A safe environment for women seems like an anomaly on the Internet these days, but at The Mary Sue, the community of readers is showing us how it’s done. One of those readers is JustPlainSomething, a regular commenter who geeks out about nerd culture with a healthy dose of comics, movies, television, and games. An unabashed feminist, she is representative of the type of inclusive environment for women that The Mary Sue cultivates every day. She also deserves serious Internet points when one of her comments spontaneously sparked a meme that the TMS community quickly adopted with fervent enthusiasm. More on that later.

In July, we started a series called Life At Disqus. Inspired by Humans of New York, this project aimed to share the story of Disqus through the people who work here. Every week, we introduced a new Disqusser, sharing insights into their passions, hobbies and aspirations. During the course of running Life at Disqus, I was reminded of one important fact: technology isn’t what makes communities so special - it’s the people. We’re a team of geeks, mavericks, and quirky characters passionate about what we do, just like the types of eccentric and tight-knit communities we hope to foster every day through the products we build. I hope you enjoyed following along as much I did being able to bring these stories to life. Here now is a recap including some extra tidbits we didn’t publish the first time around.

Disqus makes it easy for people to add color to content across 3 million websites around the world. And each day, millions of users contribute through comments, replies, upvotes and follows about thousands of topics and interests. Today, we’re announcing new features and changes to our notifications that make it easier for people to track their conversations and better engage with site content on an ongoing basis. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll start seeing this week.

As a community leader for your site, you’re probably interested in building an audience. If you often find yourself sitting on the sidelines, twiddling your thumbs waiting for this to occur, we’ve got some tips for you: get commenting! Jump into the comment section and reply directly to your community members. After all, you’re an important member of, well, your community and your contributions matter. We recently chatted with Nikki Parkinson over at Styling You, who runs a very loyal and active Fashion and Style community. We wanted to pick her brain on the topic of author participation.

We're in the midst of another exciting movie season this summer, with surprise hits like The Guardians of the Galaxy and Boyhood. At Badass Digest, you'll find a community of passionate movie junkies obsessing over the latest box office or movie trailer releases, delving into pop culture, cult classics, and more.

Y’all know that Disqus is known as the web’s “community of communities”. Our product allows people all over the Internet to discuss their interests and engage in conversations with people who share (or hey, don’t share) their passions…people they’ve never met, and may never meet. This is one of the most exciting things about the Internet, and it’s what I love about blogging and social media.

It's like 10:30 pm and I'm still in the office.

We’re all familiar with this scenario: spend a few hours writing a great blog post (or a few days), hold your breath when you click the publish button, and then BASK IN THE GLORY OF THE AMAZING COMMENTS THAT ROLL IN, ONE AFTER ANOTHER! Unfortunately, that last part isn’t always true. But, there’s hope! We’ve got a few ideas for using Disqus in unique ways to engage your community.

Security is a top priority at Disqus. The recently publicized SSL encryption vulnerability known as Heartbleed is not a matter that we take lightly. When Heartbleed was announced, our team immediately took action to correct the problem and protect your data. As a result, Disqus is no longer affected by the Heartbleed bug.

Okay you guys, I’ve found a real gem for you this week. Emma Hager is a frequent commenter on one of my favorite sites, The Man Repeller. She’s a real standout in their community, and I think you’ll easily be able to see why. She’s the smart/cool chick you want around to give it to you straight about your clothes, your boyfriends, your insecurities, and hopes and dreams. And she’ll do it in the nicest way possible. For real though, I think we’ve found your newest girl crush. Read on and try telling me you don’t want to be her friend.

Have you ever written a comment that just didn't get as much attention as you thought it deserved? Maybe it's an impressive witty remark, an important editorial update, or a clarification for a controversial discussion. Well, now that comment you wrote can get noticed. Recently, we've added the ability for moderators to feature a comment, placing it proudly at the top of the comments section.