I try to stay out of these things, but I feel the need to make some observations.
First, the recent conflagaration here may not have been mitigated by profiles, as the seminal posts were by "known folks." At the thread's demise, there were relatively few anonymous posts, IIRC.
Second, legislation works well at the Goat, but may run cross-purposes here. The Goat promotes a more rolicking discourse by a smaller number of dedicated posters, which IMHO warrants Jay's present approach in order to ride the fine edge between spirited discussion and flame-throwing. Over here, your purpose is well-stated at the top of the page, and the board benefits from a broad range of participants. Some of these knowledgeable folks may stop posting if it becomes too hard to do.
I'm the first one to rally behind maintaining profiles at the Goat. But I think a better approach here is to keep the public access, but simply and quickly delete any post that gets off-topic _and_ offensive. If the post isn't there to respond to, the thread won't get long at all...