Today we’re incredibly excited to announce that we’re bringing back Disqus Channels, letting you create your own discussions regarding the topics you're most enthusiastic about!
Just discovered a delicious recipe that you can't wait to share? Excited about the latest video game that everybody's buzzing about? Channels empower you to share your passion with others and jump-start the conversations you need to be having.
We've made the decision to bring Channels back after listening to so many of our users who let us know that they missed the ability to connect with other Disqus community members and chat about their favorite topics.
What’s different this time around?
We’ve created a dozen different new Channels for users to participate in, including Sports, Music, Movies, Breaking News, and more. (See the full list here.) Old Channels will remain dormant aside from Discuss Disqus. It’s a whole new era.
At this time, users will not have the ability to create their own new Channels. Is there a Channel you’d like us to create? Let us know — and if we get a ton of feedback saying that we’re missing a killer Channel, we’ll take it into consideration. Kicking things off with a limited number of Channels helps us fine-tune our moderation & community safety policies to ensure that all of our users have the best possible experience!
At first, we’ll be in charge of moderating each Channel, but eventually, we may begin looking for volunteers to help us out. More to come on that opportunity!
What’s the same?
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Starting a discussion is as simple as it was before. We encourage you to include all relevant topics when starting your discussion, as it will help other users find the discussions they’re really interested in participating in. Each Channel will feature a list of the most frequently used topic tags that you're free to browse.
How do I access Channels?
There are two ways to access Channels. When in Disqus Home, click the new Channels button in the main navigation menu to be taken to the Channels homepage.
If you want to start a discussion and you already know which Channel it belongs to, you can also click the new Discuss button at the top-right of the main navigation menu. After you select your Channel you'll be taken directly to the discussion creation page.
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Basic rules and guidelines
As mentioned above, it’s crucial that Channels be a place where safe, high-quality conversations can flourish. We've established moderation tools behind the scenes to proactively banish spam and toxicity, and we will be enforcing our Basic Rules.
Channels are all about having the freedom to talk about whatever you want to talk about, and while disagreements are totally fine, and healthy debate is absolutely encouraged, we won’t be tolerating any hateful or toxic content. In other words, keep it respectful, keep it clean… and keep it fun!
Just the beginning
We want Channels to be the best possible experience for our community. Over the next days and weeks, we’ll be paying close attention to all of the feedback we receive from our users about what’s working and what’s not. Don’t be surprised if we continue to roll out new features and improvements on a regular basis—we’ll keep you informed about all of them.
Until then, we encourage you to get in there and start having fun with Channels!