Hello everybody, this thread is actually what got me to register here.
Not wanting to quote both entire posts, I agree with both Silas Vitalia and PracticalTechnicality's posts on page 2 which have been quoted a few times already. When I was last in the IGS (6 years ago) the bulk of the forum was dominated by CVA vs UK politics in addition to the usual alliance politicking which left little room for new people. Trying to come up with something relevant to post for anybody new is always hard, and the veterans back then would crucify you no matter what you said. I guess when you're caught up in the BoB wars, the plight of some Amarrian aristocrat or State Academy graduates are there for you to piss on.
In discussions past with RP's in this game there sometimes is an odd disconnect to your character you don't find in other games. Being we're in ships all the time most RP posturing happens in a message board setting and not at a bar in the game world (Ambulation/WiS) or in chat channels as one example. The ability to create a shell corporation helps bridge some of that gap, giving unrestricted creative freedom and political insulation where you cannot find it in an NPC corp or in your player corp. I can certainly identify with the political troubles one must avoid being in player corps while RP. Being in an anti-piracy alliance operating out of Providence, everything in your peripheral is role play. Just making statements about things in the IGS makes you a rep of the corp and the alliance in a public setting and if you're already in RP space it is assumed that representation is intended, instead of just posting for your own self.
To the OP specifically, I agree there should be an appeal for individual RPs to join together in a shell corp instead of each running their own 1 man corps, however for many of the reasons stated in this thread already it is soundly dismissed. My character Redpants has spent most of his time in player corps in 0.0. Since coming back to this game I'm in The Scope and I don't know what to do exactly. Certainly from a RP perspective, I'm trying to justify what Redpants is doing in this NCP corp and for so long.
The only alternative I can think of is at an alliance level. Depending on what your message was, the herding cats phenomenon could be lessened. I'm sure lifelong roleplayers can come up with a roleplaying excuse to form an alliance comprised of 1 man shell corporations with their own agendas and have it work according to RP logic.