This forum would be more cordial if the anonymous posting feature was removed

[Anonymous]

I run several other public-forum-esque sites and we A/B tested this and found that people behave more pleasantly toward each other the less anonymous they feel. Only mentioning this as I was surprised at how catty and petty this forum is.

[Anonymous]

...and in other news, water is wet.

You had to do testing to figure this out?

[jsteele]

We get this suggestion every few months. But, we like things they way they are.

[Anonymous]

Everyone knows that including Jeff.

[Anonymous]

On the flip side, when people aren’t anonymous you get people who carry grudges and target other posters for nasty behavior.

[Anonymous]

If your a/b testing showed that people behave more pleasantly when they don’t feel like they can post anonymously, then why are you surprised at the cattiness you have found on this forum?

[Anonymous]

I deal with the cattiness because of all the real/helpful comments that come from an anonymous forum.

I just ignore the snark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, when people aren’t anonymous you get people who carry grudges and target other posters for nasty behavior.

So true. I used to be on a forum with handles (not real names), and people would stalk and fight others. So ugly and personal. Here at lest nothing is personal.

[Anonymous]

Catty and Petty keeps the popcorn popping!

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, when people aren’t anonymous you get people who carry grudges and target other posters for nasty behavior.

This is true. Based on what I see on Twitter, women are especially subject to abuse. We have much less of that despite having a majority female user base. And, stalking is not an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, when people aren’t anonymous you get people who carry grudges and target other posters for nasty behavior.

So true. I used to be on a forum with handles (not real names), and people would stalk and fight others. So ugly and personal. Here at lest nothing is personal.

But it's still more convenient because you can just block those handles.

[Anonymous]

Jeff runs a tight ship. The truly harmful threads get deleted. That’s what makes the anonymity workable. Thank you Jeff.

[Anonymous]

OP, it's fine not to post here, if the site does not run in a way you find good for you. There are a lot of non-anonymous sites out there.

[Anonymous]

No way, no handles.

People can track and stalk back your stories and try to figure out who you are, where you live. Etc. Not interested in that!

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff runs a tight ship. The truly harmful threads get deleted. That’s what makes the anonymity workable. Thank you Jeff.

Thanks, but you really have to thank the posters who report posts. I couldn't do much without them. Then, they get bashed by other posters for their efforts. So, they really deserve our appreciation.