I have never left a Facebook comment on a third party site.
Partially this is due to inconvenience, (the web browser with my Facebook login credentials has always had its own VM, to prevent like button tracking) and partially because associating my real name and identity with a blog comment seems like using a cannon to kill a squirrel. If Samuel Bierwagen wants to say something about an issue, he'll write an essay about it; but rolling out my name and my face for a TechCrunch comment just ain't going to happen.
I wonder if this more prevalent in hackerish audiences. Maybe the mainstream doesn't care, and would rather just make it easy.
Also, there's something to be said for the kind of people who can "get over the barrier" of taking 90 seconds to sign up. Making sign up too easy means dumber people get through?
If the quality of TechCrunch comments were higher would you think about it? I'd actually love to participate in an engaging discussion on AVC.com, for example. But when 200 people have commented, and 75% of them are tooting Fred's horn, it's no fun.
If 75% of them thought it worthwhile enough to "toot Fred's horn", then in general, 75% of them might enjoy the rest of the comments also "tooting Fred's horn". I agree with you, but that's not something that can be ignored. Groupthink can be intoxicating.
Partially this is due to inconvenience, (the web browser with my Facebook login credentials has always had its own VM, to prevent like button tracking) and partially because associating my real name and identity with a blog comment seems like using a cannon to kill a squirrel. If Samuel Bierwagen wants to say something about an issue, he'll write an essay about it; but rolling out my name and my face for a TechCrunch comment just ain't going to happen.