rare Antiques

    Your keyword luv plugin is the best! I did install it on my Redneck Bar & Grill site, and I’m surprised how few have used it so far. We need to advertise this puppy for you.

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Tim,

      Yeah, not many people know about KeywordLuv yet. The more people who hear about it, the more it will be used. Might take a while to get the word out…

  10. David Airey

    Thanks for the tips. I use CommentLuv on my blog, but was unaware of any such issues. I’ll have a look and see if I need a clear-out.

    Enjoy the weekend!

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi David,

      Thanks for stopping by. I notice CommentLuv made your 13 of the best WordPress plugins list, which I think is deserved. Now if only I could write a plugin that innovative! 🙂

      As an aside, I did enjoy the weekend, which was my first weekend at home (Australia) for 4 years!

  11. Andy Bailey

    just to let you know that the commentluv plugin has been updated and it completely removes any issues with increasing database size, also it can handle all foreign characters and punctuation marks now

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Andy,

      Great news! I will activate the new version in the next week or so. I’ve just moved country and I’m very behind on many things – including comments.

      I don’t have time to answer comments at the moment, but I have to answer this one as I think CommentLuv is great and want to state that anyone who has disabled CommentLuv because of this issue should upgrade to the new version and reactivate!

  12. Used Fishing Gear

    Wow I’ll have to check my database . That seems to be a nasty little side effect I dont want. Will definately have to look into the new version.
    Thanks for the headsup

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      UFG, The new version of CommentLuv is now out, you should definitely upgrade.

  13. David Airey

    First weekend at home in 4 years?! I get ‘home’ (to Ireland) about once or twice a year, which is a bit miserable considering I’m a 40 minute flight away.

    Glad you enjoyed it.

  16. Doug C.

    Good. And let’s hope it also fixes the blog URL problem me and a lot of other commentors have been having.

  17. JS@BusbySeoChallenge

    Interesting!
    CommentLuv helps you reward your commentators by separating their name from their keywords in the link to their site. This gives them improved anchor text, which can help their site rank higher in the search engine results.
    You can now leave a comment with your name as well as a keyword of your choice here and get a PR5 link back to your site! How cool is that? People pay big bucks for that and all you have to do is comment here.

    1. Sally ( French Property) Lee

      Yes, commentLuv was a good plugin for all bloggers who really seeks backlinks although older version has some bugs, also thank you so much for the follow it’s great to find “luving” bloggers who regularly produce interesting and readbale stuff and show they care about their topic or market and are interested in sharing G Juice!

      Where you aware that the more comments you get the better your blog will rank with the big G?

      Yup that means the more comments you can get on a blog post the more traffic it will attract as it begins to rise up the rankings…

      The better this blog ranks then the more valuable it’s info becomes to us all which is what we need 😉

      Anyway well done and keep up the great (hard) work of maintaining your blog. 🙂

  18. Doug C.

    Here’s an update all you CommentLuv people should pay attention to – in trying to figure out why my comments were not behaving properly (on CommentLuv-enabled sites) I finally deduced the culprit was OpenID.

    I had to remove OpenID from my own blog code and delete my account before the CL would work.

  19. Doug C.

    Oh and one more thing – all the sites with both CL and OpenID were also contributing to the bad link parsing. A couple kind people removed OpenID from their sites and now me (and a lot of other people) can comment there and have the CL work.

  21. Andy Bailey

    sorry you had a problem with commentluv, I have a file you can upload that will clean the database and bring it back down to size by removing the feed cache files if you want?

    the latest version 1.98 doesn’t do anything to the database and is much better at finding last posts.

    I’ll try and get the AJAX one finished as soon as possible!

  22. Doug C.

    Andy, that would be great, providing it will work on a Blogger blog. I did a little slim job on my layout design and now things are moving much faster. Got a lot of positive feedback on the new “slimmer” TBODC design so that was a plus, too.

  23. Gert@How does adsense work

    Wow, that is great news. I am a keen fan of the CommentLuv plugin and the new features you spoke of is just great. I have also had troubles with the fact that CommentLuv sometimes work and other times just take some time off.

  24. Minadin

    I have been getting great help from Andy, I cannot seem to get commentluv to work when I post on commentluv enabled sites. My blog however works great as I have it enabled and people using commentluv are getting the results they are looking for.

  25. Jim@Lyrics Blog

    CommentLuv is great but why does it need to store the feeds in the db? It needs only the link to the feed, Am i wrong?
    And why does it have to store the same feed more than one time?
    I wanted to use it but after reading what you said I will stick with KeywordLuv.

    Thanks Stephen.

  26. Andy Bailey

    @jim: try using the latest version 2.5.4 it makes no additions your blog database, it hasn’t since version 1.5 ish. it was a glitch with wordpress where any use of the magpie function would store the feed in the database.

    the new one is much better!

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Andy,

      You must be a little frustrated with this, so I’ve added a note to the top of the post to make it clear that the problem no longer exist.

  27. tom@pro webdesign microdesign

    Isnt keywordluv sort of the same? not rly know the difference, but there both great 🙂

  28. rob@dental care london

    so is worth having commentluv enabled on a blog? Also can any site benefit from comment luv even if you do not have a blog?

  29. Dave@DIY

    Comment luv is ok. But you have to be careful you are not getting people who come just to get a backlink.

    Although, it is nice to reward your loyal readers with this facility.

    1. rob@dental care london

      how can you tell if someone just wants a link?? Blogging seems to be extremely complicated! also can anyone point me in the right direction of a good blog, i currently do not have one and am looking at creating one for my site any help would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance.

  30. rob@dental care london

    i have just been looking at setting up a blog with my host company, using blogware, if i set it up how do i go about putting comment luv on it?

  31. tony@Best cheap web hosting.

    I like comment luv but it does seem to have some problems. Certain sites have problem picking uo last post and some take forever to load after comment. They should make it so you can pick more than 5 of the last comments also.

  32. rob@London Dentists

    Well from what i understand about commentluv, it seems to be constantly evolving, so lets hope it does improve

  34. Theo@Dermapril

    I like keyword and comment luv plugins so much for my blog and for commenting on other people ineteresting posts. Are you still taking people for the traffic project? let me know thanks.