diff --git a/config.js b/config.js
index 8987f1114..99600508a 100644
--- a/config.js
+++ b/config.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ const CONFIG = {
   ENABLE_TRACING: Boolean(process.env.APOLLO_ENGINE_KEY),
 
   // EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX is the string before emails in the subject.
-  EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX: process.env.TALK_EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX || '[Talk]',
+  EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX: process.env.TALK_EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX,
 
   // DEFAULT_LANG is the default language used for server sent emails and
   // rendered text.
@@ -271,6 +271,10 @@ const CONFIG = {
 // CONFIG VALIDATION
 //==============================================================================
 
+if (typeof CONFIG.EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX === 'undefined') {
+  CONFIG.EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX = '[Talk]';
+}
+
 if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'test') {
   if (!CONFIG.ROOT_URL) {
     CONFIG.ROOT_URL = `http://${localAddress}:3001`;
diff --git a/docs/source/02-02-advanced-configuration.md b/docs/source/02-02-advanced-configuration.md
index 083b4bcdb..49769be0b 100644
--- a/docs/source/02-02-advanced-configuration.md
+++ b/docs/source/02-02-advanced-configuration.md
@@ -246,6 +246,21 @@ Refer to the documentation for [TALK_JWT_ALG](#talk-jwt-alg) for other signing
 methods and other forms of the `TALK_JWT_SECRET`. If you are interested in using
 multiple keys, then refer to [TALK_JWT_SECRETS](#talk-jwt-secrets).
 
+You can also encode your secret as a base64 string (if you are using a symmetric
+algorithm) as long as you prefix it with `base64:`. For example:
+
+```plain
+TALK_JWT_SECRET={"secret": "base64:dGVzdA=="}
+```
+
+Would be the same as:
+
+```plain
+TALK_JWT_SECRET={"secret": "test"}
+```
+
+As `dGVzdA==` is just `test` encoded using base64.
+
 ## TALK_JWT_SECRETS
 
 Used when specifying multiple secrets used for key rotations. This is a JSON
@@ -271,7 +286,6 @@ Note that the secret is stored in a JSON object, keyed by `secret`. This is only
 needed when specifying in the multiple secrets for `TALK_JWT_SECRETS`, but may
 be used to specify the single [TALK_JWT_SECRET](#talk-jwt-secret).
 
-
 When the value of [TALK_JWT_ALG](#talk-jwt-alg) is **not** a `HS*` value, then
 the value of the `TALK_JWT_SECRETS` should take the form:
 
@@ -282,7 +296,6 @@ TALK_JWT_SECRETS=[{"kid": "1", "private": "<my private key>", "public": "<my pub
 Refer to the documentation on the [TALK_JWT_ALG](#talk-jwt-alg) for more
 information on what to store in these parameters.
 
-
 ## TALK_JWT_SIGNING_COOKIE_NAME
 
 The default cookie name that is use to set a cookie containing a JWT that was
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/README.md b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/README.md
index 60c05ad9f..19621ee13 100644
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/README.md
+++ b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/README.md
@@ -10,9 +10,10 @@ plugin:
 ---
 
 Using the [Perspective API](http://perspectiveapi.com/), this
-plugin will warn users and reject comments that exceed the predefined toxicity
-threshold. For more information on what Toxic Comments are, check out the
-[Toxic Comments](/talk/toxic-comments/) documentation.
+plugin will warn users when comments exceed the predefined toxicity 
+threshold. Toxic comments will be flagged and are held back from being posted until reviewed by a moderator. 
+
+For more information on what Toxic Comments are, check out the [Toxic Comments](/talk/toxic-comments/) documentation, and you can see how the plugin works on [this blog post](https://coralproject.net/blog/toxic-avenging/).
 
 Configuration:
 
@@ -25,4 +26,4 @@ Configuration:
 - `TALK_PERSPECTIVE_TIMEOUT` - The timeout for sending a comment to
   be processed before it will skip the toxicity analysis, parsed by
   [ms](https://www.npmjs.com/package/ms). (Default `300ms`)
-- `TALK_PERSPECTIVE_DO_NOT_STORE` - Whether the API is permitted to store comment and context from this request. Stored comments will be used for future research and community model building purposes to improve the API over time. (Default `true`) [Perspective API - Analize Comment Request](https://github.com/conversationai/perspectiveapi/blob/master/api_reference.md#analyzecomment-request)
\ No newline at end of file
+- `TALK_PERSPECTIVE_DO_NOT_STORE` - Whether the API stores or deletes the comment text and context from this request after it has been evaluated. Stored comments will be used for future research and community model building purposes to improve the API over time. (Default `true`) [Perspective API - Analyze Comment Request](https://github.com/conversationai/perspectiveapi/blob/master/api_reference.md#analyzecomment-request)
diff --git a/services/jwt.js b/services/jwt.js
index c36ea4c97..b1e444dbd 100644
--- a/services/jwt.js
+++ b/services/jwt.js
@@ -120,6 +120,11 @@ function SharedSecret({ kid = undefined, secret = null }, algorithm) {
     throw new Error('Secret cannot have a zero length');
   }
 
+  // If the secret is base64 encoded, then decode it!
+  if (secret.startsWith('base64:')) {
+    secret = Buffer.from(secret.substring(7), 'base64').toString();
+  }
+
   return new Secret({
     kid,
     signingKey: secret,