[exodust]

Nonsense. Anonymity doesn't bring out the worst in people. The attitudes and opinions and intelligence of the person behind the comment is what brings out the worst in their expression, or style of expression online.

Don't blame the presence or absence of a number on the letterbox of the house for the behavior of the occupants inside the house.

[gradstudent]

Strongly disagree. Anonymity comes with the promise of zero responsibility. You don't need to be a natural dickhead to find that tempting. Anonymity means you don't have to think too much because even if you're wrong nobody will know it's you

[exodust]

It's cool you disagree. When it comes to publishing our credentials, I hope it's okay to have variety in the community.

Your handle is another name for you in this moment. Relative to this discussion, to this forum, one's username is the cornerstone of each post. Perhaps forgotten easily between threads. But in $this thread is often where it counts.

In the beer garden, should all chatter be recorded and archived? Sure, why not. But then authored, as does a professional writer and editor? The skills needed not to say things that could result in noisy, inaccurate, too long, not long enough, or any number of other things that would make an unsubscribable Flipboard. Skills of few.

The username I gave myself, is more truthful of my state of mind, and point of view relative to this forum. The name means more here than the first name given to me by my parents, and my last name on loan from past generations. I'm proud of my real name, but I'm going for relevance and fun online.

Contextual, in the moment, not "published by Paul, all rights reserved". It's a casual comment only. And I don't know who you are anyway, even if you tell me your real name and Twitter feed.

[gradstudent]

My username on HN is not tied to my personal identity. The difference is I can jettison this persona, and all comments associated with it, at a moment's notice. It is difficult to do the same with my real identity.

That's what I mean when I say anonymity comes with the promise of zero responsibility.