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Comment by soperj | Hacker News Reader

I don't know why anyone would want to attach their name and everything to stuff they are selling.

To be fair; lack of anonymity CAN increase confidence and safety in the transaction/meetup.

(I'm not saying it always does, or that it cannot be exploited, or that it won't eventually be scammed beyond usefulness, etc; but it's not always a clear negative today).

I personally deactivated my Facebook account, but note that this less anonymity is a benefit for buyers. It makes Craigslist a far more attractive target for scammers.

It’s more that you’re more likely to have some context as a buyer that you aren’t meeting a scammer or criminal.

Craigslist attracted drug dealers, hookers and fences for a long time. People like that figure out that it’s easier to scam a buyer than do the honest work of stealing shit to sell.

It helps buyers to know who the seller is. FB suffers from bot sellers and scams. I check the person’s profile before proceeding and it gives me a sense of confidence in my purchase/sale.

A bunch of people are making this point, and it implies that Facebook is highly reliable as an identity verification authority. I’m not saying it’s wrong, it’s interesting whether it’s right or wrong.

That said, my personal experience with Facebook has been the same. It’s trivial to spot bot/spam accounts, and I typically end up with a high degree of confidence that the identity is real.

Honestly craigslist is a lot better moderated

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