Thanks for doing this interview!

And, btw, I was the one who asked the question about removal of the sync functionality. To clarify, I was hearing from some bigger Disqus users, who were in touch w/ support due to issues with sync, that there were plans to remove it. So, hopefully this misinformation will be corrected, and I'm really glad to hear that (it makes a big difference in my decisions... sync is *crucial*!)

Also, since I can't comment on the last WP Tavern post (where this was all debated at length) anymore, the news about pricing that had been floating around was that the $10 -> $99/mo jump was at 50k pageviews per month... which seemed rather steep. Instead, I see that it is *per day* which seems way more than reasonable! (cf. https://help.disqus.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2759918-disqus-pricing-and-plans )

While, as previously noted, I'm a big fan of seeing native commenting being brought to Disqus level (and beyond), it just isn't there yet. The best, IMO, is wpDiscuz with some add-ons. After experimenting with it some, I think I could make do with it instead of Disqus. But, it still has a way to go to be as smooth of a user interaction. All other considerations aside, that's the most important aspect to me. UX

All that said, it does bother me that Disqus' focus seems so heavily on the advertising side of things. I'm all for (the option of) monetizing sites/blogs and I'm fine with advertising if it is a good match. But, I'd rather just pay one-time or a monthly fee to have the best comment system for my users.

If this new fee accomplishes that, bravo. But, I'd rather see even more movement towards paid plans than ads as a form of revenue for Disqus. I could swing $10/mo if need be to remain ad-free, and I'm guessing others could as well. But, if push comes to shove, *please* consider even lower-priced plans (i.e.: too good to resist) over pushing more in the ad direction.