The Daily News today activated the latest update to the Disqus commenting system. This is a major revision for Disqus, having been rebuilt from the ground up.

Most noticeable for users is a new voting feature. This allows readers, regardless of whether they are taking part in the discussion, to vote comments up or down.

By default, comments are placed in order of how many up votes they have received. Those receiving the most are at the top. Readers have the option of switching to chronological order.

You can read more about the new system at the Disqus blog, where you can leave a comment.

From the blog: "Today, Disqus uses 'Likes' as a way to give others a lightweight virtual wink. In Disqus 2012, we decided to expand on this with voting actions. With voting, the new Disqus encourages richer discussions to form by letting the community surface the best comments. By pairing this with a smarter scoring system, Disqus will help maintain quality discussions — but without silencing simply less popular opinions."

Other features in the updated system include: realtime comments for fast-paced chat, a personal view of you conversations called My Disqus, and a community view showing top participants and hot discussions.

Disqus 2012 is still considered to be in beta, so if you notice any strange behaviour, it would be a good idea to report it to them. Of course, feel free to leave comments below.