Letters to the Editor
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Smart and hopefully at least semi-persuasive
Joan....I like to think I am both of those things that you attribute to some anonymous posters. However, I would never dream of posting anonymously. I don't even post with a "handle"....I think my opinions should be honest, forthright, appropriate and interesting enough to warrant the signing of my own name.
Simply put, if there is some reason you don't want to sign your name to your own words, perhaps they should be left to mature in the recesses of your own mind.
I'm sure some day, something I have written under my own name will get me into some kind of hot water, or take away one of my options, like a job at Halliburton, for instance. Thank you, Google.
For the present, however, I'll chance it and keep my integrity. As to your focus on this issue, it has made me more cognizant of trying to be on-point and worth reading. Like many of Salon's readers, I think the letters are some of the "smartest" commentary on the site.
And I think the anonymous option should go away. Being able to consistently identify a poster, with or without an actual real name, makes sense. There is no "good" rationale for posting simply as "anonymous".