Name, please

Why you now have to say who you are before the BBC will entertain your complaint... 

So far this year Audience Services has received 3.7k offensive messages, double the number we had received at the same point last year.

Analysis has shown that that only 31% of the abusive complaints we received provided the name of the
complainant, compared to 70% of non-abusive contacts. This finding supports wider research on the subject which suggests that anonymity is a key driver of abusive behaviour – particularly online. Such behaviour has subsequently been termed ‘Cyberdishibition’. [I think they mean cyber-disinhibition. Ed]

To try and reduce the number of offensive contact the BBC receives we intend to introduce new mandatory data fields within our complaints webform which audience members will need to provide before they can submit a complaint or comment or enquiry. These fields will include:
1. full name;
2. full postal address (including full postcode); and
3. contact telephone number.