Commenting Obstacles
While I fully respect Kirk's decision to link comment posting to facebook, and also understand the reason he gives, I don't think it is the right step.
I've never heard about the major site "Techcrunch" which he mentions as having successfully implemented this, but I am sure everybody has heard about the major sites Los Angeles Times and CNN that implemented it as well and have since gone back to offering the traditional method of sign-up. Simply because too many participants refused to open a facebook account just to be able to comment; they simply don't trust this social network.
Which is smart. Facebook has only one source of income, data theft. The moment someone opens a facebook account, a battery of up to 60 cookies is placed on his computer, most of them tracing cookies. CPU activity will instantly shoot up, indicating that some search activity is going on inside the computer.
Most users do not watch performance monitors regularly - may not even be aware that there is such a thing - so this will usually go unnoticed unless it happens on an older, less powerful machine that will slow down and/or have the fans suddenly go loud.
Facebook is under investigation for privacy protection issues in dozens of jurisdictions outside the US. Inside the US it only gets mild slaps on the wrist every time some "mishaps" with user data surface. Along with the much celebrated fact that Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire ever - on revenues from a data theft operation - it indicates that he enjoys protection and support from powerful parties interested in his service.
There is good news, though. As a business, Facebook has matured and is in decline now, pretty much at the point where mySpace was about four years ago. It's not a sinking ship yet, but not one to book either. Of course, the next kid, with an even better scrutinizing software for an even more naive audience than Facebook's followship, may already be negotiating to become the world's first pre-puberty billionaire.
The real name requirement is another obstacle. An opinion expressed in a letter to the editor for printed media usually ended up in the landfill or became kindle the next winter. Safely forgotten. On the net, however, it's conserved and available to the public for decades to come. Anybody who may ever want to apply for employment or run for public office can be assured that expressing an opinion under the real name will cause problems somewhere down the road.
Trolls and rants are a pain, no doubt. But they are preferable over a system that silences opinion. Automation is unable to weed out spam and personal attacks, and approving constructive submissions at the same time. Only a human editor will be able to do that.
Oh, one more thing. I will not be able to reply to any comments to this opinion. All my computers are protected with Facebook blockers.