We made some important changes under the hood at TechFlash this week, switching our content management system and implementing comments from Disqus.

Many asked for a better commenting system on TechFlash. And we're confident Disqus will help strengthen the community while at the same time empowering our loyal readers who participate in the discussions.

Here are some of the key features you'll now find in the TechFlash comments:

Threaded comments: You can now respond directly to individual comments, inserting your thoughts in the most appropriate part of the thread.

Log ins: A simple log-in process allows you to sign in with Disqus or Twitter accounts, and then remember those profiles each time you come back. (We're hoping to add Facebook Connect soon). If you're not registered with any of those social media sites, you still can post a comment as a "guest."

Sharing: Got an insightful comment you want to share to your community? You can easily Tweet it by hitting the "Tweet this" button.

Sorting: Readers can now sort comments by the most popular, best rated, oldest and newest.

Image: Your Twitter or Disqus profile image now accompanies your individual comments.

Email alerts: Now you can follow the discussions on specific posts by setting up email alerts on comment threads. Simply hit the "Subscribe by email" button under the comment box, and all comments from the thread will appear in your in-box. You can also respond to comments from your email.

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. We hope these new features -- and others to come -- will make the TechFlash community even stronger.

You can get a sense of the power of the new commenting system in this excellent discussion on the post "The first Twitter class."

We're big believers in the journalistic power of reader conversations, and we ask that you keep the discourse respectful and civil.

Feel free to register with Disqus or Twitter, upload your image and join the discussion. We'd like to hear what you have to say.