Commenting at PDN Site? Facebook Account Required
If you want to leave a comment at the end of a PDN article, you'll need a Facebook account. According to today's online survey at the PDN, just under half of the respondents don't have a Facebook account.
I guess that's one way of cutting down on the number of comments.
I guess that's one way of cutting down on the number of comments.
posted by Tom Harper at 1:56 PM
23 Comments:
Well gee whiz, if'n you're not up to date with the latest technological fad - like the PDN clearly is - then I guess you're just not "with it" enough to comment on anything.
There's no way, no way at all, that this is intended to cut down on the amount of comments made. Nope. No way.
Sigh...
Tom, your blog just got a whole LOT more important. Please do our community a favor and give it the attention it needs, now that the PDN is well and truly DOA as a source of community information and/or voices.
Because it's so hard to make a fake facebook account. Use a real sounding name that isn't yours. Make a new email address at gmail or yahoo. This isn't rocket surgery.
They certainly had a problem with a large number of hateful commenters that were embolden by the anonymity the old system provided.
Rather than do the right thing and increase the number and training of moderators, they took the easy way out and went with Facebook. The curious thing is that the Sequim Gazette website has been using Disqus for comments for some time now. I suppose FB was chosen because it's "cooler".
I had a FB account, didn't use it, and then deleted it (not an easy thing to do either!). I don't wish to sign up again.
At this point I'm wondering whether it's worth commenting enough to make a fake account. I'm sure the usual trolls of the old system will find the time to do it.
I don't expect you to approve this comment because of my use of a word.
But so much for commenting on the PDN site in the future, I don't do Facefuck.
We discussed that a bit on my blog today.
I get tired of profiles and passwords and pissing around with all this shit that is always changing.
And my Disqus doohickey got buried in the sand somehow. Oh well, it's not like I miss any of this crap when I'm out in the boondocks.
Sure are a lot of anonymous commenters on this blog.
Well, I guess I won't be commenting on PDN articles any more. When I comment, (it is rare that I do, but some articles really cry out for intelligent comments) I use my own name. I have steadfastly resisted getting a FaceBook account because of the many invasion of privacy issues associated with joining Facebook.
I am disgusted with the PDN for foreclosing comments from those who are obviously internet literate, but who choose not to be members of an online social media site.
The PDN was just a mouthpiece for the status quo. They probably didn't like that people who questioned the City, Port, etc were making their parroting of the party line so obvious.
Many years ago, in a different town I lived in, the local paper had a very active "letters" section where local issues were debated aggressively. I talked with the editor, who acknowledged most people bought the paper for the community comments. People are interested in what others think.
But, the PDN never figured that out. I canceled my subscription some time ago.
What-ever. The mantra these days seems to be " Less, less, less.."
This towns going to soon be too small for a daily newspaper.
Smaller is nicer, if you ask me.
Now that they're printing the paper in Everet and shipping it to the peninsula, you can expect the price of the paper to go up at least a quarter per issue. I'm sure Brewer and Gottleib are making some bank on this deal!
Will be interesting to see what happens. From looking at a few articles that usually would have generated comments, I see none.
The PDN is a product that consumers choose. Obviously, this move could only piss off PDN commenters.
But, since the internet commenters probably don't actually pay for a subscription, it looks like the PDN staff don't care.
I wonder if it will affect their advertising rates? I know I intentionally will not patronize any business I see advertising in the PDN.
it's downright stupid. It's a way to end comments, and make it so that they'll know who you are. PDN is sinking, rats are jumping, and the new owners will make it a weekly rag devoted to b.s. and bird cage lining.
Hey there...For those who have been burned by or frustrated with trying to get a letter to the editor published in the PDN, I have started a new, letters-to-the-editor only blog at: clallamcountyletters.blogspot.com. Since the PDN always tries to change, delay, deny or otherwise mess with your letters, this is intended as another option.
Letters can be sent to: lettersnofilters@gmail.com. Please keep them to 300 words or less, don't engage in libel or slander, and do include your name and daytime phone number. More details can be found on the blog site itself.
And thanks to Tom for letting me post this here. What I'm trying to do is different than your blog, so I hope you don't see it as some sort of rival. I really, really appreciate your site, Tom. Thanks so much.
advertising rates? AAAAAHahahahaahha!
had to laugh a long time on that one, annon 9;29am. That is rich.
The joke of it is their advertising rates are based on the whacky concept that three or four people read each and every newspaper.
Inflated circulation numbers, outright lies, and pandering to the big boys in town. Just try and run an ad in the PDN if you are a small business in town. You might as well run an ad in the Seattle Times. Same rates, no deals.
I don't think it's the PDN. Sequim Gazette implemented the same features with nearly the same announcement. Evidently the new owners "like" Facebook.
Just Letters: Thanks. I'll do a post about your site. The more online alternatives to the PDN, the merrier.
dear 5:18 PM, the PDN and Sequim Gaz were owned by the same overlords, and both were sold to the new bosses (same as the old bosses). Just because two papers in the same area did facebook, it means that the same bonehead boner-doner wanted to do it, because HE thought it was cool, and less work. (Computer types are always looking for less work, it's the concept.) It doesn't mean that the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times or any "real" newspaper will be using facebook.
12:03 - What? I never said other papers would use Facebook. Just pointing out it's not the just the PDN but both our local papers that just got bought by Sound Publishing.
Oh, and Forks Forum and Sequim Gazette were owned by Olympic View Publishing. PDN was owned by Horwitz which has been getting rid of their papers like crazy since the recession began. Different owners. Time will tell if the new boss is same as the old boss. Hey, the new guys might be a lot worse!
"Hey, the new guys might be a lot worse!"
Can you point out anything that is BETTER, these days?
The Seattle Times is using facebook now too.
I looked over on the PDN site again this morning to see if the number of "Comments", the levels of reader participation were similar to before the "change".
I looked at the article with the McEntire claim of victory, which one would think would generate at least one comment. There were none.
Sad to see Seattle Times go to facebook, too. Clearly, from seeing the huge drop-off in reader comments at the PDN site, it is resulting in a limiting of the public's ability to voice an opinion.
But, let's remember these are privately owned businesses, all. They can do these things, if they want to. "News" is not a public service they are obligated to provide objectively. They have their goals and agendas.
I saw something in the paper today that made me sick -- the same group that just bought the PDN has also bought the San Francisco Examiner. The Ex used to be the best paper in San Francisco, then it was sold off and made into a tabloid so the Chronicle could be dominant. Even so, how sad that a once-proud paper is reduced now to being another little cookie-cutter daily/weekly owned by a Canadian group.
Personally, I'm waiting to see what happens with the PDN. Sometimes our little daily is so badly written, un-proofread, and unrepresentative of local opinion that I almost think a change can't help but improve things. We'll see.
Meanwhile, I love this blog and hope lots more people will continue to comment here, where you don't need Facebook.
I don't think you understand the trail that was the SF Exam. It was owned by Hearst, but sold when the old SF family owning the Chron was in the market to sell. So, the CHRON became the Hearst paper, and then they sold off the Exam to a local group. (Who made it into a tabloid.)
Now that group sold it.
The old Examiner, that you knew is the Chron, and the online website is SFGATE.com
Blackpress.ca is a creepy little consortium, and they're conservative, Christian, and anti-gay. Should be interesting to see them try and play in SF.
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