Sorry that this is so personal, but wanted to share it here to illustrate how important this is.
Imagine this: a really nice host with hundreds of references, in a first world country, who lets you use his bike all day every day, takes you to all kinds of house parties, introduces you to his male/female friends, includes you in his plans for the week, cooks dinner a few nights, and gives you space to share the bed with him since it’s the only sleeping surface in the house. Four nights of the week you come home drunk together and nothing physical happens. On your fifth and final night, he tries to touch you while you’re sleeping. You say, “Remember, I have a partner?” and he replies, “But don’t you like this?” You say “no,” and he stops. You fall asleep and leave the next morning.
I still couldn’t leave a negative reference. I was 1) just plain young and naive, 2) thought it must have been an accident and gave him the benefit of the doubt and 3) felt he was nice “overall” since he stopped after I said no. I left that guy a positive reference, and didn’t even mention the incident. I was 20. He was 31. I wasn’t that upset. I was like “eh, whatever, shit happens.”
It gets worse. Fast-forward a few months, and the same host has contacted me asking me to host his friend who is passing through my town. I agree to host her, and later on tell her the story, and she immediately relates with a similar story. She elected not to leave any reference, because she, too, felt he was “overall nice.”
I’m sharing this story as an example of how not everyone feels compelled to leave a negative reference, even when it is warranted, because of the public nature of that reference.
That guy is still walking around CS with 400+ references and no negative ones. And I’m still not going to do anything about it probably.
That’s why I believe making some component of references more anonymous could help improve safety and encourage more people to be honest about their experience.