I voted yes.
And not because of my personal opinions about the mods either way, or because I think we should have a "nice police."
Nobody on this board is going to say I'm nice. If I had to be "nice" to some of the dipshits on this board, I'd probably shoot myself. If I don't like you, I try to stay away from you, unless you post something truly stupid and/or offensive. I think the point about being "nice" was more a matter of "the reason people don't post contrary opinions sometimes is that a small, though extremely loud, minority don't know that there's a difference between 'debating' and 'arguing'" more than a matter of "let's make everyone be nice all the time." Hell, I love debates, but sometimes even I'd rather keep my mouth shut than go in circles with the same old harpies over and over and over.
Anyway, the reason I voted yes is this. I post on a really large horse-oriented message board. It's heavily moderated, which has caused a lot of problems. I lurk more than I post there, and when I do post, it's usually not anything of substance because that heavy-handed moderation is usually not very even-handed in its heavy-handedness.
The "main" mod on that board posted under her real name (yes, not the smartest move for her to make, obviously). She had links in her profile to her MySpace page and her personal website. The horse show world is a small one in many ways, and it didn't take a lot of people long to figure out exactly who she was. She wasn't my favorite person in the world, but I mostly just ignored her. However, she pissed a lot of people off with her favoritism, and they went off the deep end. They would call her bosses at work just to talk shit about her. They'd call her at work and at home to yell. I even think she got a few death threats.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, she and the rest of the mods resigned because they were sick of the crap. The board was unmoderated for a day or two, and then a new, mysterious mod came out of the woodwork. This mod's name is "admin," and nobody knows who the hell "admin" is. It's pretty obvious that the person is a regular poster, but under the mod's name, the person doesn't contribute to the discussion. The old mod got in fights under her "real" name and just obviously played favorites. "Admin" does not.
Anyway, in the last two weeks, this board has gone from a place where people intentionally post threads to provoke others into turning it into a trainwreck to a place where folks generally get along. I'm not saying the change in moderators had anything to do with it, but you don't see these thinly-veiled "let's see if we can pick fights and drag the mods in" threads.
I think the difference is not the new moderator, but the fact that he/she is an anonymous mod. Said mod is obviously a regular poster, but never gives any indication of favoritism with his/her posts in the "admin" name. If he/she has something to say that would "side" with one poster or group against another, he/she uses his/her "real" name. I think that cuts out a lot of problems, actually.
So, anyway, I made this long-ass post to say I voted yes because I think we should have anonymous mods. It might help keep the bullshit to a minimum.
I can see what you're saying, and for that matter it could actually still be Marquis and I without people knowing it was the same mods only disguised. But whether it were us or someone else who was anonymous, I would not be in favour of it as it reminds me too much of a secret police type mentality whereby you never know to whom you are actually speaking, nor if your words to another in private might be passed on in a modified and/or translated version to the anon mod and in a way you never uttered them(or even be spoken directly and unknowingly to the mod). 
I prefer transparency and being able to own words and actions posted on the forum as opposed to hiding behind a disguise and calling it fair. If posters have to own their public words and actions, why shouldn't mods who basically are only here to move SPAM and threads to their correct location (despite some believing we delete and edit posts and threads...we don't and would not be mods for long if we did) also have to own their forum actions and words. I don't actually see a reason for it here because of the strong ethic of free speech upheld and promoted by the site itself. I'm just not one who likes secrecy like this as it always hints at sneekiness and dishonesty to me and in a forum of mature adults I don't think it should be necessary to play cloak and dagger games with forum matters. Personally, I would have left the forum you spoke of if they could not respect another's right to privacy in their home and worklife as they are not only immature, but also the sort of people I could not trust and would not want to be associated with.
Catalina
Thanks DB...it's nice to know that somebody is listening...I think you're about the second person to notice what I've said.
Professional defect: I've sat on so many committees where that kind of discussions would go on and on and on and on... I soon as I hear someone say "folks, that decision is out of our hand", my instant reaction is "thank god! now lets move on, I'm hungry"!
I thrive on ruining people's fantasies. It's my new thing.
I've been saying that since page one! Perhaps your South Park and my lolcat will do the trick.
Dang. *pulls up chair* Anyone want some popcorn while Etoile loses it? This is better than reality television.
