When you rely on outside third parties, you are also putting your data in their hands. If they fold, get sold or go under, so goes your comment data.

@Robbie - Honestly, this is the sort of misinformation that needlessly confuses people, and all it takes is a minute of research to get these basic details right, ideally before you make unequivocal pronouncements.

Syncing has been a high-lighted, central feature of the WordPress plugins for all of these services (IntenseDebate, Disqus etc), pretty much right from the start.

This is what I meant when I said that the arguments against these services actually end up being arguments for them, if you introduce actual facts and reality. You suggest that using a hosted comment system is bad because of the risk of data loss; in reality, the risk of data loss is far lower because you are saving each comment in your WordPress database AND on the hosted service.

If they fold, get sold or go under ... you deactivate the plugin and, voilà, all your comments are right there, in your native comment system.

When you build your website, you’re building an asset. Why build somebody else’s?!

Disqus provide an optional service in a free market. People use them because they do a really good job of providing a smooth, enjoyable and viral commenting system that users are familiar and comfortable with - the bottom line: they increase participation.

My house is an asset. When a pipe bursts, I call a plumber. Yes, his business is his asset, not mine, and, by giving him my custom, I am adding to his asset ... but he does a good job and it would be a rotten use of my time to try and fix the gushing pipe myself. So would spending days searching out individual plugins in an attempt to replicate what Disqus already provides, maintains and continually improves.