I have been the Moderator on two boards where the participants are active and retired law enforcement personnel.
On one, every individual is registered by his true name and everyone is/was connected with the same agency.
On the other, posting can be done by both registered and unregistered people and there is no way to assure that the poster is even affiliated with law enforcement. (There is a way to register with either a real or screen name and be certified as law enforcement affiliated, but in that registration the board operator knows the identity of the registrant.)
Predictably, on the board where no one can be anonymous the postings are quite civil, and often even congenial when you are responding to someone who you have worked with over the years.
Equally predictably, on the board where people can be anonymous the exchanges can become quite nasty. Also, the allegations against third parties, such as discussions of which active duty supervisor was sleeping with which active duty subordinate, got to the point of being legally actionable.
We dealt with this by tightening the rules on personal invective, but there is frequently still an undercurrent of animosity that is not the case where every person is registered.
I find it incredible that some people are incapable of addressing the issue and instead feel they must insult the poster.
My rule of thumb is that whenever someone resorts to name calling they have lost the argument.
|