Posted on 09/24/2013 8:57:28 AM PDT by BerserkPatriot
Proviso, I fully realise that FR doesn’t use that accursed system, but this is meant to be cautionary tale of sorts and as a warning to those of you who venture out and come across the devil’s spawn of commenting systems. (Also realise that I restricted my self to just 5 items to keep this vanity short and sweet – and to make it easier on myself to order the top 5).
5). Disqus allows trolls to change their names on the fly. This may seem strange to those who are used to FR where your screen name is your ID of sorts, but this is the case with that system. Most people are honourable in this regard but some trolls take full advantage of this "feature" to disguise their trolling.
You can have a troll attacking you one day and you learn to avoid it, then the troll will change it’s name and the process of troll avoidance will begin anew.
4). Disqus allows impersonations Impersonations - While Disqus portend to disallow impersonations they do in fact ignore it when trolls use this tactic. While I don’t know what extent other systems screen these types of tactics out, Disqus seems to be particularly egregious in their lack of enforcement of their "rules" on this practice. Example: Your screen name could be something like: Bourn1943 and the system will allow someone else to impersonate you with a similar name like B0urn1943 [0 for o] or BournI943 [I for 1]
This can be a big issue when combined with the first issue in that a troll can decide to punish you by impersonating your screen name and avatar if you get into a heated argument. The discussion can quickly become confusing at best and at worst you can be banned by the moderators for being a ‘troll’.
3). Disqus allows trolls to stalk people and harass them into silence. One “Feature” of Disqus is the ability to “follow” other users – while this may sound innocuous in practice experience has shown to be quite the opposite. While this “Feature” let’s you see what others you agree with are posting in real time it’s also allows trolls to do the same thing – and you have no recourse in the matter. Disqus has not seen fit to address this issue and let you block followers as in other systems.
When someone "follows" you, they can see everything you post and thus they can incessantly troll you at every turn. The old canard is to not feed the troll – with the stalking “feature” – EVERYTHING you post feeds the troll.
Example: with this Stalking “Feature” a troll can simply post “You’re Lying” after every one of you posts and you cannot escape from this incessant harassment aside from creating a new account and starting over – up and until the stalker finds you once again and begins the process anew.
As I mentioned, this ongoing problem has been brought to Disqus’s attention, but they have yet to really fix the problem by simply letting people have control over who "follows" them.
2). Disqus won’t address their glaring security vulnerabilities. Several months ago in an attempt to address the Stalker troll issue, Disqus implemented an option to have your account set as Private – the sales pitch was that this would stop trolls from stalking users.
Except it quickly became evident that at least one of the more egregious stalkers wouldn’t be deterred by this security measure. Despite the advertising that the ‘privacy’ setting can stop troll stalking, this still occurs.
Initially Disqus pretended that this security measured worked – and they still recommend it to users with this issue. But now since it’s been repeatedly shown that their security had been breached they now just say they are ‘working on it’ or that it isn’t an issue or some other such nonsense.
Meanwhile this particular stalker troll is able to somehow hack their system and access these accounts – which begs the very important question – if someone is able to get around that security measure, what else are they able to hack?
So now we are at the number one reason why Disqus sucks – and I know what you’re thinking:
Given 5 through 2, those are a lot of reason why Disqus would suck big time, what does she have as the top Issue? it has to be a dosey – and it is.
…..Drum roll…..
1). You cannot ‘Disqus’ these issues on Disqus – Try bringing these things up on Disqus’s own blog and other places and you comments will simply evaporate into thin air with nary an explanation. Poof! They disappear into the either. [This is why copy and paste in highly recommended with those folks]
Trust me I tried going up the ‘chain of command’ as they say. Questions to “support” are ignored, postings about these issues disappear, perfunctory responses are spotted without the least bit of follow-up.
Thus is the rationale for my ‘venting’ here – and to beg - for all that is Holy for – those in charge to Never, Never, Never, even consider that system for this forum. I really had to get that off my chest, thanks for listening.
