This article is long, so I'll summarize. The author:

• opens with an idiotic analogy (website = party);
• complains that anonymity lets people say what they want without consequences, then decides pseudonyms are just great;
• cites sources for obvious facts unrelated to his argument;
• praises online self-promotion games (pseudonymous reputations);
• has a total ignorance of trolls, and does not acknowledge their existence;
• claims without evidence that registration "weeds out" troublemakers;

then I stopped reading. But at the end it says the author is an "expert in online psychology and behavior", so he must be right.

I think this article is a troll. I can't imagine anyone truly being that stupid. Here are some highlights:

> Anonymity allows people to hide behind their computers while saying whatever they want with little ramification. [...] Pseudonymous systems [..] have been shown to work very well
> Some websites have discovered fairly innovative ways to allow for anonymity [...] Slashdot[..] has long had a moderation system[..]
> Members who have an investment in something within your community are far less likely to blow that investment through inappropriate, negative behavior.
> Let's use Wikipedia as our example. Up until very recently, they were an almost completely open, registration-free system.
> People happily and willingly engage in such a registration when they readily understand the value given to them for registering--to purchase a product, to be able to post to a forum, etc.
> it's not the quality of the registration data that is the purpose of registration--it's the process itself. By requiring users to take an affirmative action (that requires some minimal effort on their part), it weeds out the casual troublemaker from an interested user.
> Although easy to manipulate, the reputation system is a foundation of eBay's growth and popularity.
> ratings and reputation systems can take many forms. The simplest is the number of posts made to the community. The more posts a member makes, the more "senior" they become. Date of registration can also be used as an indicator of a member's seniority.
> Reputation systems can also be tied directly to a role system, so those with increasingly senior reputations can be given greater access or responsibilities within the community.