Moderation and anonymous members/posters have killed dpreview

That might be true to some extent but the flip side is that really good members, knowledgeable and helpful members that have been helping others for free might not join either because they could argue why should I now have to pay to help people when I have been doing it for free.

I think the risk of losing really good people after introducing fees is higher than the risk of having more trolls if there are no fees.

Dealing with and booting out trolls when there are no fees is much easier than trying to replace really good, knowledgeable and helpful members after introducing fees.

Everyone should submit a DNA sample and a bank deposit of $1,000 to be forfeited in case of bad behavior.

Good luck with that one :-D

Get it straight, it wasn't any set of users or Moderators who killed DPR. it was AMAZON accountants.

They all contributed to various extents.

If the website was not supplying users to Amazon to purchase goods and if some rogue moderators were driving away users, for whatever reasons, and so potentially costing Amazon customers it's a no-brainer the bean counters will eventually advise management that the website is not producing satisfactory financial returns when compared to the higher very low risk returns that could be achieved elsewhere with the funds invested in maintaining the website.

Everything has a price. If I want to avoid a corrosive environment I have to pay for it.
There are no perfect forums, just as there are no perfect societies. In societies there is law and taxes. In the forums there are rules and there must be fees. Otherwise it will be the law of the jungle

This is a strange thread. When I click on most poster's screen names and check their profile, I find no real names or background information. When you click on "Details" it says, for example, "DannoB is not sharing any details with others*"
StannyBuyle who started this thread and I are notable exceptions. We have provided information on just who we are. Check out our "Details" link.
Come on guys. Live up to what you are saying here and tell us more about yourselves.

Someone suggested posting websites. When you see my details, you'll likely be able to guess why I don't have one. Nor am I on Facebook, Snapchat, etc.

I totally disagree. This forum seems to be running very well so far with little or no moderation and no fees. Let's hope it lasts :-)

Can you post any links to online forums that are successful and charge fees?

Maybe everyone is who they say they are and maybe they're not. Just because I read something in someone's profile doesn't mean it is all totally true.

I am a little surprised by this. I've hanged on several forums over the years and generally they seem to have been able to deal with problematic people and behaviour well enough without any fees.

That is indeed a true statement.
But at the very least, you have finally revealed some additional personal information about yourself. An inclination to be cynical about those who post here. (Now, where is that smiley faced emoji.)

No.

Anyone with bad intentions now has your name, your city, and one of your interests; that may or may not be enough to identify you. I prefer not to take the risk.

After seeing what happened to Jim Cockfield on DPR when the trolls harassed him and his family, I make no apologies for doing all I can to protect my privacy.

Ah, no. That opens a whole can of worms in terms of GDPR and hacking, identity theft etc.

Many forums work by not only banning the email, but also banning the IP address, it is not perfect, but it does work.

If the Mods are honest, apply the rules to any and all and do not take sides, then the forum will naturally wash out the more "toxic" people. What permits toxicity is bad moderation...

Whether it's cynical or not is a matter of opinion.
The more important thing is that you acknowledged what I said is true :-)

Where are the metrics to support this belief? I see this claim a lot with no basis in published data.

This is a terrible idea that will create real world risks for some people or simply exclude them from participating here. For example, victims of domestic abuse sharing their real name and address can lead to physical or emotional harm for themselves or their children. There are many, many more reasons why someone may wish to keep their private details private.

Respectfully, but I did not write about "visible for anyone"... I wrote visible to forum staff. That particular member could stiil choose if he wants his private info public to everybody, just to the staff or a third kind of member profile as anonymous.
You could create diff. member profiles, like they did on nikongear.net/revival/ ...