It’s a left wing outfit
I don’t know the whole shebang about Disqus, but I would betcha that those who use it on several sites have their whole package of comments from all of these related and unrelated places wrapped up with a tidy bow for those who compensate Disqus for their efforts.
FRiend, that’s a mighty long rantity about Disqus.
Now. Do you mind telling us what Disqus is?
Bunny, pancake, you know the drill.
I have no doubt about that – problem is it’s becoming more pervasive across the web.
I was trying to add my $.02 to the conversation on Obamacare trainwreck and was shut out for various reasons – imagine if that system controlled most of the conversation?
Monopoly on the rise? Rats love monopolies.
Fagbook sucks more.
What the hell is Disqus? And who uses it?
Take a look at a number of web-sites including http://www.cnsnews.com/ http://www.investors.com http://dailycaller.com/ http://michellemalkin.com/ http://twitchy.com/ http://www.cnsnews.com/ http://washingtonexaminer.com/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/ http://thehill.com/ http://www.politico.com/ etc., etc. and you’ll see that http://disqus.com/ is the only way for someone to provide feedback.
That gives this outfit a great deal of power to influence events – something that needs to be looked at given their checkered track record.
It’s a communist/islamist outfit hosting people who ought to be flayed and their skins nailed on outhouse doors.
Only when they control them.
Just a couple of examples:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ http://www.investors.com http://dailycaller.com/ http://michellemalkin.com/ http://twitchy.com/ http://www.cnsnews.com/ http://washingtonexaminer.com/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/ http://thehill.com/ http://www.politico.com/ etc., etc.
http://disqus.com/ is the only way for someone to provide feedback and participate in the debate.
The only problem there is that it would stink up the outhouse.
I don’t even bother with that – but I’m seeing a dangerous trend here.
You also can’t post a link, limiting the ability to either inform people or justify your position.
But I think that’s the point of Disqus- to allow loudmouth trolls to shout reasonable people down, and harass them off the site, and not allow factual discussions. It’s very Democrat, very left, very Alinsky.
You enter a liberal environment to debate then whine it’s not “fair”?
Really?
Whenever I go somewhere that has disqus, I notice I can also use FACEBOOK instead.
About two years ago I set up a completely bogus facebook account. My fictitios person went to a particular large east coast high school, graduated about 25 years later than I graduated, went to a large northeastern university and now works for a large midwestern company. My fictitious person accepts any and all friend requests and has more friends than my real account.
The sole reason for setting it up is to use it as the facebook account behind my comments on various internet sites that require some sort of accountability.
Oh, and due to the racial makeup of the american high school I chose, most of my “friends” post in swahili. I kid you not. I had to use Google translate to figure out what language it was.
You can on some sites – but that is a good point.
It just really bothered me yesterday that were that system in most places, they could easily shut down debate whenever they want – on top of all the other issues they have.
If you really want to get in the “Mind” of a certain loathsome troll that infests that system – this is a link to that stalker’s dashboard on disqus:
That particular reprobate is currently Stalking 246 people – meaning it picks up all the postings of those 246 people and then harangues them into silence.
Can you imagine a few Leftist trolls like that dominating Every conversation on the web?
As you said, that is exactly what trolls like it do every day – shout down and reasonable people and drive them away leaving only a Leftist-Commie echo chamber.
http://www.nationalreview.com/
http://www.cnsnews.com/
http://www.investors.com
http://dailycaller.com/
http://michellemalkin.com/
http://twitchy.com/ http://www.cnsnews.com/ http://washingtonexaminer.com/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Are a “Liberal” environments?
Explain what is “Fair” about someone shouting down the Opposition?
Explain what is “Fair” about someone incessantly hounding others just for the purpose of driving them away?
Explain what is “Fair” about someone hacking a system to get around it’s security measures?
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