Come on guys. I've sent 3 anonymous letters and two more letters under different names. I've clicked "refresh" about 20 times in the last hour and no one has mentioned or reacted to me yet. I'm outta here.

All the whining diatribes and supercilious threats to unsubscribe by pseudonymous posters complaining about Salon's publishing other people's whining drivel are almost too precious to bear. Almost as silly as the carefully composed vanity handles that say something clever about the poster. Almost as contemptible as the middle class cult of privacy that seems to count as a primary value for so many here. And I am sick to death of the "progressive" tax payers who support American wars in contradiction to their basic principles, and hide their convictions from co-workers for fear of employment reprisal or social distemper. Fuck you preening, self-justifying, self-deceiving, self-congratulatory enablers of hegemony.

And can't any of you whingers read? If you want to remain anonymous or slyly pseudonymous, the new policy doesn't prevent it. It just says you will be less likely get the teacher's star by your name for being a good critic. Your grievance amounts to nothing more than you will be less likely to be highlighted. Heart breaking. A compelling moral/ethical/political/philosophical issue if ever I've seen one. Now watch this drive.

Not that it matters, but I have almost always written under my real name since the birth of this medium about 15 yrs ago, citing my real city, not only on Salon, but on a variety of other sites, many of them right wing. No stalkers yet, but plenty of hate mail. If it gets me murdered (how characteristically American to indulge in this hysterical hyperbole), well, I embrace what I believe. Bring on the crazy, disgusting, upsetting variety of opinions carefully prepared or spontaneously vomited up by your readers. I'll use the editor's choice star feature if I get tired of them.

And by the way, Salon is as much a business as Fox News. They're hoping to increase readership with this feature. I'm satisfied that my few cents a day for a premium subscription is still a bargain. Salon isn't what it was at first. But it has survived where others have failed. When I decide to give up Salon, I won't burden any of you with a pompous announcement.

Oh, and death to American militarism.

PS. Sisyphus, keep pushing. I'm sure you'll get there eventually

A lot of posters have made valid points. I have a professional job, and hold a high profile position with a volunteer organization that is often subject to attacks (including here) by people who know little about the organization. If I rant about something that has nothing to do with my job or my volunteer position, and people find that when they google me, that is detrminental to my employer and my volunteer organization. I very rarely send a letter to the editor of the newspaper anymore for those reasons.

In my job, I represent high level public employees. We know that googling has become part of the job interview process. With the political divide so deep in this country, it has become dangerous at times to express your opinion.

By all means, if you only want to highlight articles that are signed by full name or by nickname, fine. The anonymity option should not be taken away. I would rather see an editor delete abusive posts.

Melissa

and I'm a woman.

Men aren't the only people who see value in posting real names. Personally I feel that anyone who doesn't want to employ me on the basis of googling my name and disliking my opinions is someone I don't want to help to make a profit. Of course, I have some high-paid skills and I live in a liberal big Northeastern city, so I can afford to say that.

I understand why people choose to use handles; I have done so myself in environments where I wanted to discuss personal issues I didn't want getting back to my loved ones. I think the Internet works just fine with handles. It's the eight zillion Anonymouses and the fact that there is no way to distinguish them that irritates me. Can't you folks just make something up?

But no, it's not a male thing to post real names and a female thing to use handles or hide behind Anonymous because it's a big, bad world out there and women know enough to be scared of it. Someone could see me at the grocery store and decide they didn't like my attitude and decide to follow me home and beat me up and rape me, but that doesn't mean I wear a burka to the grocery store, and I'm not putting a burka on my name either. Other people may choose to do as they will, and without knowing their life situations I won't sit in judgment on them for their choice, but me, I use my real name.

You know what? If the measure of a man is the ability to back up words with deed, then what kind of a coward would I be not backing up my thoughts with my name?

Too few of us are willing to speak out, vociferously (never claimed to spell worth a damn... dyslexics untie!), emphatically, about what we believe, and where has that gotten us? Two terms of Bush, an Ann Coulter that people LISTEN to, a society where the freedoms and liberties we hold dear are being parsed out to us as if we cannot handle them ourselves.

Maybe we can't... but by God, I will fight to the end for the freedom to burn out, rather than to fade away behind our own little Iron Curtain.

So I, David Luckett, born in Burgaw, NC hereby say.... hiya.

Dave

PS. I am not the David Luckett from Australia who is an author, or the Dave Luckett from Australia who is a reverend, or the Dave Luckett from Australia who is a race car driver... my dad is from Mississippi.

But from here on out, I probably won't sign my name, because I am kind of lazy... heh heh heh