I can answer this part of the question:
The other question that I have is about the value of using EasyBlog with my EasySocial and EasyDiscuss site. Each persons profile has a Blog icon and I am wondering if EasySocial has a blogging component in it already of if EasyBlog is needed in order to allow users to Blog. Again, I am looking for idea and suggestions.

EasySocial does not have it's own blogging component. You have to Install EasyBlog and then add the EasyBlog App to allow users to add blogs from the EasySocial section of the site. When you do this you have to make sure that you set the settings in EasyBlog

In EasyBlog set the following settings to integrate it with EasySocial.

EasyBlog > Workflow > Users > Login Provider: set it to use EasySocial

In EasyBlog > Integrations > Layout. Se=t it to use EasySocial. You can figure this out from all the settings on the page.

In EasyBlog > Layout : Make sure to use EasySocial as Avatar integrations

EasyDiscuss has similar settings to Integrate it with EasySocial.

Thanks for sharing this Randall

I am still wondering about the value add of putting Komento on my site which has Easy Social, Easy Blog and Easy Discuss. Will Komento significantly enhance the commenting on these three components? My guess is that the answer is a definite YES. :-) But, the only one that seems it could clearly benefit is EasyBlog. So, I am curious how Komento would work with EasySocial and EasyDiscuss.

Hello Sean,

Komento does not work with EasyDiscuss and EasySocial and it really shouldn't. Why would you want to have a huge comment system displayed in EasyDiscuss or EasySocial :P

Thanks Mark,
I was sort of wondering the same thing but thinking maybe I was not understanding the value of Komento. That said, Komento is a great enhancement to EasyBlog.
Sean

No problem Sean

Hi Sean,

I haven't used Komento yet, but am intended to start using it as it has an integration with ZOO as well.
So if you're for example using ZOO as well or K2 than it can also add some additional value besides the items already mentioned earlier.

Thanks for sharing Danny

Sean, are you also considering using it with YooRecipe? That would be another advantage in having comments to Blog and Recipes having the same underlying system.

Yes Eileen,
I totally would like to use Komento with YooRecipe. Thank you for suggesting that. Have you been able to do that? That is a fantastic idea that I should have been thinking about!
Sean

Hi Sean, no, I haven't gotten to this yet, but it's on my "to do" list. I've seen others successfully accomplish this in other components, and if you're able you can following the instructions for integrating Komento.

Eileen,
I think I am going to wait for YooRecipe to get their integration with EasySocial and maybe suggest they look at Komento. The level of technical skill to do the integrations for adding Komento to the YouRecipe recipes is more than I feel comfortable with. But, I sure do appreciate your suggestion. It does get my wheels turning. :-)
Sean

I was wondering the same thing Sean (i am in the same boat with the project i work on) and i think you must treat Komento as a "standalone" discussions zone tied to each of your content items, say "Recipes"
EasyDiscuss can act on your project similar like a "Forum" or a place where people ask question and get general advice on "food recipes" and have Komento manage your discussions per on-recipe basis.

Of course, you can have also EasyDiscuss integrated with your content component in such way that for each "Recipe" you post there will be a EasyDiscuss topic automatically opened and "recipe" discussions will be controlled in your "forum" aswell. But i don't like this approach because it's creating a bit of a mixed confused feeling among users and also because your forum will grow with a lot of automatically opened topics for each "recipe" you post on the site. So, in order to keep things clean, i think you must adopt a separate approach

I vote for Komento as a "discussion" zone for each of your "Recipes" and "EasyDiscuss" for a general community zone similar with a forum where users can post questions, receive answers or simply discuss on collateral subjects.

Thanks for sharing Mist

I agree with you Mist, when you want to judge a recipe based on other's experience, nothing beats a quick review with Komento! For discussions about the recipe, an insightful conversation about tips, tricks, or plans, I plan on providing an suitable area in EasyDiscuss . The developer has listened to his users and has plans for integration with ES as well.

Thanks for sharing Eileen

Eileen,
I realize that I do not believe that any of us have mentioned on the YouRecipe forum how nice it would be to be able to use the Komento system instead of their default system for commenting. For me that would mean I could use Komento for K2, EasyBlog and YooRecipe and that would certainly be very convenient.
Sean