I’m a middle-of-the-roader on this one. I don’t like to have to register to post. Besides, it’s simple enough to fake an identity, so what’s the point? If things get too incendiary, turning off the comments seems perfectly reasonable.

We don’t take down posts because of opinions we don’t agree with. We don’t take down posts that call us names. We take down posts with offensive language, except in rare instances (such as when a swear is the topic of an FCC debate and is thus the matter of discussion).

We wish we could censor Rex, but you try and stop him.

I absolutely believe people should post under their real names. But you can’t force anyone to do so. The only exception is when someone is giving you an inside tip that could cost their job or pose a threat to their safety or the safety of someone else.

I choose to pay little attention to people who won’t stand behind their own words.

It’s common sense. Have a great conversation. Accept opinions different from your own. If it gets so far out of hand that it’s violently offensive, disgusting, or racist - simply shut it down.

what about a blogworld in which we were all forced to use real names to get onto the boards

Occasionally, I’d click to say something, but it was just too much for “normal” people to wade through. I mean, I’m all for freedom of speech, but in response to a news article about Bill & Melinda Gates, you wouldn’t expect to find 2,000 posts filled with vulgarities and only about a dozen that related to the article.

And, while I’m at it: I remember on MLK’s birthday, I clicked around YouTube to find a good copy of his “I Have a Dream” speech. The best one and the one that I wanted to link from my old blog had nothing but racist trash spewing down its “discuss” feature.

I remember because I spent about an hour on MLK’s birthday morning, doing nothing but hitting the “report” button and wondering if Google were to delete all of the offending comments, what those that answered might look like alone.