How can I keep my news comments out of my FB friends' feeds?

As far as I know, there is not. It drives me up a wall as well. This only happens if you “like” or comment on a post that is set to public.

I think if you log out of facebook, then leave your comment, it can’t be connected to your facebook account. There used to be a setting that would break this link also; not sure if it still exists.

@dappled_leaves How can you comment on something on Facebook if you have logged out of it?

@LeavesNoTrace I think that comes with the territory.

@anniereborn I’m also curious. How would that work, @dappled_leaves?

@si3tech I think you’re right. So annoying. I don’t want to bug my friends with my comments, and we know how in today’s political climate how anything you say can be divisive even if you think you’re “careful”. I love having a forum to exchange ideas, but I may have to stop participating if it’s going to push my words to the top of everyone’s feed!

This does irritate me and I have not found a way around it so I try to limit my comments.

Why worry about it – at all?

When I’m annoyed by certain of my friends who post inanely or just too-frequently – and I don’t want to damage or cancel the friendship (whether real or “Facebook” ersatz), then I simply “unfollow”.

I try not to post more than once a day on my timeline.

As for commenting on others’ posts or groups, I pay attention to whether the person has their settings set to “public” and if so, I try not to say much at all. If it’s a group that’s public, I try not to do much at all, except “like.” If it’s a closed group or secret group, I’m a little more willing to post stuff on the page. I know pages are public, so I try not to say anything much. It all makes me very self conscious.

I can’t figure out why any individual would have their privacy setting set to “public.”

@anniereborn The OP was asking about “commenting on a news story”. I assumed she meant on the host’s website, not on Facebook. Almost every website that hosts articles allows people to leave comments that are linked to their Facebook accounts.

@LeavesNoTrace If that’s not what you meant, then there’s no way to keep this information from being public, because your post is within Facebook. But you should still be able to click on the link to the article to leave a comment anonymously on the article itself. Just make sure you’re not logged into Facebook when you do it.

@jca even if you just “like” it and it’s set to public, the whole dang thing can end up on your friends’ feed. not that that necessarily reflects back on you, but it can be annoying to others.

@anniereborn: I know. That’s why I try to limit my “likes” too.

A girl in another department said to me a few months ago, referring to a group I was commenting on a lot, “What’s with you and that mid-century fashion?” It was nothing to be embarassed about, but I still found it mortifying and it made me very self conscious. I realized that everything I commented on or liked was showing up in the feed for her. Now I am really kind of scared to comment or like at all on any pubilc groups or pages. When I see a comment one of my friends makes in a group or page, I feel like I am seeing something they might not realize I (and others) are able to view. Maybe they realize, maybe they don’t. I feel like I’m looking into their house window and they may or may not know someone is outside looking in.