Anonymous Judges.

It makes me wonder, why some judges prefer to stay anonymous despite finishing their term?!
To be honest, I'm one of these who cares for the feedback/criticism more than the reward itself. It's enriching to read our poetry through the eyes of the others, to discuss that, to highlight what's been lost between the writer and the reader. Don't you think that?

Maybe some feel a tad guilty for comments they made though they are anonymous??

I think they keep judges identities private beyond their term because they may be called to judge further terms in the future and being identified as a known judge could compromise their judging capabilities.

(For example writers might try and vote up the poems of people they know to be judges in an attempt to curry favour etc).

What I think is more important is that the public voting system should be changed to force people to identify themselves when voting to try and discourage the anonymous people who deliberately mark down poems to give writers a lower level mark even when the poem doesn't warrant a lower mark.

This behaviour of unwarranted marking down is becoming more and more noticeable and is very unfair and underhand and needs to be addressed

We need Janis's presence in order to address downvoters, and it doesn't seem like he'll be making a meaningful appearance anytime soon.