Comments – EchoThread vs VigilanTor

EchoThread is a lightweight, privacy-first comment system — a modern Disqus alternative that doesn’t sell your readers’ data or inject ads. This plugin drops EchoThread into any WordPress theme with no code: enter your site key, choose where comments appear, and you’re live. It’s a thin wrapper around the hosted EchoThread widget (~55 KB gzipped, loaded async from a CDN). All storage, rendering, moderation, and spam filtering happen in the hosted service, so the plugin adds no tracking, no database tables, and no page-weight beyond the widget script. Why EchoThread Privacy-first — no ad tech, no third-party trackers, no data resale. GDPR-friendly. AI / ML spam filtering — machine-learning moderation catches AI-generated comment spam that keyword filters miss. Real moderation controls — a per-site restricted-word list, ban or trust individual commenters in one click, and auto-close discussions on older posts. Threaded replies & reactions — a modern discussion UX, not a flat list. Fast — one async script, zero render-blocking, no jQuery. Free tier — get started without a credit card. Disqus migration — import your existing comments via WXR so no conversations are lost. How it works Create a free account and a site at echothread.io. Install and activate this plugin. Go to Settings → EchoThread Comments, paste your shortname and API key. Choose placement — Replace the theme comments (recommended), Append below content, or Manual via the [echothread] shortcode. That’s it. Comments render on your posts immediately. Privacy This plugin loads https://cdn.echothread.io/widget.js on singular posts/pages where comments are enabled. The widget communicates with the EchoThread API to load and post comments. The plugin itself sets no cookies and collects no personal data. See the EchoThread privacy policy for how the hosted service handles comment data.

Tor is an invaluable tool for protecting free-speech, privacy, and preventing surveillance but when abused it can protect the identity of malicious users and make tracking their activities more difficult. “Hackers” might use Tor to run security scans on your website or spam websites with comments and fake registrations. The purpose of this plugin is to give you the power to block certain Tor activity from your WordPress site. Features include: Block Tor users from registering on your site Allow Tor registrations, but flag them for review Block logins from Tor (useful for preventing brute force attacks and securing your admin panel) Block Tor users from posting comments to your site Block spammy pingbacks & trackbacks from Tor IP addresses Block Tor users from your entire WordPress site Permit access after solving a CAPTCHA (requires hCaptcha for WordPress plugin) Real-time blocking using the Tor DNS exit list service Near real time blocking using a cached blocklist which can be updated every 10 minutes or more Custom blocklist support. Block IP addresses or host networks. Statistics to show how many Tor actions have been blocked by this plugin This plugin is compatible with BuddyPress, the popular Login With Ajax plugin, and hCaptcha. If there is a feature missing that you would like, request it! If you opt to use the real-time blocking, each IP address looked up is cached for 5 minutes for efficiency. The Tor IP lists that are downloaded only contain “exit node” IP addresses so it is relatively small and the list is searched using a binary search so the plugin is very fast! This plugin also adds two shortcodes which can be used to display specific content to Tor or non-Tor users. Shortcode usage: [tor_users]Hi, I see you're using Tor. I support privacy and free-speech too! Visitors not using Tor will not see this message.[/tor_users] [non_tor_users]Defend yourself against tracking and surveillance. Circumvent censorship. Visit torproject.org to learn more. Visitors already using Tor will not see this message.[/non_tor_users] Support Tor Tor is a great thing. If you agree, consider volunteering, donating to the Tor project, or expand the Tor network by sponsoring a Tor relay which will be maintained by the plugin author. Support this plugin The author of this plugin values Tor as well as the security of your website. Considerable effort went into the development of this plugin as well as the code and infrastructure that provides you with the up-to-date exit lists. You can support this plugin by installing it, rating it positively, donating to the author, or sponsoring a Tor relay which will be operated by the plugin developer in your honor.