I don’t like Facebook, let’s be clear from the start, I don’t like the way it tries to share info, I don’t like the way it operates beyond what it tries to sell itself as, it’s great for people who know each other and want to keep in touch, but it goes much deeper than that spreading all kinds of personal info to people whom people don’t know. Therefore it shouldn’t come as any surprise that I’m not keen on sites who employ Facebook comments, one such site is Techcrunch.
Techcrunch introduced Facebook comments at the start of the month, they felt this would help cutdown on trolling and within a week were saying it had, as described here. However they weren’t exactly jubliant about this because, they’ve stifled comments full stop, admitting themselves that comments are dramatically reduced, therefore suggesting there are plenty of people who weren’t trolling, who now aren’t posting. There are those who use Yahoo to comment there, but generally comments were down.
When Blizzard were talking last summer of moving to make their forums real names only, there was a hoo-ha and you have to remember here, you can’t really be an anonymous troll on the Blizzard forums as accounts are generally tied to a payment method. People said that if Blizzard went ahead with this, people would stop posting. Blizzard backed off in the end.
I still firmly believe that Facebook will stifle free and open debate, people don’t want to lose their jobs over something they say on a forum or in a blog post and whereas you may believe that people should be more careful of what they say, if the comment is to do with their job or line of work, then it stifles expression when they choose not to comment. Many workplaces these days have social networking policies and the deal generally is, don’t identify yourself or place of work if your comment or post will bring yourself or your workplace into disrepute, and this is where “anonymous” (and I use the term loosely, people aren’t really anonymous on the internet) and Pseudonyms very much have a place in debate.
The Techcrunch issues prompted Steve Cheney to post that Facebook is killing your authenticity. Steve Cheney said that the comments on Techcrunch now suck and that they are sterile, I don’t fully agree with him here, I also don’t agree with Techcrunch about improved quality, there’s less quantity so less trolling, but I’m not sure there’s better quality, just go and look at a MG Siegler post about Apple and you’ll see people criticising him for being a fanboi, Facebook comments and all.
However Steve Cheney does touch on an important issue, people will be reluctant to post via Facebook because it provides their real name, there is no need really to post with your real name unless it’s relevant. MG Siegler could call himself any pen name he wants to and still be criticised for being an Apple Fabnoi, it’s identity, not names that are the issue.
However Steve Cheney’s post rubbed Robert Scoble up the wrong way to such an extent that he …well trolled his readers. All the classic trolling signs are there, CAPS LOCK, profanity, insults, name calling, stubborness and threatening his readership with installing Facebook comments himself, it was quite a bizarre position for such a respected blogger to end up in. The only thing I agree with Scoble on is that real names can carry more weight, if Steve Jobs is talking Apple or Philip Rosedale is talking Second Life, it has more authority than someone with the nickname of “Red Barron” or “I like big ones” commenting on those subjects, but how many of Scoble’s readers do carry authority and if they identify who they are and whom they work for, won’t that be used against them, won’t whom they are become more important than the content of their post and therefore undermine the discussion post, because now it’s not about what you said, it’s about who you are.
The Techcrunch comments on the subject though had the quote that generally sums up my feelings on this issue, a quote from Oscar Wilde:
“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
The trolling issue requires peole to take responsibility for the comments on their sites and to take responsibility for their own tone, it’s too easy to throw out the troll allegation just because you disagree with someone. However Techcrunch, Scoble, Linden Lab et al are all welcome to run their sites how they best see fit, just as I’m welcome to disagree with them, they are ultimately in charge of their own content.