Two cents from here: I have been a member for years. I have 'no-cookie' setups on both work and home computers. It is a pain in the neck to reset my cookie every time I come to mudcat for a few minutes of browsing.   So I post as Guest unless there's some compelling reason to make myself known.

I like the fact that on the internet I don't have to be a celebrity or a member of the in-clique to say something in a discussion. While it's swell that there is a real-world group here who are best buddies and know each other's real names and addresses, I just don't think that's what the net or the cat is about.

I don't do abusive or annoying posts, I don't troll or flame. I will admit to occasionally saying something (gasp) negative as a Guest. It's usually something quite productive that the nice kind friends-in-the-real-world folks won't come out and say. You can call it hiding behind 'guest' or you can call it being free to have a more real discussion.

If Joe and Max want to remove abusive posters, remove them, block their isps. Frankly with this type of new rule I will feel like a card-carrying American of Arab descent. I'm going to get stopped and green-carded and frisked every time I turn around, because the FBI would rather restrict the freedoms of a million people than go out and find the 400 Al-Qaeda among us and deal with them on an individual basis.