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However, what I haven't figured out yet is if this is actually an evil-Facebook issue or just a user issue. I have a side rant that has been bubbling in me for

However, what I haven't figured out yet is if this is actually an evil-Facebook issue or just a user issue. I have a side rant that has been bubbling in me for a long time on this issue. My city's alternative weekly paper, The Dallas Observer, switched from Livefyre to Facebook's commenting system about two years ago. Livefyre was bad but the Facebook comment system is worse. With Facebook forcing "real" people accounts, comments plummeted on stories that presented alternate takes on local stories that didn't fall into line with the Dallas Morning News's traditional power structure patriarchs (mostly land developers). The editor's suggestion to people that wanted to comment on a story without using their "real name" was to create a separate Facebook account. Un-fucking real. My conspiracy theory is that The Dallas Observer, and probably all Village Voice Media properties, were promised better exposure in Facebook user's news feeds if they used the Facebook comment engine. Seems like a devil's bargain to me. I put the Facebook comment system squarely in the evil-Facebook pile.

MikusR 9y ago
Probably had nothing to do with them being liable for the content of comments, need for moderation, spam.
- jessaustin 9y ago
  "Liable"? Are you an attorney? Has anyone been sued because they used Livefyre rather than FB?
- jbigelow76 9y ago
  Livefyre and Disqus both have tools for moderation and spam control, probably better than Facebook since comments are the primary business of Livefyre and Disqus. Regarding contents of comments, I would think the Safe Harbor act and/or First Amendment protections would be sufficient for a news organization. So I'm going to be generous and agree with your statement at face value, it probably did have nothing to do with any of the things you mentioned.
reitanqild 9y ago
Facebook comments and real name policy are really bad IMO: it discourages thoughtful users who happens to have dissenting views and exposes groupthink, people who care to create fake accounts as well as people who don't care.

MikusR 9y ago

Probably had nothing to do with them being liable for the content of comments, need for moderation, spam.

jessaustin 9y ago
"Liable"? Are you an attorney? Has anyone been sued because they used Livefyre rather than FB?
jbigelow76 9y ago
Livefyre and Disqus both have tools for moderation and spam control, probably better than Facebook since comments are the primary business of Livefyre and Disqus. Regarding contents of comments, I would think the Safe Harbor act and/or First Amendment protections would be sufficient for a news organization. So I'm going to be generous and agree with your statement at face value, it probably did have nothing to do with any of the things you mentioned.

reitanqild 9y ago

Facebook comments and real name policy are really bad IMO: it discourages thoughtful users who happens to have dissenting views and exposes groupthink, people who care to create fake accounts as well as people who don't care.