monkdiscuss
PopeFelix
<p>Recent discussion in the CB has turned to the topic of Anonymous Monks, and the utility of anonymity on this site. Arguing against anonymity, [Jim] said, "... you can't distinguish one [Anonymous Monk] from another [Anonymous Monk] in any given thread. You can't have a reasoned argument with someone when that someone is an amorphous blob that can't be differentiated from other instances of the same amorphous blob."</p>
<p>As an answer to this, what about differentiating AM's in a given thread by calling them "Anonymous Monk 1", "Anonymous Monk 2", etc.? I.E., in a given thread, we'd assign a unique identifier to each distinct anonymous commenter. That would preserve the anonymity of the commenter, both within the PM website and to the outside world, while at the same time allowing commenters (both anonymous and otherwise) to distinguish between and cogently reply to different AM's in a thread.</p>
<p>I won't go into the details of implementation here; that's up to the maintainers.</p>