anonymous wrote:

...

Someone seriously does need to start a node which only accepts posts from remailers.

Or a list. One thing you know about an anonymous message - the poster uses at least one cryptographic tool. Too many "cypherpunks" not only don't write code, they can't even use code.

So why is it that the vast majority of the technical and insightful contributions here seem to come from people who aren't averse to using a reasonable simulacrum of a real name and address? I made the deliberate choice not to use a remailer because I think it's more interesting to contribute while having a prior body of posts "attached" to me. People come to know more what to expect--and if I irritate/bore/piss them off too much, they stop reading me. Which is exactly as it should be. When I'm pressed for time here (as I usually am) I read people loosely ranked in order of how interesting I've found their posts to be in the past. I don't think I'd have the patience to wade through a big undifferentiated grab bag of irrelevant dross each day. And you know that's probably just what you'd end up with if no one had the slightest shred of accountability for any of their statements. There's too much discourse around here on the level of "you're a poopy head" "no, u r the poopy head" as it is. What does it really contribute? Besides a great example of Gresham's law in action, that is. For me, services like Hushmail and Cotse make for a nice compromise between full accountability (and full vulnerability) on one hand, and complete anonymity and privacy on the other. Though if you're after complete privacy re: your opinions and the details of your life, you're better off not writing them down in the first place, here or anywhere else. If what I "wanted" out of participating in the list were different, I can see myself making a different choice in either direction. I assume everyone here weighed those considerations for themselves before they got here: as far as I'm concerned, nobody has the slightest business deciding it for anyone else. ~Faustine.