Bye, Bye, Huffington Post (Facebook Account Required)

[TheBlackAdder]

Last edited Sat Dec 14, 2013, 10:54 AM - Edit history (1)

Huffington Post now requires commenters to verify their identity with a Facebook account.

I don't buy into the Facebook paradigm.

===

10 years ago, imagine if we had to verify ourselves with a Rupert Murdoch MySpace account.

===

Updates:

They not only verify your account using Facebook, but also display your Facebook account name.

If you are using FB to verify the account for internal purposes, why display the FB account name for others to see?

Also, Facebook is a primary NSA contributor. Nice.

[jsr]

1. Facebook is our new Internet gatekeeper.

[openfield]

43. It seems that way to some

Of course it is not true. Keep our internet free, private, and democratic!

[SamKnause]

2. HuffPo

Do you know how I can close, or delete my HuffPo account ?

I tried to find the info on the HuffPo site, but I couldn't find anything about closing my account.

Thank you in advance.

[MANative]

4. Easy peasy... Click the arrow next to your profile name...

at the top right of the main page. It will give you a drop-down box. Click "settings". Scroll to the bottom of the page that loads. There is a red box at the bottom that says "remove account". Click that and confirm. You're outta there! (Me too - just now!)

[SamKnause]

18. Reply

Thank you.

You were right, it was easy.

[Yodaquoter]

20. Direct link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/preferences/

[SamKnause]

21. Reply

Thank you.

[chillfactor]

29. go into Huff Post...go to the bottom of the page and hit Contact Us...

scroll all the way down to the bottom of that page..on the left you will see a link to unscribe from HP...click on that link

hope this helps!

[SamKnause]

30. Reply

Thank you.

It is taken care of.

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

[MADem]

3. Why would anyone want, especially, to comment in that cesspool?

It seems like a web of goaders, baiters, trolls, and assholes to me. Every time I dive into the comments, it goes something like:

1. Salient remark.
2. Snarky retort.
3. Nasty comment with genitalia reference.
4. Spam.
5. Comment from some idiot who either doesn't have the bubble or who is trolling on a higher plane.
6. Un-intellectual --but at least on topic--observation about the story.
7. Vicious personal attack denigrating the personal qualities of poster number 1.
8. Vigorous defense of poster number 1 by someone jumping into the fray.
9. Vigorous defense of the poster 7 hater by a new entrant to the melee, which includes a scatalogical element.
... Lather, rinse, repeat.

And so it goes. You spend a minute reading that crap, and your take away is "Geez, that's a minute I'm not getting back!"

[lake loon]

5. Marvelous post

That's precisely the hoohah that goes on there. Of course, so many more salient remarks are extinguished by their brain-dead mods.

[Cirque du So-What]

6. That's pretty much my impression of HP as well

and I know for certain that I haven't even bothered to read commentary over there for at least a couple of years. I can't imagine that conditions would have improved spontaneously in the meantime, and now there's the mandatory FB account thing. I believe HP will eventually serve as a cautionary tale in the chapter of a book titled How to Avoid Running a Perfectly Good Website Into the Ground.

[MADem]

7. +1,000 -- I get the impression that the site isn't conducive to conversations at all.

It's more of a "hit-and-run" type place, where someone can opine that this thing or that "sux, man," or a place where someone can get into a shitty little pissing contest (preferable to kicking the dog, I suppose) without having to have any kind of "relationship" with the person they are bashing!

[adirondacker]

8. +1000. plus the fact that it reads like a gossip tabloid. nt

[NuclearDem]

9. I understand why they do it

A way to discourage trolls and force someone to own their comments by attaching their names and faces to it.

But still, won't see me posting on HuffPo.

[TheBlackAdder]

11. Perhaps they save in costs of administration, like they don't pay many contributors for their work!

Just a thought.

