

The Perils of the Anonymous User - PStamatiou
http://paulstamatiou.com/2008/03/25/the-perils-of-the-anonymous-user

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patrocles
Tagging posts with a profile works like Branding in commerce. It's a signal
that:

A) you put some effort into the site

B) you worry about negatively impacting your karma

So, any rational reader should choose to follow a user with a profile versus
an anonymous one, ceteris paribus.

What Paul seems to not grok is the usefulness of these signals. While he may
find it annoying, we like being able to tell at a glance who has a higher
probability of not posting junk.

On the other hand, _improving_ user distinction beyond up/down voting seems a
wide open field....

