>>5786
I am interested in anon culture and understand it's benefits, hell I'm even a fan of Kazerad's essays about them.
But I also appreciate the usefulness of identities, especially in boards with a lot of artsts. +4 used to have so many artists that half the posts or more were tripcoded. And it's not a problem, idealist autists will howl but its all about understanding a tool and whether it's materially appropriate in a context.
4kev.org (dead) really took me by surprise when I first saw it, where IIRC you needed to log in to post threads or images. But honestly, power to them.... until they died of course lol
If we move away from the culture of anon posting and go to the security that authentication can afford, it's a no-brainer: a forum with logins can avoid so much more ad spam if it locks itself down and adds more obstacles to raiding and samefag astroturfing. Those attacks are obviously still possible, but you're no longer an economical target for anyone not specifically targeting your site.
>>5787
>some autists have shit personalities and it becomes clear they are shit people when you interact over enough encounters
One of the benefits of anon culture is that it can negate this: a sexist racist US /pol/troon guy and a gay anarchist Mexican girl can both talk about anime and maths without either's prejudice of the other being relevant. I've had constructive conversations online with people who would call for my death if they knew more about me (and merely because of irrelevant and trivial misguided assumptions).
Of course, the moderation issues are a downside. Anonymous sites become a safe haven for those who are kicked out of other sites for being unable to act socially, even in the low expectations of a typical imageboard. Look at ANORECTAL VIOLENCE poster, who invades boards, even worksafe ones, to screech about their obscene obsession almost every day for ten years. I've seen other anons actively try to gaslight staff who they feel slighted them over a miscommunication (one mod saying a gore thread was conditionally allowed, then another mod banning it), with months of getting banned on proxies then appealing by claiming they were a different person.
A related part that I do like is it also negates celebrity culture, or appeals to authority based on reputation points or identity status. But the flipside is, there are some people who truly deserve to be ignored on certain topics, and it's harder to recognize and ignore them without identities.
And yes: I won't touch a site with my personal email address or phone number. Not even once.