I did have one poor support experience from Disqus but, hand on heart, they came through the next time and seem to be much more on the ball now in responding and doing everything possible to help when problems arise. You can't fault them when they're obviously learning, and I'm certainly happy.

I find ID's points system very off-putting and unnecessary, plus it's confusing because British people end up thinking quite understandably, what's all the 5p, 46p, etc, all about? Money? I don't think trying to get people into a bonus system where the bonuses are unclear is the way to go. People just want to read and comment. They like a nice avatar, and links to their own sites and social networking idents. They like to tweet their comments, and they like easy drop-down menu choices.

For simplicity without pretence, I'd now say Disqus has the edge. Only just, but it's there.

Good write up, I am running 2 different versions of Wordpress right now just to see what one works best. I have Disqus on one and Intense Debate on the other. I cross pollinate content so they both have the same content and basic theme setup. I do use different plugins on each so I can get an idea for those as well. I do web design for a company and installs etc, so it pays for me too keep up to date on what works best and what is liked and encourages more users to comment. I will bookmark your site so that I can see what the people say.