Xman - I have no idea what point you're trying to make. I can't figure out if you just don't know what freedom of speech actually involves or if you're trying to make some obscure point about me judging people or actually caring who posts anonymously. Neither seems very likely, so I have to ask you to explain what you mean.

OK then, my point is ... people can post whatever they want. Anonymously or not. As long as it's not flaming or spamming then what harm does it cause the reader or the board? The fact that it irks you simply by it's anonymous nature comes to show the amount of nit-pickyness present in the board. Exclusivity even. How is the feature any more different than an obscure user name?

So yes, if you oppose the feature you do in fact care who posts anonymously.
-how many users have been cyber investigated after making a post. Had their user name popped onto google and searched for some form of consistency? Do you really expect regular members not to be wary of this behavior?

Yes, if you oppose the feature you do judge people who post anonymously.
-it appears anonymous posting in this board has come to be associated with some form of "lack of guts" department.

So, once again, post whatever you want. Anonymously or not. TFP's rules are very few and simple to follow. The feature is there to be used.

Caveat: Xman, I am assuming that the "you" in the post above pertains directly to me and to no one else. Perhaps this is moot, but that's based on the "^^^" in the previous post and what seems like a direct response to me.

If you think I were "irked" in the slightest by the anonymous feature, you should note that it's still an option. If I were bothered by it, even as a just a minor irritant, I'd turn it off. I see it's value, as I posted in my response to you. I just don't see it's value for folks with a large body of work here. People with a lot of posts here usually aren't going to be shy about asking embarrassing questions (with a certain subset - sexual - of those questions being carved back in).

I've already disclosed how often I've felt that I've had to take away a poster's anonymity. That's now public record (I'm too lazy to look to see if it was in this thread or the other). All three times were based on complaints generated by regular members. Only once was a username googled, and that was based on some potentially criminal activity.

Unless you're talking about googling new users after a questionable post. That happens all the time as an effective spam-fighting tool. If we find the same username up to the same behavior elsewhere, we ban them before they get a chance to try to game the system to post their links.

I have no interest in judging people who use this feature. Or those who misuse it, in my own opinion. If you feel the need to use it, that's fine by me. I may not understand why you want to use it, but I don't feel the need to go find out who you are. I have much better things to do with my time, as do Halx, Cynthetic and secretmethod70. I've said it before, but I guess it needs to be said again: either you trust us or you don't. If you think that asking a particular question will result in predetermined set of responses, I'm all for you experimenting with the results - not my thing, but unless you're up to no good, I don't care.

But again, perhaps this isn't all directed at me personally and is more of an indictment of those who don't like the feature. In which case: who the fuck cares what other people think of it? Just because some jerk on the internet thinks that you're gutless because you won't sign your name to a question about the flavor of water (or whatever), that doesn't make it so.

A screen name is a symbol of an individual's persona on a message board. Like with a name, after a while, people start to identify with a user name. It is anonymous, but with a name come associations.

For example, people expect World's King's posts to contain some kind of misogynistic sex themed response. I seriously doubt the reaction would be as accepting if an Anonymous Member posted something along the lines we're used to seeing in WK's posts.

In short. A screen name, no matter how anonymous, carries with it a person's personality. Anonymous posting strips personality and leaves nothing.

it leaves a topic to be discussed, which is kind of the point. All the responses still contribute to the building of the identity since they often dont choose to answer anonymously.

If you get a call and the person on the other line whom you don't know at all starts spilling out his problems to you, how long would you last until you hung up or asked him who the hell it is? Would you feel more inclined to listen and help the person whom you actually knew?

I really like this response. People can be compared to books, in our lives' progressions, unfolding chapters, hardcovers, and whatever else (footnotes).
It'd be a cop-out for me to use it (not that many of my posts are registered worthwhile anyway; I am used to going unnoticed for some stretches, but what matters is that I keep coming strong).

I don't believe I will ever utilize the anonymous posting feature. In the past, perhaps, but only for the misguided reason of shielding my identity from a lover whose response to the truthful statements (and request for advice) would have likely been explosively negative, in light of some treacherous actions described by those statements.

People have unique writing styles, and I have been pretty sure about which long-time or prolific members posted certain anonymous threads based on that. I'll never know for sure because I don't even have access to the tool to see who it is and even if I did I wouldn't use it to find out since it's none of my business.

I have made one or two anonymous comments, but don't see myself posting anonymous threads. I also see some that I really don't think are embarrassing or incriminating enough to warrant it, but to each his own.
From some of my work back when we had porn here and actively tried to find and ban underage people, I can say that I have found names, addresses, and even cell phone numbers. I can also confidently say that if we screw up and someone on staff abuses that power, they would not be on staff for long and would most likely find themselves banned. We've had some real creeps on here in the past, and we do a good job of driving them away or just getting rid of them once we find out about their behavior.

Personally, I think the privacy concerns raised from the whole situation were the dumbest things I've ever seen on TFP from an administrative standpoint. :/

I despise the idea of anon posting, and I have not and would not use it.

I think that people should own up to what they say and feel and not hide behind something. If you can't handle the consequences of opening your mouth (figuratively), then keep it to yourself. In fact, I *almost* put it into the lying category.

I understand that some people are shy and uncomfortable with revealing parts of themselves or whatever. To that, I just respond that if you can't talk about it openly, why should we?