diff --git a/config.js.dist b/config.js.dist
index 5a21985cf..2b2e9e916 100644
--- a/config.js.dist
+++ b/config.js.dist
@@ -1,10 +1,55 @@
 module.exports = {
+
+    // the address you want to bind to, :: means all ipv4 and ipv6 addresses
+    // this may not work on all operating systems
+    httpAddress: '::',
+
+    // the port on which your httpd will listen
     httpPort: 3000,
+    // the port used for websockets
     websocketPort: 3001,
-    storage: './storage/mongo',
-    mongoUri: "mongodb://demo_user:demo_password@ds027769.mongolab.com:27769/demo_database",
+
+    // You now have a choice of storage engines
+
+    /* amnesiadb only exists in memory.
+     * it will not persist across server restarts
+     * it will not scale well if your server stays alive for a long time.
+     * but it is completely dependency free
+     */
+    storage: './storage/amnesia',
+
+    /* the 'lvl' storage module uses leveldb
+     * it persists, and will perform better than amnesiadb
+     * you will need to run 'npm install level' to use it
+     * 
+     * you can provide a path to a database folder, which will be created
+     * if it does not already exist. If you use level and do not pass a path
+     * it will be created at cryptpad/test.level.db
+     *
+     * to delete all pads, run `rm -rf $YOUR_DB`
+     */
+    // storage: './storage/lvl',
+    // levelPath: './test.level.db'
+
+    /* mongo is the original storage engine for cryptpad
+     * it has been more thoroughly tested, but requires a little more setup
+     */
+    // storage: './storage/mongo',
+
+    /* this url is accessible over the internet, it is useful for testing
+     * but should not be used in production
+     */
+    // mongoUri: "mongodb://demo_user:demo_password@ds027769.mongolab.com:27769/demo_database",
+
+    /* mongoUri should really be used to refer to a 
+     *
+     */
     // mongoUri: "mongodb://localhost:27017/cryptpad",
-    mongoCollectionName: 'cryptpad',
+    // mongoCollectionName: 'cryptpad',
+
+    /* it is recommended that you serve cryptpad over https
+     * the filepaths below are used to configure your certificates
+     */
     //privKeyAndCertFiles: [
     //  '/etc/apache2/ssl/my_secret.key',
     //  '/etc/apache2/ssl/my_public_cert.crt',