Complete Anonymity Option

[Azunite]

There are many things in my mind that I want to ask the people of the website, but sometimes I simply don't because my username will be displayed there.

And I think there are those amongst us who are ashamed of asking questions because their usernames are displayed when posting something.

So I thought, maybe we can add an "Anonymity" option: When you select this while posting, neither your username nor your personal information will be displayed. It will say "Anonymous" instead: You won't be able to right click on the name and go to the user profile.

This can either work for those who are in need of asking, but also answering something as well. If they want to share an experience that they don't want it to be heard by the website members, they can click on the anonymity option while posting and their username and personal information will not appear.

[1_21Guns]

I think this would cause complete havoc, anonymous options always have their downfall and I don't think it would take long for something to go wrong in this situation either

[Harry Smith]

This sounds terrible, I mean the moderators would have to be able to see who posted it because if not you'd get people using it to send either abuse or sexual content. I think that being in the internet it's self has enough of a mask behind it, you can limit when people can see on your profile.

[Steven1]

I think this is both a good idea and a bad one, at the same time.

First of, I think it's good as it allows people to ask questions that they normally wouldn't feel right doing so as it would give people a different opinion of them.

On the other hand, it could cause all sorts of problems. As Harry Smith has said, it would make moderators jobs far far more difficult. Additionally, it allows people to ask offensive questions that are also against the room. Finally, as has recently been the case with the anonymous site ask.fm, it could cause many many problems, like people getting all sort of offensive comments that could cause the victim to take serious and drastic action that simply is not needed, such as self harm or even suicide.

Overall, I think it's a bad idea because of the consequences that can come of it.

[britishboy]

sounds good at first but how to moderate? and people will be extremely rude and break all rules

[xXl0sth0peXx]

The number one problem with this is that if people abuse it, how do we 'punish' them? If someone made an inappropriate thread and we knew who they were, we'd take appropriate action, however if they're anon, how do we handle it? They just get away with whatever they want.

I see where you're coming from, however, this is the internet so you're already somewhat anonymous.. If you don't want other anonymous strangers to read what you have to post, then I struggle to see why it'd need to be posted period.

If it were to be that mods can see who it was, I mean that kinda defeats the purpose of anonymity.. By all means I'm not saying we aren't trustworthy, but I mean if you want something to be anonymous, you don't want anyone to see it, including mods. I wouldn't at least.

I do see where you come from, but this will be terribly abused, and it's already basically anonymous anyways.

[Wonder.]

I've seen this question before a long time ago and I saw a moderator post that if you want to keep yourself anonymous, you could message a moderator what you want to post and they can post it for you saying it's an anonymous person asking. Now, I'm not saying a moderator will necessarily do this for you, but if you feel comfortable letting one person know who you are and it's not a really awkward post that they'd be uncomfortable posting, they'd probably do it for you. Obviously I can't speak for all moderators (or any at all, really), but it's probably the best option you have.

[Camazotz]

To me, you're just another user on the website. I'm not going to judge you based on some embarrassing/awkward questions you might have. No one else knows your real identity, so there shouldn't be any shame in asking questions.

[teen.jpg]

What's the point, isn't the idea of a username anonymous enough?

[DerBear]

What's the point, isn't the idea of a username anonymous enough?

Perhaps he means people on VT as well.

The moderators would need to see who posted the content for obvious reasons.

[Matt_97]

It sounds like a good idea but of course there is the risk that people because they are hidden and anonymous they could post abusive and rude posts! Of course if this were to happen it would have to be moderated closely, adding to the work the mods already do :/

[Mirage]

This will CERTAINLY be abused. This was actually possible if you look at some threads from VT's early years (2005ish) you will see some Anonymous usernames and no face picture. This will encourage people to post inappropriate questions more often and I firmly disagree that the benefits will outweigh the issues.

[JamesSuperBoy]

I think it is a bad idea as others have said. Maybe as well people can answer better if they look back at other posts someone has made -

[teen.jpg]

Make a second account that's anonymous so you can ask any questions without being embarrassed.

[Harley Quinn]

Make a second account that's anonymous so you can ask any questions without being embarrassed.

To which will get banned. Double accounts are not allowed.

[teen.jpg]

To which will get banned. Double accounts are not allowed.

Well in that case ... I guess you just have to deal with it.

[ImCoolBeans]

This will CERTAINLY be abused. This was actually possible if you look at some threads from VT's early years (2005ish) you will see some Anonymous usernames and no face picture. This will encourage people to post inappropriate questions more often and I firmly disagree that the benefits will outweigh the issues.

Actually, those are accounts which have been deleted over the years and their posts remain. Not mysterious posters :P

[Mirage]

Actually, those are accounts which have been deleted over the years and their posts remain. Not mysterious posters :P

Ah, carry on then :)

[LunarScorpio]

If your username is not your name, just remove your name from everywhere else and post it.

This site is a help site, we don't judge if you have a slightly embarrassing question to ask, as we all are mainly here to help each other out

[PinkFloyd]

It sounds like an amazing idea at first, but when you get down and think about it, you realize that it is a lot like someone who covers up their license plate when committing a crime to cover up their identity. I mean users would start sending a lot of illegal child porn and stuff like that to the point where it's difficult to moderate worst case scenario.