Detroit Free Press now using comments from Facebook

**R8RBOB** · December-13-11, 08:11 AM

The Detroit Free Press comment section known for its blatant racist, anti-Detroit messages is now going to using comments from Facebook users. Now the folks in hoods no longer have a nom de guerre to hide under. It will interesting from here on out.

**DetroitPlanner** · December-13-11, 08:19 AM

Good. Now when they post they will make asses of themselves in front of people who tell them they are having meatloaf for dinner or the dog pooped in the kitchen again.

**animatedmartian** · December-13-11, 08:46 AM

I've seen some stuff where websites used facebook for comments. Sure it'll weed out the trolls, but some people are just openly racist and don't really care who knows. But it'll indeed be interesting.

**Zacha341** · December-13-11, 09:00 AM

I may be out on a limb here, but I dislike that more online news sites are going to FB 'ONLY' for their comment feeds.

This action blocks out all non Facebook users. You must have a FB account to make comments! I used to comment on freep.com under another handle, but I guess that option has been closed unless I do FB which I have no interest in.

**Zacha341** · December-13-11, 09:09 AM

Web link for freep.com FACEBOOK 'ONLY' comments change:

http://www.freep.com/article/20111213/NEWS09/112130405/Freep-com-switches-Facebook-comments

**Novine** · December-13-11, 09:41 AM

It will weed out the worst of the abusers until they figure out how to create dummy Facebook accounts for themselves. Based on the comments that I've seen people make on Facebook, I doubt it's going to weed out a lot of the racist and idiotic comments. Some people don't seem to care how many people in the world are exposed to their uninformed or bigoted viewpoints.

**corktownyuppie** · December-13-11, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by Novine

It will weed out the worst of the abusers until they figure out how to create dummy Facebook accounts for themselves. Based on the comments that I've seen people make on Facebook, I doubt it's going to weed out a lot of the racist and idiotic comments. Some people don't seem to care how many people in the world are exposed to their uninformed or bigoted viewpoints.

The worst of the worst will need to be really motivated. In order to screen out dummy accounts, the algorithm won't let you post until you have a certain number of friends, and level of activity on your Facebook account.

You're right, though, some people -- especially the least informed and most bigoted -- just won't care. Hopefully a little more online moderation will be of some help.

LA Times did a study of having both an anonymous forum and a Facebook-only forum simultaneously.

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/m...ore-referrals/

For an example, look at an article from Saturday

about a local city council hiring a watchdog to oversee a troubled police department. An anonymous commenter who names himself “I-HATE-LASD-DAM-PIGS” addresses previous commenters as “morons,” shouts in all caps and calls an uninvolved county official an “UGLY FAT LYING B**ch.”

A similar post on the Times’ LA Now breaking news blog

, which uses Facebook Comments, drew out some disagreements, but the commenters were generally well-mannered and stayed on the topic of the post.

So...it's not gonna be a perfect fix, but it'll probably be better than the total joke formerly known as the freep.com forums

**Novine** · December-13-11, 09:59 AM

Good point. The Freep forums have been so bad for so long, anything that replaces it will be an improvement.

**slick** · December-13-11, 10:17 AM

The Detroit News website is new and improved today.

It looks similiar to the Freep, must have used the same designers.
and there is space for facebook comments also. oh well, catagorize the masses a bit more.

**Scottathew** · December-13-11, 10:19 AM

I think it's a good move for Freep. The racism and Detroit bashing was just out of hand.

**corktownyuppie** · December-13-11, 10:22 AM

Let me translate the entire archive of Free Press forum posts in history.

"I'm angry and uniformed!!! Pay attention to how pissed off and ignorant I am!!!!"

**Zacha341** · December-13-11, 10:56 AM

Fox 2 Detroit went this way a bit ago. It did help weed out the long-time, ultra-trols who were so wild they circulated between channel 4, 7 and Fox online new sites with an enthusiastic fan club trailing them egging them on. Most of them have gone. Ok to put up an offensive avatar and hide behind the keyboard talking junk!

**1953** · December-13-11, 10:59 AM

I like the new Detroit News site. Its very clean and user-friendly.

The Freep going to Facebook comments has ended my willingness to comment on their articles. I don't prefer to broadcast my personal information to all Freep users, nor my Freep comments to my Facebook friends. They need to provide an alternative.

**R8RBOB** · December-13-11, 11:17 AM

I never setup an account on the Freep website because the comment were disgusting. One gets tired of the "Drew you suck or Rochelle why you still have a job" comments. Most of the comments were garbage. I am glad that the Freep wanted to rid its site of the racist Detroit-hating visitors.

