really the only way it will ever be an equitable system is when it is no longer complaint driven- either anonymous or non-anonymous.

I received a letter due to an erroneous complaint filled without verification as mentioned in a previous post.

That is the selective enforcement issue. I have actually seen this in a previous community with deed restrictions.

This has been debated before. Under our legal system you have the right to face your accuser. The original post states that complaints went down by 90% when no longer
anonymous.
There are few of us that have nothing that is in violation. Is that a garden plant? Your neighbor ANONYMOUSLY thinks it is an ugly WEED.

Both violate deed restrictions in most areas. There are at least two deed restrictions violated by running short term rentals out of one’s home while living there at the same time. Renting to non family members while living in the home violates the deed restriction requiring the home be used as a single family residential unit. And since the homeowner is essentially running a one room hotel for a fee that generates taxable income, they are also violating the restriction that prohibits running a business from the home. Unfortunately, these violations are not enforced.

Rentals of one’s home while they are NOT living there, regardless of the length of the rental, does not violate any deed restrictions as long as the tenants are a single family.

Seems more a potential Waiver issue than Selective Enforcement.
.

The right to enforce a restrictive covenant may be lost due to waiver where, by failing to act, one leads another to believe that he or she is not going to insist upon enforcement of the covenant.

Most of these things are debatable. We seek perfection but, perfection rarely exists.
Perhaps, teasing. An equitable system is when they BOTHER anyone else but ME.

in other communities they elect an architectural committee that travels the neighborhood looking for violations. What happens is, OH that is John, I play bridge with him, I didn't see his violation.

Many years ago my neighbor hired a, "landscaper," to design and build his landscape. They built a cement structure that was in violation. I spoke to my neighbor and pointed it out to him. My neighbor spoke to the contractor who refused to redo the work. The guy was nasty to me-swearing etc. He is the expert, kind of stuff. I told him I would be calling the villages.
The villages were great. They sent someone to look. The, "expert landscaper," was wrong, he never filed a plan. The villages told my neighbor not to pay him. I did not want to complain BUT, if you choose not to it sort of becomes grandfathered.

Another thought on this
 

Here is another thought on this. All the CDD boards use the one group of complaint administrators. The budget for the compliance office is then divided up and paid for based on the number of complaints they handle for your CDD. Each anonymous complaint that is then found to be bogus still cost you money. If you have to put your name to the complaint and CDD 5 complaint numbers are down 90%, then their cost for the complaint system should be down by 90% also. Seems like a way to trim our expenditures as a CDD without much effort.

The CDD is the accuser, as the violation is against the deed restriction not one person in particular.

That seems like a sensible compromise. Signed public complaints reminds me of countries where people are allowed to vote, but their vote is public. It discourages people from voting. Sort of like the complaint rate dropping by 90%.

On the other hand, perhaps most of those complaints are coming from one or two people in an area. I’ve seen plenty of violations but never considered reporting them.

The Clipboard ladies have a weakness , Margaritas and a Prolapsed Bladder…having a collection of clipboards hanging from your headboard is similar to a “get out of jail Free” card…

I agree. It's fine to keep the reporter anonymous from the violator, but that person should live in the same section. That way it is only those with a vested interest in the appearance of the neighborhood that can complain, and the two old biddies can shove their clipboard you-know-where.

I am not in favor of anonymous complaints, which is a good thing since I happen to live in
CDD 5. When I drive around I sometimes see things I suspect are not in compliance, but look nice, and one such example is a flower bed with a couple of metal sandhill cranes. I have often gone by there and thought "Gee, I hope the anonymous clipboard ladies don't complain about that"...
I think complaining anonymously is cowardly. If you can't look a person in the eye and politely explain why you want them to change something, maybe you are nitpicking and should find something else to worry about.

We were the subject of a complaint in CDD5. When we asked the Community Standards rep who filed the complaint, we were told the name. We had already guessed but he confirmed our suspicions.

If you violated a deed restriction why not just correct it?