Facebook Comments on Articles, Justify Your Football Fandom, NFL Picks 2012 Week 2

Classic Northwestern roller coaster last Saturday – but it ended well this time. 2-0!

• A while back I speculated that using real names in the comments sections of websites would reduce their horribleness. Now that so many sites are implementing Facebook Connect comments, we have a chance to see how that’s shaped things. Anecdotally I’ve noticed:

  Fewer comments overall. Your average Chicago Tribune crime story used to see maybe 10-15 (mostly racist) comments from anonymous handles; now the count is more like 4-5.

  More adamant comments with less conversation. You’re less likely to see replies to a comment in FB’s system, which hides more than 2-3 replies at a time. That said, it feels like people are more likely to talk past each other – less “ur point iz totally gay” and more “I’m saying this thing I want to say while barely mentioning you or what you said”.

  I’d say that’s all preferred over “ur gay” YouTube comments anyday. I still think comment sections are 93.4% value destruction and only 6.6% value-add, but that’s a positive shift from a solid 99.88% value destruction. Vindication: I have it.

• A political post worth reading even when you’re tired of political posts – check this one, form an opinion, and you’re done until November: “Obama by the Numbers”, Esquire.com
• I’m geeked to see the return of the NFL dialogue at Slate / Deadspin. Lots of tearing down of the NFL – while I agree with that, I had this say on Slate:
  

  All the criticisms of the NFL leveled in these exchanges are spot-on: They’re greedy, they’re hypocritical, and they know we’ll all lap it up like the idiot fan masses that we are. But what’s missing here is just why the writers are still lapping it up, too: Stefan goes so far as to hint that Goodell is a hypocrite for trying in any way to make the game safer (probably true), but then Stefan is still here as a football fan.

  I like to think I’m at least moderately empathetic, so of course I cringe at the horror stories of TBI and wonder if there’s some way to keep the game around but cut down on the destruction. But I’m just as bad: I find myself on the couch watching RedZone every Sunday no matter what outrage keeps happening. I’d like to hear the writers explore why they do the same even after such vehement denigrations.

  That “frozen tundra” appeal still works for the NFL’s basic product, I’d say, because as much as it sucks that the NFL recognizes that and uses it to sell us tons of nonsense, it’s why we all come back year after year.

• And this week’s NFL picks. So I’m not yet in NFL-gambling-oracle mode: just 6-10 in Week 1, and I had to watch the Steelers lose to Peyton Manning’s bionic neck in the process. But it’s all good, because it’s only Week 2 and I have plenty of time to climb back and get my Delphi on:

  Last week: 6-10
  At Green Bay -5.5 Chicago (off to a good start)
  At NY Giants -7.5 Tampa Bay
  At New England -14 Arizona
  Minnesota -1.5 At Indianapolis
  New Orleans -2.5 At Carolina
  At Buffalo -3 Kansas City
  At Philadelphia -1 Baltimore
  Oakland -2.5 At Miami
  At Cincinnati -6.5 Cleveland
  Houston -7.5 At Jacksonville
  Dallas -3 At Seattle
  Washington -3 At St. Louis
  Pittsburgh -6 NY Jets
  San Diego -4.5 Tennessee
  At San Francisco -6.5 Detroit
  At Atlanta -3 Denver