Many years ago a lot site's comment sections give you a choice between using an anonymous account for the site or linking to your Facebook or Twitter accounts t

Many years ago a lot site's comment sections give you a choice between using an anonymous account for the site or linking to your Facebook or Twitter accounts to post. I experimented with using my real name/ID on some of them under the assumption that I'd be more inclined to be polite, assume good faith, avoid unproductive engagements with people, etc. if I wasn't anonymous. It didn't work. It just deterred me from commenting at all, and when I did comment I think I was more terse and condescending than usual. I'm not sure why, but I wonder if maybe in anonymous forums I kind of just assumed a lot of the stupid things being said were by edgy teenagers. I was inclined to be patient with them or write them off since I just sort of assumed they were too young to know better and would grow out of it. But once you see the profile pictures of the people posting, and they're grown ass men who really ought to know better, it's much harder to be nice because you know these peoples' horrible beliefs have consequences.