Most definitely they are needed. I have two experiences to share as to why I think so personally. One was when out local news station went from using Disqus for comments to using Facebook. One night during a debate over immigration someone didn't like that I felt people should have to migrate here illegally so they went and looked up my name on the city tax records then posted a picture of my house with the address and were prompting people to come protest outside my house. I called the news station and they removed it but it took several hours because it was early in the a.m. hours when the person responsible for removing comments wasn't around. I don't think many people seen it as it was so late...or early in the morning but two cars did pull up outside my house with Mexicans in it which was odd but scary at the same time.
Another time I was blogging on a local blog and this one blogger (that was back when I used my first initials and last name to blog...I didn't know that wasn't a wise idea when I first started blogging) kept claiming they knew me. At first I would rack my brains out trying to think if they did because they said they knew me from going into a nearby party store...but then they claimed the number the of times they'd seen me in there and I knew they had to have me mixed up with someone else. As long as I've lived here (almost three decades) I bet I haven't been in that store more than ten times. We have several corner stores around here, one closer than that one even but the fact of the matter is I just never particularly cared for the lay out or cleanliness of that store. Finally over frustration I gave my first name out. It probably wouldn't have mattered much to the person whom I was conversing with but of course others seen it, one's whom you have debates with, you know the troll types, and they went and found a video of me, cut it from the worse possible angle, put a tin foil hat on me and posted it....(lol), I mean it wasn't funny then but I guess I can laugh at it now. So I think it's best people don't put themselves out there with so many trolls around.
Ah that's understandable, but in some respect, they would only troll you because you have something to say and they want to bully you into silence or into the shadows. I'm glad you still have a voice and can safely speak your truth this way.