"We're disabling ... Facebook Connect."

Best news I've heard all day.

@squinko: Hmmmm...how can I blame the OP here?

bound to happen, I guess.

ladies and gentlemen, i'd like to express my extreme gratitude.

Could have been worse...just think if there was a "MySpace Connect" API?

Thanks for the update on adding a valid e-mail address. Mine wasn't even in my profile.

Isn't this akin to blocking 4chan?

Naw, Consumerist viewers couldn't be that rabid... could they?

It's almost like today marks the end of the Eternal September.

My my, it's so refreshingly quiet and civil in here!

@squinko: Week/month/year? :)

@bitslammer: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! <runs screaming through the window at the end of the hall>

Gawker sold Consumerist to Consumer Reports, yeah? How come the accounts are still linked, and weren't split off from the old network?

I just wish there had been a way to link my Consumerist account with my Facebook account. I've had both for awhile, but it was one or the other.

I'm not complaining, though. I did notice the negative tone of some of the Facebookers.

Golf clap, Ben. Golf clap.

Aw, the hell with it. STANDING OVATION AS BEN WAVES TO THE CROWD, tears roll down his cheeks, "luckiest man...on the face of the earth."

@SnatchTease: I believe at one point it was mentioned that Gawker support would continue for a year as part of the deal.

@bitslammer: It wouldn't go over well with the MySpace crowd since you can't add Blingee to comments.

Thumbs up from this guy

This seems fair enough but Ben and everybody else, I BEG you not to switch over to Gawker's current commenting system that is degrading to its users. Greying out the text of non-starred commenters and not even showing them unless you click a button. It creates a large divide between the user base and so far I'm glad Consumerist is user friendly enough to not have done that.

@SnatchTease: The Consumerist has an agreement with Gawker to stay on their network for a year IIRC. When that year's up, then they'll be moving to their own platform.

Just hoping the comment system stays similar to how it is now, and not like the new Gawker comments.

Curses. The heydays of me making ridiculously snide and offensive comments anonymously are over. I hate having to contribute to a conversation.

Interesting that the FB Connect - which apparently allowed for "real" names didn't improve the quality of the comments. Fascinating, really.

Sounds fine to me. As soon as I find any site useful enough that I want to comment, I register for an account. Consumerist.com has been one of the most useful sites I have encountered in quite some time. Bravo Ben!

Now only if the Gawker sites would disable Anonymous comments and facebook connect!

@bitslammer: What about WebTV?

@Michael Belisle: I cannot give you a second star for that comment, but I wish I could.

@SnatchTease: "When we leave Gawker's and go on to our own platform later this year..."

@SnatchTease: Part of the deal was that Gawker would let them keep the system for one year after the sale.

As long as Consumerist doesn't switch over to that godawful voting system they have on Gawker sites now, I think I'll be fine.

@squinko: I thought the same.

I mean, it's not as if I don't use facebook as well, but it's just odd to me the caliber of comments coming from there.

No post auditioning is it, i suppose.

@kyle4: Seconded. My commenting on other Gawker sites has gone down considerably due to the new commenting system...

...which probably means Consumerist will now move to quickly adopt the new system ;-)

@BigPapaCherry:: Seriously. The new Gawker comment system is nothing short of painful.

Former Facebooker here (Jim Topoleski) Surprise Surprise to everyone who used to make snide comments about me being a facebooker, since guess what I HAD a real account long before Facebook was added!

But to get to the point of my post, I highly doubt it. Just take a look at the number of long time Gawker posters here or there who post utter crap.

Hell half the Facebook complainers where some of the WORST posters on the blog, and they got a free pass to complain about facebook posters!

All this really did was cut off a group of people who are now going to enmass flood your site with requests, get on, MAYBE make a few legit comments, then fuck around like before.

If you really want to ACTUALLY improve contents.

1) Drop the snide comments in the blog posts. The more you treat it like a NEWS site, the more likely people will be adult.

2) ACTIVELY moderate. If it means you need to pay someone to watch over who posts, then do it. Passive moderation NEVER works in the long run.

That being said, I think I am done here. While I was excited for the blog to be split away from Gawker, being under the CR banner worried me. I see since that time my worries where properly placed.

All I have come to see is instead of being a consumer site for all, there has been a constant and steady push toward making it exactly what I hate about CR it's self, a repository where you have to pay to get what should be freely given information.

I give it another 6 months to a year before you have to pay or be a subscriber before you are even allowed to comment here. Its too bad this was a good site when Gawker owned you.

@squinko: can we get conseanary and gitemstevedave in here to congratulate themselves?

So now I have to give Consumerist my Name, Address, SSN, Credit Card number, Mother's maiden name, and location of my secret tattoo before i can comment?

@bitslammer:AOL Keyword: Consumerist

now that would be a scary crowd.

Disabling Facebook: the best thing you can do for any website. Thank you!

@squinko: Yeah, it has /some/ good points, but overall it is quite awful. a net negative. by a long distance.

@juri squared: I dont think Facebookers were nearly as bad as the anons that Roz had to weed out. Thankfully we never got to see those :D

@nucwin83: Not as rabid, but damn can the viewers be mean little (insert mean generalization here)!

But people with any LOLCATS-type domain emails will still get a free guest pass? Because otherwise, Captain Duvel Moneycats IZ GON BALLISTIC, as Teh Kittehs say.

Well, having been a purely Facebook commenter, I think its a good thing that people need to audition. I don't know if this account has been approved or not, yet, but I've been posting on here for months now. In fact, two of my stories made the front page. Maybe that will count fer sumpthin'. Guess I'll see when I click "submit."

*crosses fingers*

@rpm773: They won't even load for me sometimes. I've given up on it pretty much.

@katstermonster: A/S/L?

Thank you god

I was always fascinated by people who would post something racist or sexist (or any other "ist") using their Facebook profile, thereby providing their real name, location, and picture.

@nucwin83: "readers" technically.

And regular consumerists cant be that bad, but I can only imagine what rest of the unapproved comments were like.

@Falcon5768: Sorry, I don't think you're Jim. He had a Facebook account he would post with, but also a regular account that was his full name.

This is great news. The level of commentary had definitely gone down once the FB crowd started posting here. Let them audition like the rest of us.

I'd add that if you're a Facebook linked person that's made great comments, probably send Roz an email telling her what your legit Consumerist ID will be for faster preapproval.
Both of you.

@squinko: I have stopped reading the Gawker sites since they are filled with all sorts of script errors with their new system.

@BigPapaCherry:: Agreed! The new Gawker comment system is horrendous.