Thread by @GrayConnolly

I know this is a very unpopular opinion (as pretty much all of mine are) but everyone here should be verified in some way. I realise this means it is harder for the Ruritanian dissident to get her/his voice heard, but I cannot help thinking it would make this a more civil place.

I am happy for people who feel they cannot tweet under a legal name to have some useful pseudonym but the platform would be infinitely better if all users were verified by Twitter, had to pay a nominal fee, with some accountability mechanism implemented.

I have a reasonably ursine/rhino hide when it comes to abuse - I went to a Jesuit school & some of it is actually quite funny, esp after going on the ABC - but many people do not do broader media here (who well could) because the anonymous abuse directed at them is so bad.

Anyway, I am not perfect, at all, and no doubt have upset people, but I try to live by my own rules for my account here, especially rule 3, and I cannot help thinking we would all do better here if we could all be sure of who each other is & were duly accountable.

Finally, for all the deserved criticism of this platform, I have met a good number of very interesting and very good people through Twitter, from all points of the political compass, and most people are better in person than online....I suspect because we see we are all human.