OK, no problem. And thanks for the kind words!
@dan, this is super exciting! Wonderfully executed product and I sure have personally waited for something like this for a while now. 
One thing that came to mind when thinking about (Ghost powered blog) subscriber experience regarding Ghost memberships and Cove commenting:
Would it be possible to include such a link in the blog post update email (that Ghost automatically sends), that would automatically log in the user so she/he can immediately comment on the blog post in question - without having to jump through the “Send login link” hoop? Step by step:
- I publish a new blog post on my blog
- Ghost newsletter is sent to subscribers about that post
- Subscriber opens the email and clicks the headline which takes user to that blog post
- She/he is automatically “logged in” and can immediately comment on the blog post with her/his name and gravatar info
I think the “send login link” works wonderfully as it is, but this would eliminate one more obstackle from the user experience, which would be super nice 
Anyways, thanks for the great product! I’ll give the product a proper go once I get my new Ghost blog up and running first 
I publish a new blog post on my blog
Hei Juha!
This is a great idea but the solution would have to be a hack. To edit or add log in links to the emails you would have to edit the core Ghost code. There is currently no option to edit the email templates. (And it’s not something Cove has any control over.)
Log in links also currently expire after 10 minutes. It is possible to edit that timeout limit (I’ve seen a post about it on this forum) but, again, you would have to edit Ghost’s code.
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Hi @dan,
Where are the comments stored? What if in the future we decide to move out or if you decide to not continue with Cove? Are there suffcient provisions to take out the comments data?
Thanks,
Manish
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Ah, bummer! Well, it’s not that big of a deal, but something that would have been nice.
Thanks!
Hi Manish.
Comments are stored within Cove.
There is no export at the moment, but it’s coming! I don’t want to lock anyone in; your comments are your comments 
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Hi Dan, thanks I’ve installed it on our site https://littlekulture.com
One thing we would like is that since it is a paid service, please provide option to remove the ‘Powered by Cove’ link that appears at the bottom of the comments section.
Thanks,
Manish
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Hi Manish. That’s great to hear!
Thanks for your feedback about the “Powered by Cove” message. At the moment, as Cove is so new, this message is very important to help grow the service. I hope Cove becomes profitable so I can continue working on it, so at least for now, I’m opting to leave the link in.
However, I understand your point and I will think about an option to hide it in the future.
Ok, that’s too bad. In that case, we will opt out of using Cove and find an alternative solution. Since it is already a paid service, you can’t leave your branding in. Please think about it and let me know so that we can remove the comments widget.
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Hi Manish. We’ve continued our chat privately but thought I’d just leave the following response, so the dialogue here doesn’t stop abruptly.
I disagree that you have to always remove branding if people pay for a service. That is something the maker can choose, just like any other feature in the product.
I will let you know if I add a setting to hide the “Powered by Cove” message in the future.
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Do you have an ETA on when this will be available?
This or next week!
Hi, I’m going to give Cove a chance.
Did you say somewhere that if Ghost were to implement a native comment system, you would create a system to transfer everything to Ghost, then would you self-destruct your project?
Hi! I will gladly help you migrate to another platform, including Ghost, if they build internal comments.
Ok … even if I don’t understand your real interest in this. Your business would fail.
You’re right that if Ghost started to offer comments, then Cove doesn’t really have a business. That’s always the threat of building on top of a platform. If it happens, it happens! I’m not thinking about it at the moment, and very happy to offer a community tool for the Ghost ecosystem.
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This is inappropriate. His interest is money and that is apparent, but it is not up to you to poop on what he is doing because this is the innate nature of competition, which is good for the end-users.
I do NOT want Ghost Team working on comments, search, and things like that when they can be taking care of more core things that adhere to the spirit of what they are doing. The open-source community has stepped up to provide a ton of different additions and that is how it should be. Take search for example… isn’t is wonderful you have so many options?
Now you will get those who will take advantage of John O’Nolan’s vision for open source business models (e.g., Ghost). That is a natural occurrence because you have those who:
A) Provide proprietary software to make money.
B) Provide open-source software to the world and make money via an open-source business model (e.g., hosting, support, etc.).
C) Provide open-source software just to share their work with the world.
Cove falls into A, Ghost falls into B, and all the other solutions/features people want to see have been unhinderedly (it’s a word) provided by the Ghost community… they fall into C. This is the power of an open source business model where the core team can give back by way of their creation(s) and feed themselves and their families while others have the opportunity to create their own proprietary business on top of them, and some simply want to just contribute and help them build something great.
