Name:   copperline - Subject:   Use of Alias on the forum Date:   7/3/2012 1:27:28 PM

i wonder how the conversation on this forum would change if you had to post name, address and other identifying information whenever you slam somebody.  The anonymity of this forum doesn’t appear to be helping us exchange ideas so much as allowing us to be hostile without the inhibiting fear of personal reprisal.  Maybe the anonymity isn’t just allowing us to be more verbally aggressive, could it be actually encouraging it?    Put another way…  the same anonymity that allows a pedophile to pose as an on-line friend allows us to degrade and insult each other here, don’t you think? 

is forum anonymity simply a protection of free speech, or is it bringing out the worse in us?