The Anonymous Suite

[rfisher]

I expect that this will get moved to the website feedback bit but I'll start in the Lounge for more opinions.

So - isn't it about time that we had a section on PH where you can post anonymously?
It would save users having to set up new accounts for all the relationship stuff.
And if it got abused the user could still be binned presumably.

We could all have a good old bh about lots of things without having to worry about your employer or other half sticking their nose in.

Just a thought.

[DRFC1879]

I'd be in support of it but there would need to be rules and therefore effort put into policing of said rules that would put the mockers on it form the off e.g.:

- Facility to ban posters who abuse the anonymity on both their anonymous and main accounts.
- Zero tolerance of speculation as to who is behind the anonymous account. Some people have fairly distinct writing styles and the like so no doubt there'd be a temptation from some aholes to "out" them.

[Doofus]

Got something on your mind, petal?

[captain_cynic]

rfisher said:

I expect that this will get moved to the website feedback bit but I'll start in the Lounge for more opinions.

So - isn't it about time that we had a section on PH where you can post anonymously?
It would save users having to set up new accounts for all the relationship stuff.
And if it got abused the user could still be binned presumably.

We could all have a good old bh about lots of things without having to worry about your employer or other half sticking their nose in.

Just a thought.

To what end?

The problem with these ideas is that anonymous message boards just become breeding grounds for hardcore trolls and spammers. Even if you need to register to be a post anonymously you'll still end up with a massive amount of trolls, a lot of people are polite (well... polite-ish) simply because they know that their reputation will follow them.

Please see: John Gabriel's Greater Internet fkwad Theory (G.I.F.T)

There are plenty of antonymous and semi-anonymous message boards. Very few of them work and almost all of them can be abused (Slashdot is probably the best... but Anonymous Cowards (AC) start at 0 while +2 is the default viewing level so most AC's remain buried).

However it'll never happen as the site's owners can be sued and as I've said, it will be abused to post all kinds of nonsense.

[sc0tt]

u ok hun x

[rfisher]

So just need a post to be run past an admin bod before it's posted.
Easy.

Actually that wouldn't be a bad idea for all posts to weed out the feckwits.

[Gary29]

Msg me x

[jeremyc]

You do realise that you are already posting anonymously, don't you?

It is possible to have a username that doesn't reveal anything about you; only the information you chose to reveal is visible to anyone else on PH.

[sc0tt]

jeremyc said:

You do realise that you are already posting anonymously, don't you?

It is possible to have a username that doesn't reveal anything about you; only the information you chose to reveal is visible to anyone else on PH.

Stop being so logical.

[rfisher]

IP addresses are known to PH and easily traced.

Anyway looks like it's not going to happen, but I still think that it would be a useful addition to the site.

[Davie_GLA]

You're having a laugh, right?

They can't maintain the site they have let alone add new stuff.

[Vaud]

rfisher said:

We could all have a good old bh about lots of things without having to worry about your employer or other half sticking their nose in.

You can request to close your profile and start a new, anonymous profile (what is not allowed is multiple live profiles). Plenty of people do.

[Shaw Tarse]

rfisher said:

So just need a post to be run past an admin bod before it's posted.
Easy.

Actually that wouldn't be a bad idea for all posts to weed out the feckwits.

Really?
Are you going to pay for that?

[anonymous-user]

rfisher said:

We could all have a good old bh about lots of things

Here's one for free, Toomanyposts needs to go as he is the official norris of pistonheads and most people hate his know it all attitude and frequent st posting.

[AlexRS2782]

What would be the point in this anyway? Allowing multiple duplicate / anonymous accounts would just allow the usual users on here to create even more pointless / boring wind-ups and there's enough of those accounts on here already at the best of times.

There's already a number of users on here, (some more obvious than others) including those that are either currently or previously banned, that have multiple "anonymous" fake profiles for the purpose of trolling & wind-ups which will be hidden behind generic freemail address when registered & anonymous proxies, so PH cant track them when the trolling / spamming begins.

Edit - here's just 2 fairly recent examples of what are highly likely existing users that are bored:

Registered for just short of 18 months and their first post is a "true" story about nearly crapping themselves after taking a laxative.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Another one registered just short of 18 months and their first threads are clickbait / pointless posting content where in 2 cases other PH'ers have identified which banned / duplicate user he is:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

And don't get me started on the multiple HumanDoing, JeffEnthused, MartinV, etc, accounts all posting exactly the same thing about Mk3 Focus RS, Megane RS, Civic TypeR, etc, in exactly the same format but yet claiming they are all completely different people.

.

[Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah]

BAM225 said:

rfisher said:

We could all have a good old bh about lots of things

Here's one for free, Toomanyposts needs to go as he is the official norris of pistonheads and most people hate his know it all attitude and frequent st posting.

Amen to that!

[anonymous-user]

Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:

BAM225 said:

rfisher said:

We could all have a good old bh about lots of things

Here's one for free, Toomanyposts needs to go as he is the official norris of pistonheads and most people hate his know it all attitude and frequent st posting.

Amen to that!

[ApOrbital]

rfisher said:

IP addresses are known to PH and easily traced.

Anyway looks like it's not going to happen, but I still think that it would be a useful addition to the site.

My ip address changes every week both at home and at work.

[Tom Logan]

jeremyc said:

You do realise that you are already posting anonymously, don't you?

It is possible to have a username that doesn't reveal anything about you; only the information you chose to reveal is visible to anyone else on PH.

Get out of here with your facts and common sense, this isn't the place for you.

[Rawwr]

They could implement this in about 20 seconds.

<%f=request.querystring("f")
if f=99 then isAnon=1%>

<blah blah blah>

<% if isAnon=1 then response.write("Anonymous") else response.write("<a href="profile.asp">" & rs("username") & "</a><br/>" & rs("postcount")) end if %>