I’ve been wanting and meaning to add something to this blog’s comments section — to prevent or minimize anonymous comments. I can guarantee you there’s a study out there showing that anonymous comments are way more likely to be pointless, snarky, or just downright destructive. I mean, if you cannot show yourself — why bother saying it? If you can’t say it face-to-face, do not say it. You know I’m right, and yet you will continue to do it.

That’s why I’ve added Facebook login. It’s the only way to comment. I figure everyone has Facebook. Sure, there’s OAuth, and there’s Twitter login. But I think virtually everyone has Facebook. Even my mother does. Click on the button “Connect with Facebook” (this is a program provided by Facebook), a new window will pop up allowing you to login. It’s incredibly simple!

A downside to requiring Facebook login is I expect to receive less comments. But I prefer this over receiving silly anonymous ones. Requiring login to show true identities (and color?) should make for concise, more constructive, and I should hope, interesting discussions.

Perhaps a downside it is not? If people see that constructive discussions with real names are taking place, they are more likely to participate? Anything can happen.

Another downside is some people are identified by their nicknames, such as “Dianrez”. The pseudonyms are so familiar it feels not anonymous. In the cases commenters have never revealed themselves, I understand their wish to protect their privacy. To those people I offer this: by requiring Facebook login, no one will “borrow” your nickname. Impersonation is a worse offense than anonymous comments, no matter how destructive.

Although millions and millions of people have a Facebook profile, not everyone does. The irony is these people won’t be able to tell me in the comments. I apologize.

Anyway to close this post, not long ago I read this quote by Winston Churchill:

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.