Your first point is fair enough. As for "anonymity is not the beginning and end of free speech", I don't think the comment you were responding to said anything

Your first point is fair enough. As for "anonymity is not the beginning and end of free speech", I don't think the comment you were responding to said anything to that effect. It only said that taking away anonymity would also take away free speech. By admitting that "anonymity is sometimes necessary", you're basically agreeing with that comment. Anonymity surely isn't all there is to free speech, but without it, free speech would be severely hampered.