I've been away from the site for a few months. I spent some time this morning reading posts. Many of the concerns about content and anonymity I've read, while valid, are inherent to this communication medium.

As I've posted before, the use of a password dramatically reduces the number of people involved. Also, most of the communication here does not really require confidentiality. The only places where confidentiality might be helpful is in hiding one's identity when posting an attack or an outlandish message.

I work in marketing and have responsibility for internet and social media strategy and communications. There really is no way to regulate a board like this without truly controlling ALL of its communication. Do we really want to have someone read, edit, and filter every message?

If you have used email within a company, even one with strict policies and procedures, there always seems to be a few people who can't control themselves. There's something about bulletin boards and chatrooms that leads otherwise even shy people to start flaming at others. Also, otherwise circumspect people say things to and about others they would never say in person. They even state things as solid facts that are merely opinions.

If the desire is to have controlled conversation, this approach is really not the best way. However, I think it is effective in achieving what Carl's intentions for open communication.

If there's something crazy or outlandish, it's probably best to ignore that person/post. If there is no response, the posted will go elsewhere.

Just my thoughts.