At Disqus, we use data intensively to optimize Engage and Reveal for maximum impact. We believe it’s important to not just look at how numbers change day-to-day but also to understand how to make decisions based on data.

Earlier in 2015, we updated the Disqus homepage to focus more on notifications—one of the most used features by publishers commenters alike—and to highlight content from across the Disqus network. With these changes, we heard from publishers that the publisher tools got buried and were harder to find.

Today, we’re letting the world know about two important changes to the products publishers enjoy.

Here at Disqus, one of our values is being colorful. Our product is designed to let all sorts of people from all over the internet find each other to have great discussions. We’ve often said that Disqus is the web’s “community of communities” - an environment where all sorts of communities can gather and thrive. We believe that colorful characters are what make the internet a special place...and the same goes for our company! Employees are encouraged to share their whole selves with us, whether that means bringing their expertise from previous workplaces to their projects or teaching us how to juggle (seriously, we’ve had Disqusser-led workshops in everything from bike maintenance to ballet to brewing...and things that don’t start with “b” too). A diversity of opinions and experiences makes us a stronger team, and sharing our passions with each other helps us remember that we’re all humans :)

Contributors: Ernest Wong, Charles Covey-Brandt, and Michael Maltese

Earlier this week, we hosted a good ole fashioned company BBQ at Crissy Field in San Francisco - it was about time that we brought the team together for a little fun in the sun fog!

With Game of Thrones returning this Sunday, we thought we’d look back at some of the best comments people on Disqus have made about the show. 18 hours later (it was exhausting but in the fun way), we assembled some of the best. And then searched the Internet high and low to match those comments with pictures of animals. (Repeat: these are actual comments.) Allow us to present our hard work.

Getting help from an Internet stranger is a pretty surreal experience. You open a browser tab with beads of sweat trickling down your brow, and find your way to a support forum in hopes that your burning question will be answered by some noble human who has more knowledge than you.

My favorite bar in my old neighborhood used to have an Oscars night party. They’d print their own ballots and determine winners by the volume of cheering as each nominee was read aloud. That was fun but it was the discussion at my end of the bar that I enjoyed more. I could hear more and I learned more.

Yesterday, we published our findings from studying comments related to Oscar® nominated films. We couldn’t cover all that we discovered in one post. This next batch of findings looks at what surprised us and drove discussions in interesting ways.

Are you a moderator of multiple Disqus communities? Chances are you’re handling a fairly large volume of new comments on a daily basis. Perhaps you check the Disqus Admin to monitor for recent comments or maybe you prefer email notifications of new comments.