Greg,
It's not an individual policy for Peabody Patch -- it applies company-wide. If at some point Patch decides to change its policy in this regard, then it will change.
The hope is that in good faith, our readers will user their real names when speaking in a public forum and stand by their opinions. But yes, you could just as easily create a false name, we hope you don't.
Thanks for responding and glad to hear you're finding the site a valuable resource.