Does anonymity give rise to hostility?

Yeah, I've always been very skeptical of editors who claim they've experienced real life harassment. Especially because there are editors who are so open about their personal lives and never encounter problems.

Other personalities seem to seek out and almost enjoy conflict, even masochistically so. They are the kind of people who would lie about being harassed in real life, or would have the kind of behavior pattern that would put them at risk. Honestly, banning some editors who love to stir conflict is as much about protecting people as it is about protecting the encyclopedia. Someone always gets hurt, even if only psychologically.

Anyway, I see this idea as (at the very least) doing no harm. So long as it's voluntary.

Randomran17:30, 29 December 2009