IMO, the (OP, top of thread) proposal misses/ignores a major point made by those who want sub-identication of Anonymonks because they can't figure out who's saying what in a thread populated by comments from more than one AM.

Sometimes the distinction among anonymous posters is fairly obvious (so long as we rule out trolls conducting sock-puppet wars with themselves) but sometimes -- where there are shades of opinion expressed at some remove from one another -- it's anything but obvious.

I don't share the notion that we are somehow violating privacy if we use IP or MAC address or other device to distinguish AM1 from AM2 , per case, in a single thread so long as the basis for the distinction is neither published nor retained in any retrievable way (ie, encrypt the distinguishing characteristics).

Now, that's still a proposal that would let a dedicated AM fake a new character, by moving from one IP to another between posts... but I suspect that's more trouble than most would find it worth.

There are many other issues, obviously... for example, I (and I suspect others) tend to (at least at first glance) give extra credence to posts by Monks who have, IMO, established by their posts, a reputation for excellent advice/instruction/etc.

BUT, allowing the posters of new threads to rule out both the good and the bad of Anonymonk posting seems ill-advised. Thanks, however, to pemungkah and others above, for thoughtful posts.

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