Recently a bug appeared on this site in IE8. Pages would load but the JavaScript code from IntenseDebate.com that runs the comments system for the site would just hang. I tweeted about the bug and got replies straight back from the IntenseDebate guys offering help. They spent time looking at it and after a few email exchanges we were all still scratching our heads. Looking at the problem again with fresh eyes a few days later I noticed that the JavaScript for the AddThis social networking buttons on my site might be interfering with the IntenseDebate code loading. I tweeted my thoughts and, again, got quick replies from the AddThis guys. They had a look and within hours I had an email from them with a fix. Well, what can you say, for free online services I reckon that's pretty amazing support. So a big thank you to AddThis and IntenseDebate!

If anyone else out there is having the same issue, the problem seems to be the AddThis Flash cookie. To get everything up and running again in IE8 simply update the AddThis JavaScript with the disable Flash setting:

var addthis_pub = "YOUR USERNAME";
var addthis_disable_flash = true;

Here are the guys who helped me out; @Mkoenig, @thorpus - recommended Twitter following!