This isn't about anonymity. The people involved (Adria, Hank, the companies that fired them) talked to each other face-to-face.
Yes, but the rest of the internet is in anonymity. Which reaction has been blown all out of proportion.
There is a lot of vitriol on pages with identities both pseudonymous, e.g. disqus, and real... did you see the conversation on Facebook? People use their real names and identities to be "dickwads".