diff --git a/.example-env b/.example-env
index 761ece47..dc7f8a3e 100644
--- a/.example-env
+++ b/.example-env
@@ -11,19 +11,19 @@ export MAILER_DEFAULT_URL='localhost:3000'
 export DEVISE_MAILER_SENDER='team@metamaps.cc'
 export DEVISE_SECRET_KEY='f71c467e526f23d614b3b08866cad4788c502bed869c282f06e73ee6c94675b62fe1f6d52fa7ba8196b33031f0d2f3b67e27ea07693c52ecebccb01700cad614'
 
-# you can safely leave these blank, unless you're deploying an instance, in which
-# case you'll need to set them up
-
-export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
-export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
-export SSO_KEY
-
-export SMTP_DOMAIN
-export SMTP_PASSWORD
-export SMTP_PORT
-export SMTP_SERVER
-export SMTP_USERNAME
-
+# # you can safely leave these blank, unless you're deploying an instance, in
+# # which case you'll need to set them up
+#
+# export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
+# export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
+# export SSO_KEY
+# 
+# export SMTP_DOMAIN
+# export SMTP_PASSWORD
+# export SMTP_PORT
+# export SMTP_SERVER
+# export SMTP_USERNAME
+ 
 #ruby garbage collection stuff
 
 export RUBY_GC_TUNE=0 #set to 1 to enable GC test