[NuclearDem]

14. Well, yeah, I never said HuffPo wasn't terrible.

[sabrina 1]

34. This is the internet, not real life. I notice btw, you have not attached your real name to your

comments. Any reason why, considering you understand the need to attach ids to comments, you have not done so here? Unless of course your real name is 'NuclearDem'!

I used to use my real name back when I was really naive and thought everyone was pretty decent. Then after receiving death threats from Right Wingers and private messages such as 'I know where you live', I decided that was a mistake.

Good luck to them. I have a feeling their membership will drop considerably as people wonder if they are branch of the NSA or something.

Best way to handle this, create a fake account on FB. I never trusted FB so never joined, they wanted too much info which struck me as odd for an internet site.

This is an attempt to shut people up, nothing more. I hope they lose most of their membership over it.

Seems like an experiment to me, make it fail, cancel membership, and they will quickly drop the whole stupid idea.

[NuclearDem]

38. My parents were jokesters.

Payback for me keeping them in the hospital over Thanksgiving.

[DinahMoeHum]

10. Fuck Facebook and Twitter. . .

and any website that requires one to register with either of those two.

Bye bye, HuffPo

[Initech]

17. +1!!!!!

[KG]

12. so, create a bogus FB acct. I have 3. and 2 G+

[TheBlackAdder]

16. That just proves their actions are not to prevent posts, but to expand their FB exposure.

It's all about money.

They've wanted Level 2 Networkers to have FB. Level 1 people were not part of it.

I guess not that many people wanted to be an L2 Networker so they're forcing L1s to attach a FB account.

==

They are just using the ruse of 'verify' as a means to justify this move, when as you state... the FB account could be a shell.

[tritsofme]

13. It can be convenient for people who want to casually comment

without going through a sign-up process.

Personally, I am not interested in having my name out there to the public, so I have a dummy account for those types of sign-ons.

[Yodaquoter]

19. Ain't gonna happen.......

"How do you get your Facebook account verified? You have to enter a confirmation code sent to you by Facebook via text message. So to comment on Huffington Post, you need to give Facebook your phone number, and you need to give HuffPost access to your Facebook account, which, Facebook says, must list your real name. Then, you can choose to post HuffPost comments under your full name or just your first name and last initial."
(I remember the early days of the Huffington Post when it really was a haven for progressive commentary. It is sad what it has become; a glorified National Enquirer with the worst moderation system on the web; comments held up for days; comments deleted that are not in violation of their guidelines, and on and on. The notion that this move was intended to promote "civility" on the site is laughable. The site is designed to promote knee-jerk reactions and controversy. Their objective is get their hands on your data. At any rate, I closed my account. I don't need the frustration and I'm sure as hell don't need my real name exposed.)

[WinkyDink]

22. Yep, that's a non-starter for me. People there will just have to live deprived of my insights. HA!

[silverwolf942]

23. Profile can be changed back

Initially, after linking to the Facebook account, that is what is displayed when one comments. However, if you venture into your account settings, you can change it to still show your handle and Twitter avatar.

[Incitatus]

26. I don't trust them with that information.

It's too risky and not worth it. The site has gone to hell, anyway.

[seabeckind]

24. Earlier today I commented on my experience with a FB based forum

and posted this on my FB page...

"Later today I will be terminating (as much as possible) my FB acct. If my political views and comments have caused any problems for anyone, I am very sorry. I didn't realize how the ignorati exploit the FB system. I noticed that my problems with the star started right after I pointed out that the Indiana Policy Review (started by Pence) has been sending LTEs pushing his position. I guess voicing liberal ideas is a big no-no, especially when they can be justified.

Jimmy asked about the NSA and privacy. I trust the NSA with my personal info much more than FB. The Privacy Act is directed at people who divulge your stuff. FB, OTOH, encourages you to show personal stuff and makes it visible to the world if you aren't very careful. It errs to the divulge side.

