[JamesBrown]

I am a big supporter of tying your name to your CD account. I have been posting on CD for 11+ years, and have never had a need to state an opinion that I did not want tied to my name. I view CD as a professional environment, and try to act accordingly.

The first part of the discussion is allowing people to use an anonymous account to state their opinion without tying it to their name. Specifically to the hypothetical in the original post. I agree, a members personal opinions, political, religious, moral, or otherwise, should not effect their standing in the community as an expert in their field of expertise. This is exactly why this opinion should not be brought up in a professional setting. As soon as you bring these unrelated opinions into your professional life you run the risk of people changing their opinions of you.

I have no need to know what Karthik's opinions are on anything non-robot related, and I don't care to know. For the same reasons I don't share mine. I apply the same attitude at work, and in all arenas outside of personal discussions with select people. I would strongly advise that everyone does the same.

For example (since it keeps coming up) if you have strong opinions about the LGBTQ+ community, if they do not directly effect FIRST then you do not need to state them. If they do directly effect FIRST, then you need to be confident enough in your stance to state your opinion, if you aren't then you need to evaluate your opinion. In general, if you aren't willing to have your name tied to an opinion, then you have no business bringing it up in a public setting.

The second part of this, is allowing someone to bring up a difficult or controversial topic without fear of repercussion. I see a need for this, and I would love to see FAHA revived for exactly this purpose, This would allow users to as these types of questions freely without fear of reprisal. At the same time the moderator oversight would insure that the system is used in a professional manner, and is not abused.

The third argument that I have seen is that the issue is with the red and green dots. First, I promise they are really just dots. Second, I have to say, I would much rather see the reputation system eliminated along with anonymous accounts, than see the accounts stick around.