"It is not just Anonymous posters that attack people either!"

Another good point. Just because there would be no anonymous Axers would not mean that problems of attacking would go away. A lot of existing "Named" people have participated in slagging matches with other "Named" people. Most of the time, it is with someone who is anonymous (in my observations), but not always.

There are also the people who lack confidence that would not want to participate in the forum if it required verification. In my opinion, however, those people don`t really participate much with an anonymous identity. I`m more concerned about pressures from trainers upon students than I am of people who are simply shy. In a way, allowing an anonymous identity enables their shyness rather than helping them to grow past it. In the end, they are still shy and they still don`t do much to participate.

"Blending the issue of problematic posters and the one of the principle of anonymous posters does not solve anything. There are many good posters on here who are anonymous."

I see what you are saying, and I agree with it mostly, but I wouldn`t exactly say that it doesn`t solve anything. Speaking from a moderator persepctive, at least 60-70% of the problems stem from the actions of anonymous posters. That still leaves a big 30-40% left over. Like I said before, there are still problems with "named" Axers breaking Ax policies.

However, here is another way of looking at it. I believe that issues can be more easily dealt with if I`m moderating a "named" individual rather than an anonymous one. Here`s why...I try to utilize psychology a lot in my moderation. In non-simple issues, I try to evaluate the person`s situation and I try to understand their perspective. I believe that most people that break rules do not have bad intentions. Most of the time, they are just not considering the rules, or they don`t even know or understand the rules. I try to understand what made them break the rule. Perhaps they felt they were defending themselves. Perhaps they were defending their school/gym/trainer/fighter. Perhaps they didn`t really think of their comments as an insult. Either way, it helps for me to know things about the person. If I`m dealing with an anonymous identity, then most of the time I`m forced to treat them like a number.

Here is yet another thing to consider with regard to that...
One of the major benefits of having a verified forum is to attract more people who are in the business to participate, aka "stars". Since they are known already, it would be easy to verify their identities and they would get registered quickly. In fact, a lot of fighters would probably already have their name reserved for them (another registration addition that I had mentioned in the other thread). The reason they would be more likely to participate is because of the PERCEPTION that most fighters have of anonymous internet people. I`ve personally seen a lot of examples, mostly on other forums, of anonymous internet identities attacking known fighters who decide to participate on the forums. If you ever hear fighters talking about the internet, they often refer to a bunch of "punks and 13 year olds talking smack". If you are anonymous and you aren't a "punk" then that`s great. In fact, most anonymous posters are probably decent people. However, you must understand the group that you are associated with has people in it that abuse their anonymity. A few roten apples spoil the bunch. This generalization is not fair, but that is the compromise that you make when you choose to be anonymous. You cannot stand up and be counted. The only people that gain attention are the handful of loudmouths.

I can think of a good analogy for this. You ever hear women say that "Men are all assholes, all they think about is sex, and they are all egotistical, narcissistic bastards who start fights"...or something along those lines. Well, I can say that most of the men that I`ve met do not fall into that description. The ones who are shy, reserved, keep to themselves, don`t even go out to bars, don`t go to parties very often, don`t even drink a whole lot, don`t date very often, read a lot and are very introverted...these men get overshawdowed by the ones who go to bars regularly and get drunk and hit on women constantly and get into fights. You don`t hear anything from the shy men. In fact, the women rarely get to meet them. Thus, the generalization gets formed. This is very similar to the issues of anonymous posters.