If Facebook is such a douchebag company, how come so many left-leaning sites use it for comments?

[TheBlackAdder]

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I fucking refuse to get a Facebook account. I get the comment verification portion as part justification.

When Huffington Post and a few others switched to Facebook years ago, I was shut out of commentary.


I wonder if these firms will affirm their supposed convictions and dump that Facebook requirement.

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[Shell_Seas]

1. Because 95% of people have a FB account.

[TheBlackAdder]

3. C&L supports Disqus, Facebook, Google, Twitter and their C&L Accounts. They don't force single site.

[SaintLouisBlues]

4. One third in the US do not have a facebook account

Seventy percent worldwide do not have a facebook account, according to some quick googling.

[Shell_Seas]

7. But that means that 2/3 of Americans DO have a FB account.

I knew it was a high number.

[we can do it]

9. Not even close.

[FSogol]

10. 95%? No f'ing way. Link to that stat? n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

2. That Annoyed Me Too, BA

I used to enjoy the ESPN forums and that giant company decided to save a few pennies by sending everything to FB.

I admit to having an FB account, but i only opened it because it was the only way i could tell my sister that my doggie died. That was 7 years ago.

Then, my wife's friends organized a grade school reunion and all the particulars were there. But, that was 6 or more years ago and i haven't used it since.

I still get "friend" requests from people i've never heard of even though there is not likely to be an active post from me that is not over 6 years old.

[maxsolomon]

5. If you use a FB account, it's (typically) actually you.

It makes monitoring easier; no more psuedonyms like "TheBlackAdder" or "MaxSolomon".

I suppose the idea is that people will be nicer and more respectful if their real names are involved.

[MarvinGardens]

6. I know, why can't they allow Disqus or Google too?

My local paper is FB only for comments as well. They may think this prevents objectionable posts, but it doesn't. Example: Any story about confederate monuments brings all the white nationalists out of the woodwork, and they are not shy about their views. Because the paper is essentially relying on FB for moderation, the comments stand for days. Their site will not even allow me to report racist comments because I don't have a FB account.

[MineralMan]

8. Facebook is a lot of things. As a user, it is what you make

it. You can limit your friends list, make your feed visible only to friends, and you'll have no problem with Facebook. That's how i use it. If I see ads I don't want to see, I use Facebooks's tools to limit them and mark them as irrelevant to me. If a friend turns out to be a jerk, I hide that person.

Sites use Facebook for comments to get some sort of handle on authenticity of identity. It's far from perfect, but you can't comment if you don't have a Facebook identity, so it eliminates many of the real assholes who refuse to be on Facebook.

My rule is not to comment on other websites. I have a Twitter account, and I'm very careful how I use that, too.

If you sign up for Facebook and don't bother to set up any privacy features or monitor your settings, it can be a disaster. If you do those things to control your Facebook experience, it can be just what it started as - a place to communicate with a selected group of people. Facebook is what you make it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. I wonder if DU will get rid of the "like" buttons in each OP, or the backup group on FB.