More than 32,000 in Denver alone to be exact. While I am certain that people can beat the system, we take a LTE approach to our users. Our registration asks for a user’s real name, address and phone number.

When a story is chosen to be printed in one of our 18 print sections we verify authorship by using the old fashioned phone. We also have a whole host of bloggers and regular users who help police the site and let us know when something smells fishy. When we find a user on the site using what we believe to be a false name we attempt to contact them and inform them we are not an anonymous site. They can choose to participate using their real name or delete their profile.

We also allow people who post on our site to attend our staff meetings and drop in to our offices whenever they desire. Our Web hosts also post their smiling faces on the front of every hub and are real live breathing people available by phone or email. They’ll even come out to someone’s house to teach them how to use the site. This has helped create ownership by the community and eliminated some of the anonymous, faceless feel of some sites.

I know that we lose many people who would otherwise post by making users stand behind their real name, but the policy has made the site more friendly and allows real community members to have a real voice.

As I said before, could someone beat our system and post using a false name? Absolutely, but it happens a lot less than you would think.

When you build a site where everyone is using their real name and belongs to the community you weed out the childish and profane comments that proliferate some sites.

That might mean our site suffers traffic-wise and isn’t the darling of self-proclaimed community journalism experts.

So be it.

But I also have the same question as Ari: what methods are there to determine real identities?

I’d appreciate any feedback on the guidelines.

We went to mandatory registration in response to reader complaints. It makes sense to me that registration would not stop the determined people, who will register and fire off their diatribes. But I believe that many of the inappropriate posts come in the heat of the moment from readers who, when forced to register or log in, will pause and think twice about what they’re posting.

I realize that means fewer comments, but I don’t want the comments that aren’t appropriate.

A discussion board needs a thoughtful leader who tries things that will engage potential members of the community at their appropriate levels of comfort and expertise. So, the ultimate methods that the leader employs will depend upon the unique mix of people within that community. If not, then what you have is simply a discussion board, a convenient place for graffiti from whoever drives by. Maybe that graffiti might be interesting to someone. Maybe not.

I’d guess that the closer an online community is to a community of practice (this one, for example), the more people will prefer real names & registration. People *could* subscribe to OJR (as many “subscribe” to ONA).

It is obvious that the trade/niche press are communities of practice. The question is whether local newspapers are. Would I pay money to join the reader community of either the Boston Phoenix or the Boston Globe? Possibly. For the local newspapers to stay relevant, they are going to have to prove themselves as more binding communities than the news aggregators (as excellent a service as they provide– thank you Blake and Topix).

I’ll add that more research can be done– I think ONA (or, better yet, OPA) could survey its member publishers, and find out what strategies they use, and what results they get.