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Yeah, Deep Throat is a porno flick, which many may find disgusting. Deep Throat was also a pseudonym for one of our country's most important anonymous cowards.
Anonymity serves an important social function: anonymity allows people to speak truth to power, as they say.
I don't think Salon needs pure anonymity, though. Salon needs pseudonymity. What you have is just right. Only registered users can post, but they can elect to hide their registered name. Salon, however, can always trace any post to its source, should the need arise. And when might that need arise? When a post falls afoul of society's legal strictures.
Don't reinvent the law. Don't reinvent government by the people for the people. So far, as a society, we've generally managed to avoid ensconcing the vagaries of taste into law (not entirely, but that's unfortunate). Don't bow to sensitive plants in the name of page views. Sure, you'll end up with trolls and their ilk. This is nothing new. They've been online much longer than Salon, and somehow, they have failed to derail our online connect fest.
People will continue to harangue and harass each other no matter what you do. Don't throw out a very valuable mode of communication in a futile attempt to promote civility. Civility is in the mind of the beholder; but obstructing a road to truth damages all of us.
