"...protection from criticism etc. Newsgroups unfortunately don't provide people with that type of protection."

Yes they do. If you don't post with your real identity, people can criticize all they want, but that won't affect you, because they don't know who YOU are.

It seems to me that you are trying to achieve two goals that tend to be mutually exclusive.

You want people to post publicly with their real identities, but you want them to be 'safe'. Sorry. No such thing.

As the old saying goes "Fast, better, cheaper. Pick any two". In your case it's "Public, identifiable, safe from criticism".

I've been 'online' for long enough to know better. That's partly why I still cling to this handle of "skywise" and a bogus email address.

Brian