I think this is a great question. It is important from time to time to rethink or re-remember the reasons behind long standing decisions. This is also an opportunity for those with a long memory of the history of the site to help some of us newer ones learn about what that "ethos" is. In your case, Jim, I notice that in the last three months there has been a dramatic up-tic in your involvement here. Despite being a member since 2006, over half your nodes are in the last three months. So, Welcome!

A lot has changed in the social use of the internet in the last six years and it doesn't appear that we've had a serious discussion about this for a while, or not at least one that is easily findable via super-search.

The only result super search found containing the three words "anonymous", "monk", and "ethos", is this very thread. The phrase "Should users be allowed to post anonymously" turned up just one post from 2005. The last serious discussion of Anonymonk privileges in the list given above is in 2006. There is a whole generation of potential Perl learners entering college who lived their entire teen years (crucial to cultural formation) since then. Surely, we want to hear their voices and have PerlMonks to be open to new ways of thinking that have resulted from growing up in the era of social media? It just won't happen unless someone asks the question and starts a discussion.