Saying he is going to fail is his business and not yours. Period. You are entitled to your opinion, but in my opinion, your opinion is poo poo. It goes against the spirit of absolutely everything here. You, as the consumer, can simply choose to opt for another solution that fits your needs.
I checked out Cove and I am absolutely against some of the language in the ToS, Privacy, and data practices departments… I ran and will never look back or ever consider it a solution for ME based on MY individual needs and principals. I will live and die on the hill John O’Nolan is ushering in, but that’s my choice. I also decided to run from themes that have it built in by default. I disagree with Dan when he says he will not have a business if Ghost Team ever decides to roll their comment system. I believe Dan will be fine and Ghost Team has shown zero evidence of ever pushing their own solutions unto their users. Did you know for everyone having “issues” implementing Ghost, Ghost Team takes time out of their day, here, to freely help them instead of pushing them to a service where they take care of the installation, management, and so on?
Mmmmhmmmmm! You know how hard it was to find that? They do not openly advertise this model, but it is there for people who want it, which is beautiful. They do not even try to sell their own hosting, but tell people who decide to use Valet to go with DigitalOcean and walk them through the process. So tell me again how if Ghost Team decide to roll their own comment system, Dan will fail - especially if he provides particular features and/or methods not natively provided?
There will always be people who want to alleviate themselves from the headaches of installations, maintenance, security, and the like. Dan may be salty about my opinion, but it comes from a place of understanding and he will always have a consumer base because the vast majority of users are not self-hosting, want dedicated supported, and so on. He’ll make it just like everyone else who provides a method for integrating with Ghost… whether free, paid, or open source:
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In my opinion it is not inappropriate, it offers a paid service, it is my right to ask for as much information as possible since I pay. He is free to answer or not, he is not forced.
I am not “pooping” on what he is doing, I have congratulated him for the product several times, now I am trying to understand how much and how I am protected regarding aspects that interest me personally, I repeat he was not forced in any way to give me an answer, but he gave me the requested information very clearly and without any problems.
I’m sure many other people have my own doubts.
In the innate nature of the competition, I wouldn’t help my competitors.
In the real world, if I create product X and my competitor creates product Y with the same functions as mine and natively integrated into the Z platform, it will not be of my interest to explain to users how to stop using my product and help them move on to the competition.
In the real world, you need to inform yourself about these aspects before using a new product. Hence my legitimate question, which received a dubious answer.
About the Ghost team personally they are doing a great job, I love this product and the fact that it is open-source. But I also think it’s important to understand what the community is looking for (and I’m sure they are doing it) to understand what is best to develop first and what to do next. Surely the search system and comments are functions highly requested by users. For us users, these are important functions, and I’m sure they are also for the Ghost team. Tools like Search and the Comments system bring people willing to pay for their products.
I personally know many people who don’t use Ghost because they lack functions like Search and Native Comments. Some of these would use Ghost Pro (so they would pay) if there were these functions.
Personally I am happy that there are many variations, for Search, I use Algolia, I doubt that something equally performing can be developed, so I like to be able to use third-party services, but not all of it, some functions must necessarily be developed natively.
I think you took this too personally, and with all due respect no one was talking to you.
I love the Ghost team and the work they do, and I know how the open-source world works. If the Ghost team does not advertise certain services, it is because these services are probably not their core business. However, I do not doubt their goodness in helping the community in addition to the job interest.
Going back to Cove and Dan’s speech, I’m also sure that he will find a solution in case Ghost develops his own comment system, he could offer something different or better than what Ghost offers, but this is his thought not the my.
As I said, however, I believe it is my right to ask for information about what I will buy. Generally before buying something I inquire as much as I can with a precise, if possible, future vision.
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Titus, I’m not doing this for the money. Cove is a fun hobby project for me, but I want to charge a small amount for my hard work (many tens of hours so far building it and many hours more on customer support). Having a paid plan also helps avoid having to serve a ton of free users, which would suck up my (limited) time. I’m intentionally not charging a premium for the service, and I personally think $5 or $10 per month is amazing value for money if you have or want to build a community around your content.
Can you elaborate?
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I prefer not to and I believe you. I design and develop video games for a living, so I know all about coding and what it entails. However that guy been on the forums talking about comment systems for years. Yes, years.
That person pretended to not know what you were telling him in an effort to run games on you. Ignore him. You provide a good service for those who desire it; therefore, ignore me as well and keep on keeping on… may not be for me, but that’s just me and I do not speak for the majority.