dandellion:
Thanks for returning!

Miracle:
Very true, it’s not new. But only now is it becoming news (see the dates on the news items I linked to – only up to a month old).
Your idea is indeed cool, and it doesn’t sound infeasible – worth suggesting for the next version of the protocol!
Filling out the forms isn’t too big a hassle, but why have any hassle at all if it could be automated? Plus, you get the benefit that your fellow bloggers can be sure comments really came from you (horror scenario: some random guy recommending a malware-containing site to them using your name and blog address to appear legitimate).

(PS: I decided to get a more permanent URL)

I heard about it several years ago and came close to placing it on a website back then. I chose to go in a different direction.

The technology is largely worked out. The security issues for bloggers isn’t that big of a deal because its all about comments.. no posting (at least yet).

My problem with openID for blogs is the question, why? I can’t figure out a good reason to implement it on to any of my blogs besides the “cool” and “cutting edge” factor.

Is filling out those forms that big of a hassle? Many blogs (like problogger) even have plugins that actually remember your information anyway..

Now what would be cool and I could see it happening is if the openID platform had a way of remembering all of your comments and posts from around the net and then being able to display it in a sidebar or a social networking profile.

Anthony:
Yes, it does, but you’ll need some other plugins :)

Suresh:
The situation for spammers doesn’t get better or worse – as I said, getting an OpenID is as easy as getting an email address. The improvement is that nobody can impersonate you when commenting, so spam filter false-positives will be reduced.

Search Marketing Courses (is that your christian name? ;)):
My suggestion is to provide OpenID sign-on optionally. You’re right, it makes sense not to force people to sign-on just for commenting.
Your profiles should remain completely flexible.
The videos look like an interesting collection, I’ll check them out tonight!

Khuert:
No idea :) The same thing with WordPress.com… while they do provide me with an OpenID, it’s only one-way traffic for now :(

Yours,
- Wakish -

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/openid/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/yadis/

and more..

” your comments on others’ blogs will look more professional, having your verified signature”

So when will ProBlogger offen OpenID so that I don’t have to fill out this form each time I want to leave a comment?

Thanks for cluing me in about OpenID. At the moment it interests me more as a surfer than a blogger in that I’d like to save time and energy when surfing the web. As a blogger I’m not sure that I want to make people log-in to my account in order to leave a comment. Of course, if the technology takes off and this becomes standard then that won’t be an issue.

I’m curious, though, how it works with online profiles. Online profiles can help one market their site. If I sign up using OpenID will I still be able to personalize my profile – or does it default to my OpenID profile? If using an OpenID URL exactly like setting up my own account at a website, just a different log-in procedure or are there other differences?

With that said, I went and did some research after reading your post and put together some of the best video tutorials I could find on OpenID. They include a couple of tutorials on how to get started using OpenID, one on how to use the WP-OpenID Wordpress Plugin and another one on some of the benefits of OpenID.

At the end I through in a talk given at Google by a man named Simon Willison called the Implications of OpenID. This video is only for those who really want to delve further into this technology as it’s almost an hour long – but it’s there for those who are interested.

You can read the post here:

http://searchmarketingcourses.com/miscellaneous/what-is-open-id-how-do-you-use-it-and-why-should-you-care

Thank you.

Does it help spammers in any way ?

Plus note to self: tell Darren that he misspelled my name :)

@Tom:
Well, you don’t even need a blog to get an OpenID… it’s as easy to get one as to get a free email address.
The point is that OpenID *proves* to the spam filter that you’re the same person that left a comment a previous time (could even be on another blog). So once you’ve been marked as “not spam” one time, the spam filter can always let you through.

@Anne:
Thanks, exactly my thoughts. I’d worry if my bank started using OpenID, but for blog commenting the benefits certainly outweigh the risks.

@dandellion:
This is the point I tried to make in the conclusion, but it’s a bit hard to explain it clearly, so give me a second chance:

Although people usually sell OpenID as a single login for the whole internet, that’s only the simplest way to use it. In fact, OpenID allows you to use *any* website you own as a sign-on (you need to put a special XML tag on the website). What happens then is this:
* you use your blog address to leave a comment (use any of your multiple blog addresses)
* the website goes to check on your blog address and finds the XML tag, which sends it to your OpenID provider
* you get authenticated.

So, in my case, I have a personal blog at WordPress, and a blog about Linux, and I use whichever address is more appropriate when I comment somewhere. Both addresses connect me to the same OpenID provider (in this case, that’s also WP).

See also the yadis plugin I mentioned in my earlier comment.

Definitely an excellent idea for the user and the blogger!