Should academics be allowed to publish anonymously?

In Computer Science (my discipline) there is a saying "You are not your code". We also say "Critique code instead of people -- be kind to the coder, not to the code". Substitute "ideas" for "code" - disagreeing with an idea or a point of view is NEVER an excuse for abusing the person who expressed it. Those who ask for 'accountability' through being able to identify authors of articles are not interested in debate. They are interested in making personal attacks on people with whom they disagree. Shouting them down rather than proving their ideas to be incorrect.

Many universities are state funded and are therefore expected to contribute to the enhancement of the welfare of their societies. As such their work should always be made public given the required accountability to governments and the public. Such an issue among others however are likely to continue to arise because surprisingly today's academics and administrators are not revisiting their raisin d'etre, the purpose of the university and the purpose of education. If these are objectively revisited we would realize that the central purpose is a practical one which is problem solving, helping societies to resolve social, economic, religious, engineering, climate change, family life, organizational etc. Once problem solving is pursued, everything else will fall in line.