Update 2: It’s working now. The problem seemed to be with how my theme, K2, was processing comments. Specifically, I had a feature called “Live Commenting”, one of the cool things that K2 can do, turned on. It allowed you to post a comment without reloading the page, via Ajax. I disabled that feature, then re-enabled the WP-OpenID plugin, et violá! 
Update: Nevermind. It’s not working. I don’t know why it’s broken, but I’m mad now. I’ve disabled the OpenID plugin until I get the time and patience to screw around with it and fix whatever’s wrong. So much for making this easier! 
I’ve been meaning to do it for a while, but I was spurred into action by a blog post by Aaron Hockley yesterday, and a fun Twitter “argument” with him and Rick Turoczy of SiliconFlorist fame, and I’ve finally gotten around to making it possible to post a comment here on TinyScreenfuls.com using your OpenID.
What’s OpenID? If you don’t already know, and you don’t really care to learn, then you don’t have to worry about it. Comment posting will still work the same way it did before - you can leave your name and email address. But OpenID is now an option, if you want to use it. There are lots of reasons. And if you’re an OpenID person already, that should make you happy.
For more info on OpenID, go to the OpenID site. If you don’t have an OpenID already (besides the fact that you’re probably wrong, and you DO already have one, and just don’t know it), I highly recommend Portland-based Vidoop as your OpenID provider. Besides the cool stuff they do with OpenID, they have an awesome cross-browser secure password manager plugin that I’m going to love even more as soon as it starts working with the Firefox 3 betas that I’ve been running. 
Anyway, if you have an OpenID, do me a favor and help me test out the shiny new feature by leaving me a comment with it. Thanks!
TinyScreenfuls Feed (this blog)
Hi Josh — I commented using OpenID on your Kindle unboxing entry, that might be why the comment didn’t show. Let’s see if this one goes through.
if this is openid, do I need to put my name and mail too?
looks like it. How do I just use an openid with no name/email?
OK, this is a test with the WP-OpenID plugin disabled. I just tried to leave a comment to test, and it didn’t go through. I got a little yellow box down below the comment field, with no text. Let’s see what happens now…
Aaand, it’s not working. Disabled for now. I’ll try again later.
So much for this making things easier!
@Josh I’ve been quite public about the difficulties I had implementing OpenID on my WordPress blog, as well. I, too, reached a similar level of frustration trying to get the plugin to “just work.”
I know Scott Kveton, Aaron Hockley, and Chris O’Rourke, whose understanding of the implementing OpenID far exceeds my understanding, have offered their assistance to help others get OpenID working on their blogs.
While it’s not the type of easy plug-and-play installation that I would like to see, yet, it’s important to remember we’ll never get there without people like you taking the time to struggle through the process. That’s the only way we’re going to make it easier for others, and I applaud your taking the time—and hair tearing—to get it to work.
I remain confident that our adoption, though painful, will pave the way for others. Thanks for having the courage and desire to blaze a trail, or to be a Trail Blazer, as it were.
@Rick - I know. I’ll work it out. I’m not afraid of a challenge! I was just a little frustrated after a long day of messing with it. I so wanted it to “just work”, so I could tell people that!
OK, here’s one thing I thought of to try. It seems that the problem is between the WP-OpenID plugin, and my theme, K2. Which, admittedly, does some funky stuff with comments (like allowing live AJAX comments without reloading the page).
So, this is another test. I’ve turned off live commenting, and reenabled OpenID. If this comment goes through, then it worked!
Nice work! Looks like that did it. Congrats!
P.S. Time to change the headline (again).
Post title fixed. Would have happened faster, but I couldn’t get MarsEdit to do it. Had to log into WP and do it manually.
Hmm…doesn’t look any different to me, although I don’t seem to have a little icon next to my name in the top post. Maybe the blog is not using my OpenID login through Seatbelt?
OK, that’s weird, now my entire OpenID login showed up.
Mike, the little < !> icon is what indicates it’s an OpenID.
I don’t know why both of your comments appear under different names. Check to make sure your profile is fully filled out at your OpenID provider. My blog asks your provider for your full name, email, and “nickname”, and your OpenID profile is where those come from.
But at least its working!
This is my OpenID test post.
Your OpenID links are malformed. They look like this:
<a href=”http://siliconflorist.myvidoop.com/’ rel=’external nofollow” … >
You can see what’s going on there with mismatched quotes.
Your OpenID links are malformed. They look like this:
<a href=”http://siliconflorist.myvidoop.com/’ rel=’external nofollow” … >
You can see what’s going on there with mismatched quotes.
I also don’t understand (along with Steve) why I apparently need to enter my name and email, given that those things should only be necessary if I’m not using OpenID (that is, if I’m commenting “anonymously”). My OpenID profile will provide a name, right?
Hmmm … maybe I don’t need to provide anything besides my OpenID URL. It’s late. I’m confused.
I had exactly the same issue - any K2 based theme that allows ajax-commenting doesn’t call the appropriate triggers that OpenID hooks into.
So do I need to put only my website info and not my name or mail? Is K2 smart enough to show my Gravatar if I don’t?
@Brent and others - you do NOT have to enter your name and email address if you’re using your OpenID. They’ll get automatically provided from your OpenID profile, and filled in when you come back from authenticating there.
And K2 bases your Gravatar image on your email address, I believe, so whether you enter the address yourself, or it comes from your OpenID profile, your Gravatar works either way (as you can see above).
@Todd - regarding the malformed links - all the links come from the WP-OpenID plugin code. The plugin author will have to fix it. I’ll have a look and report it to them if I get a chance, or you could let them know.
Just checking out OpenID - Feel free to ignore this post.