Anonymous Comments

Most of the folks who comment here don't put their name, or even an alias, to their comments. Most show up as simply "Anonymous." I'm okay with that as a matter of principal. People ought to be able to talk to and about their government anonymously.

That said, anonymous comments really degrade the quality of the discussion. I know some folks who won't get involved in the comments because they don't want to get dragged into the murky waters that anonymity sometimes creates. I think that's the wrong choice, I would prefer that they at least pick an alias. Case in point: the Lansdowne/Ashburn posts with their dozens of comments. When everyone is listed as "anonymous," it's impossible to know whether this is the conversation of a few dozen people or (more likely) 3-4 individuals commenting over and over again, going back and forth at each other.

The one thing I would change if I could is to require that commenters leave a name, any name, when they leave comments. Unfortunately it's either allow "anonymous" or restrict it to logged-in users, and I prefer to allow anonymous.

If you comment, please leave your name or at least a consistent alias. It's very helpful to those of us who are reading what you have to say.