I'd gotten some nasty messages from those who disagree with my positions, not based on those positions, but personal. I'm glad now that I didn't show any personal info, like my name and DOB. BTW, that reluctance is what was used against me to remove me from the star. In order to reactivate I have to go to FB with a picture of my ID. As if. Especially since there's no way that guarantees a react on the star.

What makes all this so much worse is that so many public forums have started using FB for their postings. It makes it easier because they don't need staff for admin but it then allows a spotlight to be shined on anyone who might disagree with the party line. Just like long ago during the labor movements where the guy who could be identified was targetted. I noticed that so many forums have taken up that right wing argument...the one that says you should stand behind your position.

We have laws in this country to protect us from our gov't. We have no such laws to protect us from "private" gov'ts.

Take care...there're some real nasty, ignorant people out there"

I don't know the motive so many sites have for using FB but whatever the reason the implementation sucks...and not just for the intrusions. The interface itself is extremely clunky, dropping comments, etc. It's an absolute mess and indicative of pure laziness on the part of admins. And that's ignoring their inability to control the interface.

[seabeckind]

25. Addendum...

I also noticed a coordinated effort on the part of the right wing oppositions, also. It was apparent that they were messaging outside the forum. Even indications they were searching for more personal info.

In the end, a number of posters made independent objections to my posts.

My only worry is that there might be some repercussions to family friends.

[Skittles]

27. people can live without facebook

it just takes a little bit of EFFORT

[MinM]

28. The Huffington Post site always freezes up my computer.

Haven't visited that site for a few years now.

[SamKnause]

31. HuffPo

I always had trouble with that site.

When you are just starting out with your first internet experience and being completely computer illiterate it really sucks.

I never knew if it was something I was doing, if the internet was acting up, or if the site was acting up.

It was frustrating as hell.

I joined in 2008.

The site has drastically changed !

As of late, I rarely posted.

I learned so very much the first and second year.

After that, it went downhill quickly.

I asked some of my favorite posters for another site and they recommended Democratic Underground.

I joined at the beginning of the year.

I deleted my HuffPo account when they implemented the FaceBook policy.

[defacto7]

32. What's a Facebook?

Never heard of it.

[Amonester]

33. It's a secretly public spying machine in private hands.

It stacks up profits in offshore tax havens.

[FatBuddy]

40. facebook is a convenient way to determine

if someone is worth talking to.

if they use facebook, nope.

if they don't use facebook, they're probably an interesting person.

all of the wealthy, interesting, intelligent people i know who lead purposeful lives don't use facebook.

it's a good cultural screening device in that respect.

[madrchsod]

35. i use facebook for all my latest political information

in the last 24 hours i have have and close to 30 different posts from national,state,local politicians,political parties,every news source that is posted here at du,hell even the rude pundit has a facebook page. the organization of the opposition to walker in wisconsin was through social media and the main tool was facebook.

like it or not facebook and other social media is a very important tool for information. information that the main stream media refuses to cover untill the story can no longer be suppressed.

social media has it faults but come to think of it...we are on it right now

[PasadenaTrudy]

39. I love twitter

for info. I follow some interesting people!

[madrchsod]

41. one thing i have`t tried but

i have a new phone so i can actually use the twit

[adavid]

37. That is why I,...

comment here, Crooks and Liars, Media Matters, and the David Pakman Show.

[choschu]

42. no more huff post for me

Trying to link the HP acct with FB flopped. The number I was instructed to text to get a code back failed. I was already logged in to both HP and FB—that should have been enough. Is HP trying to drive away commentators? They've already been doing it lately with increasingly arbitrary and erratic moderation.

[PasadenaTrudy]

44. There's a group

a huge group, of ex-Huffpost users over at Epoch Times. That site has done a couple articles on the debacle. Go check it out

[ifyousayso]

45. No more Huffington Post for me either

I agree. I deleted my Huffington Post account the same day they started the Facebook requirement. I refuse to be pushed into a relationship with Facebook. I still value my privacy.