Username based forum?

[Anonymous]

Has setting up this forum so users must create a username to participate ever been discussed? I feel like there are a lot of responses to questions that are mean spirited & pointlessly arguementative and I don't think that would happen if responses were tied to a username so people who go against posting guidelines could have their accounts deleted. I think the anonymous nature of the forum makes posters feel like they can say anything because no one will ever be able to link it to them, or know the same person who just called you nasty things in a response now wants helpful advice. I'd like to say this forum is useful, but when a post has 7+ pages and the majority are people calling each other names, it doesn't seem helpful to the op or folks who actually want to read for advice.

[Anonymous]

No, never. You, Ms. Anonymous, are the first to ever bring it up. I'm not usually rude, but it is annoying when newbies show up and try to change the basic structure.

[Anonymous]

PP proving OP's point.

[Anonymous]

PP-now, I bet if you had a screen name you would have phrased that a bit more civilly. I get the jist of what you're saying, but if I knew who you were and you posted something I had good advice for, I wouldn't go out of my way to answer bc you didn't go out of your way to phrase you contrary opinion politely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has setting up this forum so users must create a username to participate ever been discussed? I feel like there are a lot of responses to questions that are mean spirited & pointlessly arguementative and I don't think that would happen if responses were tied to a username so people who go against posting guidelines could have their accounts deleted. I think the anonymous nature of the forum makes posters feel like they can say anything because no one will ever be able to link it to them, or know the same person who just called you nasty things in a response now wants helpful advice. I'd like to say this forum is useful, but when a post has 7+ pages and the majority are people calling each other names, it doesn't seem helpful to the op or folks who actually want to read for advice.

The argument against this is that people won't feel comfortable posting about their funny vagina smells or how much they hate their kids if they have a username because someone might eventually figure out who they are. I think there are ways around this, like making people login even if they want to post anonymously (to deter really lazy trolls) or making only some of the forums enabled for anonymous posting. But whatever, I still come on here despite the nastiness, so I guess there's little initiative to change the system.

[jsteele]

Better funded efforts to create similar websites that required usernames have failed. We have a formula that works for us and there are no plans to change it.

[Anonymous]

17:47 was a little heavy on the snark, but I think it's partly because of the way the OP asked, when in fact people who have been around for a while know that this question gets asked very regularly-- it's almost worthy of inclusion in the FAQ.