Does anonymity give rise to hostility?

I agree with Frank's general assessment: that there is some kind of correlation between civility and community members knowing one another.

For community members to post some information about themselves does not require that they expose themselves to attack. There are many different ways to represent oneself.

Like Frank, I have used my real name on Wikipedia and nearly every Internet-related community for the past several years, and have found it empowering and positive, almost without exception.

Other Wikimedians choose not to reveal their names, but post brief essays about their interests, their goals, or the kind of work they do off-wiki.

I believe there's a lot of promise in developing strategies that encourage Wikimedians to put a bit of effort into introducing themselves to the community.

Here is a page that may be of interest: w:Wikipedia:WikiProject Oregon/Introductions

Peteforsyth21:05, 12 January 2010