Barrier:
Its the thought that counts

I don't know if it is just me, but it seems that in various forums participants seem to place a lot of bearing on the source of an idea rather than its content.

If an idea is mooted by someone who appears to have a lot of knowledge in a given area then their thoughts are more easily accepted than if the idea is proposed by a relative unknown.  I guess this reflects one aspect of human heuristics - using apparent past performance to give an indication of future performance. 

There might be no great problem with this but I feel that ideas should stand on their own merits no matter who the source of the thinking is.

I wonder if anonymity in discussions could be a good thing. Imagine an environment where thoughts are contributed without the need for a tie-back to a CV or a reputation. It could be emancipation of thought - free of egos.