A few months back, we had a discussion in the EContent office about online commenters. At the time, I said that when a story pops up in my Facebook feed from one of the media outlets I “Like” I am far more likely to comment on that post than I am on the actual story. It’s easier than having to register and sign in with dozens of websites. Now that you can log-in with your Facebook — or other social network info — that point is, perhaps, moot. Nonetheless, I wish I’d written about it before Slate beat me to it:
Anonymity has long been hailed as one of the founding philosophies of the Internet, a critical bulwark protecting our privacy. But that view no longer holds. In all but the most extreme scenarios—everywhere outside of repressive governments—anonymity damages online communities. Letting people remain anonymous while engaging in fundamentally public behavior encourages them to behave badly.
I’m not sure that FB integration is the best solution to the troll problem. It seems to carry a lot of potential costs (starting with forcing people to join FB (or similar) – not everyone wants to). I don’t think the Slate article addresses the privacy issue sufficiently: there are plenty of things that I want to share publicly but wouldn’t want everyone on my friends list to know about (I’m sure we could all think of some such things, whether political (do you want your workmates to know which party or controversial cause you support?) or social (a gay teen in a conservative area might not want half their highschool to know that they’re commenting on a gay website) or medical.
I think it’s reasonable to accept that people have more than one public identity – there’s the identity we have with workmates, with close friends, with casual acquaintances, etc. FB already tries to merge these identities into one. It’s bad enough doing that within the FB walled garden, it’s even worse taking it outside, to other sites. Then there’s the fact that it’s hardly an altruistic move by FB – they’re doing it in order to improve their data about users, so they can sell that data.
Personally, I won’t comment on any site that requires me to log-in with Facebook. If it gets to the point that most sites require me to, I’ll create a fake account and use that. As you see from my response here, I’m more than happy to comment under my own name, but it needs to be my choice to do so.
(So what’s the solution? Moderation, IMO. I’ve helped mod websites for years, and quality is maintained by having standards, and either deleting posts or banning users who violate those standards. Too, pseudonomity can be effective. I have an account going back 11 years on one of these sites. I have significant reputation under that name, even to people who don’t know my real name. I’m not going to do anything to jeoporadise that).