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Editor’s Note: For the last couple years, we’ve used this space on Saturdays to revisit some of the biggest community issues of the week by pointing readers to the “10 Must Read Stories.” Beginning this week, we’ll still offer a look back — and likely even a look ahead — at issues of importance that have captured the public’s attention. But we’re trying a new column. Engagement editor Gene Park will lead the discussion. Let us know what you think.

My life on the Internet began in 1996. My name was “Rudolph Schmidt.” I was born a troll.

Although I don’t remember my first words, I know they initially appeared in a now-defunct online message board called, “Your Favorite Band Sucks.” The target of my barely read vitriol was the Dave Matthews Band.

I argued. I called people names. I insulted their intelligence and musical acumen. And I did it all under the moniker of an obscure character in my favorite book at the time, “The Catcher in the Rye.” Mr. Schmidt was Holden Caulfield’s janitor. Caulfield himself used it as a fake name.

I go back and forth on anonymity on the Internet. It affords people so much more freedom to express their creativity and thoughts. It softens fear of retribution. But, as The Huffington Post‘s managing editor Jimmy Soni , “comment sections can degenerate into some of the darkest places on the Internet.”

HuffPost, our new partners here in Hawaii, are now adopting a policy of ending anonymous comments. It’s similar to Civil Beat‘s original vision of a civic square, where people can transparently discuss the day’s issues while using their names to own up to their words. In 2011, we started using Facebook as our comments system, a decision that was controversial and rather unpopular at the time. The technique’s become mainstream however, with a number of large sites integrating Facebook comments into their own interface.

“There are valuable things we can learn from commenters that they would never contribute if they had to attach their real identity to it,” argues Mathew Ingram of Gigaom, in a well-researched column with . “Comments about spousal abuse, sexual identity, religious persecution – the list goes on. Is a modest decline in trolling worth giving all of that up?”

I think it really depends on the venue and what your mission is. Civil Beat serves a relatively small island community, where your words can travel fast and far through the coconut wireless.

Readers in Hawaii aren’t dumb. They know that operatives from certain special interests live in our comments section, and in the comments sections across other news sites. Some of them are paid consultants. Some of them are political volunteers. Some of them make themselves known. Some don’t. I should know. When I was a public relations executive, I would comment on behalf of some of my clients, all the while making it known that I was serving a public relations role.

Having real names allows other readers to do their own fact checks to find out who these users are and what they may represent. It adds an additional layer of transparency to the journalism that is being supplemented by comments.

By no means can I ever advocate a blanket across-the-web anonymity policy, as Illinois Sen. Ira Silverstein posted . First of all, such a feat would be near impossible. Secondly, comments about spousal abuse, religious persecution and the like would be suppressed. The Internet needs to allow some level of anonymity.

There are plenty of avenues that allow for anonymity. Twitter, of course, is a place where using your real name as your handle is almost impossible. And if readers want to submit comments as anonymous tipsters, emailing a journalist is far more secure and requires no sign up to arbitrary services like Facebook, Disqus or the Gawker blogs’ Kinja format.

Recently, I’ve received some complaints from Civil Beat readers about comments on our site that lack civility. People call each other bigots. Some call each other liars. I’m still trying to get a feel for the community, and if there are any concerns about comments, feel free to send me an email, leave a message on the Civil Beat Facebook page, tweet me at @CivilBeat or @GenePark, or do it the “old-fashioned” way and leave a comment below.

I’ve been moderating Internet users since high school. When I was 17 years old, I was a moderator of a Java-based chatroom, and started a popular Yahoo! message group that boasted more than 10,000 members. At the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, one of my responsibilities as online news producer was to moderate the hundreds of comments that came in each day. It was a dirty job. Some users purposefully trolled me, leaving vicious or sometimes overly long comments, taking some delight in making me spend more of my workday deleting their comments.

Like any community, Civil Beat will continue to evolve. I hope it will be to a place that reflects Hawaii’s community, where there is a modicum of respect, knowing that we all live in the same intimate community that we want to improve.

That said, I’d like to highlight five stories from us that prompted a lot of discussion, on our site and the social spaces.

• Without a doubt, the most talked about local story outside of the UH vs. USC game this week was the mistrial declared for federal agent Christopher Deedy. The conversation ran a gamut of topics, from whether the court and prosecutors faltered by not allowing the possibility of a manslaughter conviction. Even former Gov. Ben Cayetano, himself once a defense attorney, added his two cents. So did other prominent defense attorneys in Hawaii.

• Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva’s words about gays sparked a firestorm of comments, perhaps the most contentious this week. Silva said “not all discrimination … is unjust” regarding making distinctions between heterosexual and homosexual marriage. His words even prompted a response on our pages from one of the nation’s leading voices in the LGBT movement, media pundit Dan Savage.

• “Sue their asses, and then kick them out of Hawaii for continuing to destroy our aina.” This was one of the Facebook comments on Sophie Cocke’s story about some state senators who want to pursue a lawsuit against the Navy for failing to clean up the “Target Isle,” Kahoolawe.

• Alia Wong’s story on an appeals court decision to allow special education students 20 years or older to attend public school didn’t attract as much discussion. But it warrants your attention, as it affects thousands of students and addresses the issue of equity within the public education system.

• The death threats allegedly hurled against U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard are sure to be at the center of some discussion in the future. There’s a whole slew of issues that could orbit around this case, including the safety of our public officials and what the judiciary system does to protect victims of threats like these. It’s already made national headlines.