It seems to me that many of the people who come here show up because they have had their 'feathers rustled' by statements such as those made in the goth or wiccan articles. These people, once arriving, are likely to be so intent on sharing their 'wisdom' that they are almost certain to be willing to set up an account to do so. Once they have done so (it seems to me) not only will they likely to be somewhat more reasonable and level-headed once they are only moderately anonymous, but also they are more likely to stick around based on the effort they have put into creating an account.

There is no fear of putting off those who wish to say something controversial without it tying to their account (as if they should be afraid of posting something controversial here) because it is always easy to create a secondary account. And of course, if people are not posting anonymously, it is easier to place whatever argument one is challenged with in a frame of reference based on the challenger's other comments. It also protects from spammers and crapflooders, by obvious mechanisms.

On the contrary, I can't really think of a single reason to allow anonymous posting. Perhaps someone could share their views?