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Originally Posted by springpin

Leon,

In creating Net54, did you ever give any thought to having members provide input/information/opinion on hobby matters devoid of revealing personal identity? What matters to me is what I learn from reading other people's ideas, not who wrote it. To the best of my knowledge I have never met a single person who contributes to the board, but I have learned from many of them, and can relate to the passion they hold for their area of collecting. I believe personal attacks originate from having a sense of person. If there were no personal identities to be revealed, we could focus solely on the value of the information we learn here. I share the concern of Lance (who I do not know) about Brandon (who I also do not know). When we alienate knowledgeable people, we weaken the board's greatest strength: expertise. Brandon, we need you. Please reconsider your (justified) reaction.

Making the forum less personal would definitely increase the personal attacks. This is not even debatable. Anonymity emboldens trolls and misanthropes. You are a college professor so I'm sure you probably remember usenet...you can still see the smoking remains of usenet in Google Groups...it's a wretched hive of scum and villainy ($1 to Obi Wan Kenobi).