Have you noticed our new comment system?

Just this afternoon, we rolled out our take on big daddy Joystiq's comment system. If you frequent that blog as well as ours, you may have noticed that some things are the same (the ability to vote comments up and down), and some things are different (we don't have those spiffy default Mario avatars, for some crazy reason).

You may have also noticed that there are some issues with the new system. Hey, it's new; these things have been known to happen. But we're here to help, with a handy guide to getting your profile all set up, so that you can personalize your comments and prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet (with our deepest apologies to T. S. Eliot there).

If you've fiddled around with things, or if you've been commenting on Joystiq, then you've probably figured out that a) you have a profile, and b) you can get into it. If not, this should help:

All you have to do is click your name or your avatar. If you haven't commented on Joystiq, you probably have the default avater, Mr. Question Mark Dude. If you have, you probably have some sort of Mario-themed avatar already (unless you're a rebel). That also means that you have your password and are good to go, so why are you still reading this? Oh well, it's cool -- you can stay.

If, however, you are cursed with Mr. Question Mark Dude, get to clicking and visit your profile, which should look something like what's here in the image at the right.

The problem is that you can't log in if you don't have a password, and the system seems really stingy about sending those out. In the meantime, while our crack team of developers work on the issue, you can go comment on Joystiq, and the system will then send you your password if you don't already have one.

So if you want to have a nifty setup catered to your specifications, all you have to do is:

1. Comment on Joystiq.
2. Retrieve password.
3. Log into your profile.
4. Photoshop your Mario avatar of choice ... er, choose an avatar and upload. Make other changes, such as name, as desired. You can also check out your old comments, as well as your commenting stats across blogs. Neat!
5. Live the customized dream. It's just that easy.

We do apologize for the wackiness and necessity of commenting on Joystiq to get your password, but we hope that issue will be fixed soon. Feel free to let us know what you think of the new system otherwise, including the comment voting. We hope you enjoy it!