Hey, a cool thread. Who was that guy asking where the analysis and study was..? </rhetoric> This is it!

I feel the difference between anonymity and ID is a difference in purpose. The "entities" (seeing as we're disconnecting the human from the equation) that remain anonymous are here to express pure thought and ideas. It's just like a public square where you walk into a discussion and make comment.

Part of the reason could also be lazyness, but that doesn't apply when the form autofills, and I don't think anyone here posts so voraciously that they can't stop to enter details.

And those that give an identity? As >>39 said, perhaps people don't know about the option to stay anonymous. I'd agree that newcomers perhaps don't know about the choice.

Force of habit? Sure. I know that's the case for me. But there must be more to it than that...

We don't want anonymity. I think we've definitely hit the nail on the head here.
Choosing anonymity means foregoing any sort of identification. I'm heavily interested in security, and I'm always security concious, but I still choose to take an identity, as you can see.

So what is it? Perhaps it's a sense of community? I know I like to come in and I laugh gently, something usually like "Oho, more quality posts by Sling". We like to imagine we know people. I'm sure many of you have very fucntional (open to interpretation) relationships with people online that you've never met before. It's everywhere, not just here. Online game clans, for just one example. It's there alright. But it goes deeper than that, I'm sure...

When we eschew the cloak of anonymity, we take on an identity. This is inescapable. We are someone, whether we acknowledge it or not. The fact is, humans want an identity. Nay, they need it. Humans are by their very nature a social animal. Now that, is a real meme (unless we've recently found a gene for "society").

Humans need other humans. Society is what makes us whole. But without an identity, all humans are similar. We may look different, but it is our capability for individual thought that sets us apart. If you dissolve that individuality, as tends to occur in communist society, humans lose their sense of identity.

Contrast this to a meritocracy (something like capitalism). Now, your identity is everything. Your acheivements mean nothing without an identity to associate them with; the stronger the better.

With the loss of other identifiers that the internet has brought with it, an identity is now more important than ever. Without things like a voice or a face or a body to represent you, your entire presence is within this fragile identity. Outside this board, neither you nor I exist. Not in the same way.

It's intersting to note that while an identity is needed in "The Wired" (to borrow a term), that identity is often disparate to that present in what we understand as reality. Many people are very different in the Wired. Part of this is clearly the fascination that comes from reinventing oneself. But it also further highlights the fact that humans want an identity. Many online identities are far "stronger" or overt than in reality. What we see is people struggling even harder to create an identity for themselves.

These identities are naturally transient. Nothing lasts forever on the internet. Not really. Posts will age and be pushed off this board. Companies and websites collapse; people change. Nothing will compare to the length of a human life. Is it this temporary quality that makes our identites in the Wired burn ever so much brighter?

Anonymity is a concept. It is a tool, it is a weapon, it is a shield (it may well save your life, depending on your actions and where you live). But it is not absolute. Humanity can never embrace anonymity; not totally. Otherwise, humanity would cease to exist.