At another website I post at, they changed it to members only to try to avoid all the flaming and trolling and impersonating that was going on. It didn't make a huge difference - people soon figured out they could open a hotmail account so that they could get a new identity. I myself have 4 - but I never use them nastily - just playing different roles.

In the end what happened is that the folks who had been around a while and hated the trolling started posting in long forgotten "basement" threads, so the trolls couldn't find them (the current one is over 6000 posts long). However the trolls did find them and accused them of being elitist.

I find it amazing how in a short space of time, an online community quickly develops groups who dislike eachother, and see others as *below* them - like a whole class structure. Fascinating.

Bagpuss