**daft** · December-13-11, 11:25 AM

The Free Press may or may not have wanted to make this change. It wouldn't have mattered. The move to Facebook was dictated by Gannett, the Free Press' owner, for all of its papers.

**Zacha341** · December-13-11, 11:37 AM

I completely understand and concure!! While many abused the former 'anonymous' comment option, the FB only requirement is just too much. I'm done commenting on freep.com or any other FB 'only' site! The only way you can get around it is to create really 'locked-down' supposedly 'private' FB but then with no hits, 'friends', status, updates et al you're limited... so forget it.

The only social networking I do is linkedin.com [[using my real name) for business/network purposes, no status, not wall of this, no questionable photos from 'friends', no astrology, no favorite songs [[smile). It's more geared towards business.

I'm resisting the growing 'requirement' to have a FB account... and have seen it back fire on people in the professional/ personal context. Though it has had many positive uses.

Originally Posted by 1953

I like the new Detroit News site. Its very clean and user-friendly.

The Freep going to Facebook comments has ended my willingness to comment on their articles. I don't prefer to broadcast my personal information to all Freep users, nor my Freep comments to my Facebook friends. They need to provide an alternative.

**Zacha341** · December-13-11, 11:41 AM

I hear you. Thus, we see the syndication of things web and supposedly so free... and open. Ok. No thanks.

Originally Posted by daft

The Free Press may or may not have wanted to make this change. It wouldn't have mattered. The move to Facebook was dictated by Gannett, the Free Press' owner, for all of its papers.

**Zacha341** · December-13-11, 11:42 AM

It was a hot mess for sure, but I did post there once in a while under a different name to weigh against the 'muck and fray'!

Originally Posted by R8RBOB

I never setup an account on the Freep website because the comment were disgusting. One gets tired of the "Drew you suck or Rochelle why you still have a job" comments. Most of the comments were garbage. I am glad that the Freep wanted to rid its site of the racist Detroit-hating visitors.

**Ray1936** · December-13-11, 12:15 PM

Y'know, that's why I just like DetroitYes. With [[very) rare exception, the posts are thoughtful and well written. It's a great forum for discussing the issues of the day that concern us Detroiters, current and past. Complete opposite of the Freep forum.

**Zacha341** · December-13-11, 12:39 PM

That's RIGHT! Great post!

Originally Posted by Ray1936

Y'know, that's why I just like DetroitYes. With [[very) rare exception, the posts are thoughtful and well written. It's a great forum for discussing the issues of the day that concern us Detroiters, current and past. Complete opposite of the Freep forum.

**Hardhat** · December-13-11, 09:11 PM

The online Detroit News and Free Press websites this week moved to what looks like a policy taken up by a lot of publications, requiring comments at the bottom of articles to be linked to Facebook IDs.
I'm sure it won't end all of the idiotic/racist/homophobic/mean comments, but I can see already the discourse is a bit more polite. Before this policy took effect, I just avoided reading the comments because of all the anonymous stupidity and nastiness.
Can I get an amen? Is there anyone who actually enjoyed reading all that nameless venom and thought it added anything valuable to the public discourse?

**R8RBOB** · December-13-11, 10:22 PM

This was discussed earlier.
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...-from-Facebook

Can we get this merged?

**Dexlin** · December-14-11, 04:52 AM

I totally agree with the general idea of taking away some of the anonymity on Freep.com given how horrifically racist [[in particular) most of the comments were. But, as has been said, to make it Facebook-only is not some feel-good and thoughtful move to elevate the discussion. First and foremost, it was to sacrifice more information to Facebook, plain and simple. This was an incredibly cynical move to block out all other social networking sites.

**gnome** · December-14-11, 07:32 AM

The new policy means that you better hope every future employer agrees with everything you say. Better pray your current boss thinks your insights match hers.

But at least when you get passed over for that promotion, when your resume goes unanswered, when your relatives stop sending Xmas cards; at least you'll now know the reason why.

It wasn't your hygiene, it was your FB comments.

**MSUguy** · December-14-11, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by gnome

The new policy means that you better hope every future employer agrees with everything you say. Better pray your current boss thinks your insights match hers.

But at least when you get passed over for that promotion, when your resume goes unanswered, when your relatives stop sending Xmas cards; at least you'll now know the reason why.

It wasn't your hygiene, it was your FB comments.

Your boss could read an opinion they didn't like on the editorial page