Regular readers probably noticed that we’ve made a few small changes to our commenting and feedback systems today. Here’s the low down:

1. Every commenter can now have a profile page that includes a small bit of information about them, links to their recent comments, and comments other people have left in response. If the commenter is also a DCist author, the page will include a list of their recent posts. Here’s mine. You can register here — it’s fast and painless, but does require a valid e-mail address for confirmation.

2. Anonymous commenting is still allowed, but anonymous commenters can no longer make up clever names and use fake email addresses. If you wish to leave anonymous comments, simply log in as Guest (password, Guest), and fire away. But remember: you don’t have to register with your real name! Especially if you’re a regular commenter, we encourage you to register under the pseudonym you’ve been using all along.

3. We’d also like to formally announce our Forum, which allows anyone to post a topic for discussion on DCist. Is there something we haven’t covered that you’d like to get out there? Just login with your username and password. Particularly good Forum posts may get posted to the front page. The Forum is still a work in progress, though, so expect more changes to it over the summer.

We’ve made these changes because the old comment system was constantly getting bombarded with spam, and we thought it would be great to be able to give our readers a personal page here on the site. A number of other features based on the new profile system are coming in the next couple of months. We appreciate your constructive feedback on the new system — please note that it’s a work in process, and the experience may be sub-optimal for a few days while we work out the kinks. If you notice any problems, please do add a comment to this post or send me an email at sommer (at) dcist.com.

Photo of the National Zoo’s Kiko by tnt.dc, just because I’ve been looking for an excuse to post this one.