The Online Disinhibition Effect (2004)

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me... That is, unless Facebook (Disqus, your government, etc, ...) makes everyone give their real name in order to participate in discussions in the first place, then you're open to every racist, sexist, and drug cartel with access to a computer.

From today's links: http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/01/23/how-some-men-harass-wo... ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5107886 ) From the article: "One man left a letter at her door saying he’d 'find you and your mom and rape you both.'"

Anonymity has some pretty small downsides (people acting like assholes, which you can ignore), but pretty huge positives (physical safety and freedom of expression in spite of assholes, which despite our mothers' wishes, we all are; and getting to hear a person's true feelings). The only reason I post here is because I'm psuedo-anonymous.

(I recognize that the article isn't itself an argument against anonymity per se, but I can easily imagine someone using it that way.)

Or, in more humorous form:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19