I wouldn't quite agree as in the past, some very nasty individuals and organisations were being tackled on these boards and it was arguably better that people stayed relatively anonymous for their own safety or more importantly, the safety of those that know them, such as friends or colleagues.

Some of those organisations went far beyond legal threats; especially when it got to a point where they'd screwed foreign teachers over so badly, that if China was governed by the rule of law; they simply wouldn't have a leg to stand on and had to resort to desperate measures. You've had your own experiences of that dare I say, and I'd say "good on you for daring to reveal yourself," but it might not always be the wisest thing to do, or at least, it's not the best course of action for every individual.

Remaining slightly mysterious and writing under an alias name has its advantages too. There's some parts of your life that one would not want to reveal to everyone (not necessarily seedy, more likely mundane) and an alias allows one to write without revealing too much. I write under a few different alias for various different purposes; there's much more to my life than teaching, especially since I don't even actually teach anymore. Writing under an alias also nullifies the Chinese wumao tactic of trying to discredit the poster and attack their character; it's hard to perform a character assasination, when one can't really understand the character for who they really are.

This board may have served as a bit of an online kangaroo court in the past, but it was for a very good purpose; when teachers could not get justice via the usual, correct and proper means. Those that did them wrong were often torn apart when they attempted to justify their behaviour in an online environment where they can't call upon their local government's guanxi or local thugs for help; I'd like to think that the vast majority of foreign teachers that were lurking rather than posting saw these Chinglish speaking idiots for who they really are and stopped taking them seriously, didn't apply to work at their schools etc. But I dare say we were fair, if a newbie teacher criticised a school unfairly, we'd point it out all the same.

However, I agree with your point that many a teacher may be on the run from the law back home. This doesn't just apply to posters on this board; the ones that we should really be scared about probably wouldn't dare want to even risk making it known that they have run away overseas by posting on here!

Most posters on here are probably harmless and more likely to be on the run from Trump's presidency, the patriarchy or just reality, rather than the authorities.