"1 Do you think Christian Horner would bother to read Disqus comments either?"
Do you know how Disqus works? The comments are visible in the page, whether you have an account or not. When you reach the bottom of the article you already start seeing the comments. So it's not a matter of "bothering", it's just there, easy to see. One only has to scroll down. Costs nothing. Literally nothing. And whoever took the time to read the article, will have a couple of seconds to check some comments. It's not the same as this Forum here. The barrier is orders of magnitude higher.
"2 Do you think Autosport have the money to pay someone (probably at least two people) to do nothing much except moderate Disqus comments 24/7? When that would be a duplication of something that already exists? In case you aren't aware of it, all the BB moderators are unpaid volunteers and - especially during GP weekends or when there is some sort of controversial news - it's a damned near full-time job. The BB mods have more than enough to do without taking on more."
I would rather discuss facts here. If Autosport has people to maintain their own Forum system with all the maintenance that it requires (software maintenance plus database maintenance plus troubleshooting plus moderation), they would have people to simply look at comments and allow or delete them. And in fact, they don't even have to moderate anything. Moderation is optional. You can't be liable for what other people write on the internet. Of course you don't want to have people messing around and disrespecting others, but there are tools to keep an eye on it.
"3 Autosport would have no real control over Disqus comments. We have enough trouble ensuring that offensive or libellous messages don't appear, but it's very easy for us to ban people or disable them from posting. That would be far harder with Disqus."
Partially answered in the previous question. I never installed Disqus because I don't have my own website, but I'm sure they offer managing functions. Do the homework first:
https://help.disqus....#basic-settings
"4 Disqus is infested with spammers. On the BB we can zap spammers instantly and they're easy to spot as they usually advertise their presence by starting new threads. That's not possible with Disqus - a spammer can post in two or three Disqus threads every minute."
IF spamming would become a serious issue in Autosport, simply require approval of all comments: https://help.disqus....aling-with-spam .. or add filters. I don't see any spamming problem with TheLocal, for example.
"5 The whole point of having the forum and not allowing anonymous posting is to retain some sort of control. With Disqus that would go straight out the window. There are many thousands of news items on the site, with hundreds more being added every week: the idea of putting a Disqus thread on every one is ludicrous."
Autosport wouldn't be the only one. I get more news feeds from one single version of TheLocal than from the Autosport F1 feed, and here we don't debate issues such as religion, drugs, homosexual marriage, etc. that usually spice up the comment sections and catch the attention of a much broader public. You're making it sound that it would be a huge problem. But I doubt it. The advantage of having more page views and therefore advertisement is very compelling. Furthermore, one would not have to add a comment section to all articles. Only the new ones. What is past remains in the past. You don't have to change. And finally, you can't ever have full control of the internet. If somebody is really keen to create fake accounts to spam Disqus, he can do the same at Autosport. All one needs is a verifiable email address and nothing else to do in his life.
All you are doing is looking for objections instead of weighting the pros and cons. An open, visible public comment section is much more effective and useful for everybody interested in F1 than a closed Forum disconnected from the news articles which are in fact the heart of Autosport.
Disqus can at least be tested. If it works, keep it. If it doesn't, take it away. Very simple. No need to make a storm out of a cup of water.
Wanna engage with the fans? Give them the opportunity.
Edited by afsartori, 21 May 2015 - 22:33.