Dear Qcity family:

As I mentioned in my previous column, today we launch our new Disqus commenting system, which requires a 15-second registration process.

Our reasons for making this change were outlined earlier, so I won’t belabor them here. Suffice it to say, a major factor was to encourage greater civility.

What I want to do in today’s column is anticipate some of the questions you may have and outline some of the new Disqus features:

Old Comments: One of the first things you may notice is that all of the previous comments have vanished. This is the most unfortunate part of our transition. Truth be told, the cost of importing them into the new system was prohibitive. We look forward to the day when we can import them.

Get Registered: You will need three pieces of information to set up a Disqus profile – a screen name, a valid email address and a password. That’s all it takes. To get started, go to the comments section on any story and click the blue "DISQUS" button.

Already Registered? If you set up a Disqus profile on another website, such as CharlotteObserver.com or TheGrio.com, no need to do it again. That same registration should work on Qcitymetro. You also may register using your Twitter or Facebook accounts.

Confirm your Email: Once you have registered, the system will send a confirmation notice to the email address you listed. You must click that confirmation link to complete the process.

Use an Avatar: Each person who registers will be assigned a generic avatar. Feel free to upload a different image. If you register here using you Facebook or Twitter accounts, Disqus will use the respective profile image.

Take it With You: You can set up your Disqus profile so that you receive an email notification whenever someone responds to one of your comments. You can then respond back using that same email, and your response will be posted to Qcitymetro automatically.

Nobody's Perfect: Disqus allows readers to edit their comments after posting. So if you see errors in your post or think of something you left out, simply hit the "Edit" button and fix away.

Easier to Follow: Unlike our old system, Disqus lets you respond directly to specific comments. Your response will be posted directly under that comment, slightly indented. This will make it easier to follow the conversation threads.

Have it Your Way: You can determine how comments are displayed -- newest first, oldest first, or by popularity (those with the highest number of 'likes').

RSS Feeds: You can subscribe to a comment thread via RSS. Simply click the “Subscribe by RSS” button at the bottom of the comment box. The system will walk you through how to set it up.

Stay Social: If you logged in using Facebook or Twitter, you can post your comments directly to your Facebook or Twitter pages. It’s a good way of inviting your friends to participate.

Enhanced security: Just like our previous system, Disqus allows readers to report comments that violate our policy. (Speaking of which, here’s a link to our commenting policy.) It also allows our editors to deputize readers to help monitor comments.

We realize, of course, that not everyone will be happy with this change at first, but we also believe that the good will greatly outweigh the bad. Meanwhile we’ll keep monitoring this system to make sure it works as it should.

If you have any problems, or simply want to share concerns, email me at editor@qcitymetro.com.

We hope you will sign up and keep talking.

Got news to share with Qcity readers? Email us at editor@qcitymetro.com.
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