Anonymous Posts

[ibusoe]

Anonymous posts, were they that bad? 

I understand that they were probably removed to prevent spamming. 

Is there any way to bring them back?  I know that they were unpopular with some people but I feel that the good that they served outweighed the harm.

[Qzzrbl]

-shrug-

Most people just make alts if they want to be anonymous anyway.

I'd be down for anonymous posts, saves the trouble.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Hell no.

Spammers were killing the boards.

Make an account or don't post.

[Sephiroto]

Or give people with accounts the option to "Post as Anonymous".

[staggerlee]

I don't really understand what would be gained by allowing people to post anonymously.

[BlackMagic0]

Or give people with accounts the option to "Post as Anonymous".

This if anything.. Or make a second account if you wish to stay anonymous.

I don't really understand what would be gained by allowing people to post anonymously.

Say you are in a clan or other such forums, and you don't wish your "known name" to be attached to your character. So the OOC grape-vine does not go.. "OH MOE IS PLAYING THAT MAGICKER/NOBLE/Guard/Monkey!" Just to keep your known self / PC seperate, for clan stuff is all. At least the one way, I can see people gaining from it.
Other then that the public boards, are not that bad for anonymous, unless you feel bad about saying something like "I hate this idea!"

[Sephiroto]

I don't really understand what would be gained by allowing people to post anonymously.

Anonymity

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Or give people with accounts the option to "Post as Anonymous".

This I could dig.

*Important words highlighted from quote.

[Sephiroto]

To caveat this, keep in mind that the imms can find out who post(ed) as Anon, so it's not like anyone would be able to break the rules of the GDB and get away with it.

[Riev]

Is any of these a function that is supported by SMF at all?

[Qzzrbl]

Ah, I was under the impression that one needed an account to post anonymously anyhow. >_>

I guess anonymous posting was around before I was. x]

[Sephiroto]

Ah, I was under the impression that one needed an account to post anonymously anyhow. >_>

I guess anonymous posting was around before I was. x]

No.  Posting anonymously was previously done by not logging into your account.  In those days the word "Guest" would be displayed in place of an account name and anyone could post whatever they wanted in the common forums using this method.  Many times people would accidentally post without being logged in and then post again on their account to say like "I posted that last comment but forgot to login."  However, the Imms could still see the IP address associated with that post.

The reason why the Guest access was removed was because the boards came under a barrage of spammers who posted inane advertisements and phishing scams in multiple forums.  The board was also hacked more than once, to my knowledge.

Removing the "Guest" feature improved our GDB security.  It was the first step our admins took to beef up the security of the GDB.  After that, the requirements for registering for and maintaining GDB accounts were made more strenuous.

What we lost in the process was the ability to post anonymously.  Why would anyone want this feature?  Well, most GDB'ers are familiar with other GDB'ers and, over time, we all develop some degree of prejudices against other users.  For example, I used to think Desertman was a dousche bag.  I never took his posts to heart and often times I would skip over them.  Then I met him.  Once I met him I understood his posts a great deal better and realized that I mistook his tone completely.  From that point on I didn't regard Desertman as a dousche bag, but as a pretty good guy.

The truth of the matter is that we do not always understand messages and tones presented by other users in the same manner that the poster intends.  A user not taken as serious can post as Anon to have a better chance of being heard seriously because there is no prejudice against someone that you do not know.  Posting Anon also allows someone to make a bold (though it -better- be true) statement without fear of personal flames and backlashes from other posters who might not agree with him or her.

[Marauder Moe]

Posting Anon also allows someone to make a bold (though it -better- be true) statement without fear of personal flames and backlashes from other posters who might not agree with him or her.

This is the reason I don't want anonymous posting back.  If you're afraid to say something "bold" ( ) without hiding behind a veil of anonymity, you shouldn't say it at all.

EDIT: but there are some good uses of anonymous posting, such as asking a question without compromising your IG identity or posting in clan forums.  I just don't think these reasons are enough to bring back easy-access anonymous posting.  If you really need to do it you must go through the trouble of making an alt account.

[SMuz]

Ah, I'd have to agree with that. It'll encourage flame wars and attacking other people from behind a veil. Now if the imms could remove anonymity privileges, I suppose that will be fine. If you have a bad rep, you well.. sort of deserved it in a sense.

I think it should strictly be confined to asking questions related to something IG. I mean yeah, after a while, people do figure out who's using who. When that happens, if you have a sekrit, like start asking too many questions about magick, stealing, or even the proper RP of backstabbing people, someone's bound to get suspicious. Also, alt accounts don't let you post things in your clan forums.

I once asked some questions around about a certain thing and one clan member thought that something happened to my character

[Marauder Moe]

Well, a lot of people make an alt account when their character joins a clan and ask for that account to be added to the forum instead of their normal one.

[Vanth]

Well, a lot of people make an alt account when their character joins a clan and ask for that account to be added to the forum instead of their normal one.

This is the general method people use, and is supported by staff and by the SMF software, so it's likely that it will be the only method for the foreseeable future.

Just a note to folks: while you certainly can make a new handle every time you want to do this, and we won't stop you, it's always struck me that it might be more efficient to just create 2-3 alt handles that you cycle between.

[mansa]

Can you create an alt handle with the same email address that you use for your current handle?

[Lizzie]

Can you create an alt handle with the same email address that you use for your current handle?

This would be ideal, for me...if the "subhandles" automatically did -not- have a way to display e-mail address..so like, only your primary handle would give you profile options and subhandles would not provide any profile options.

That'd be spiffy, if such a thing was supported by the forum code.

[Cavaticus]

I understand that they were probably removed to prevent spamming.

Yes. The amount of spam was awe-inspiring. What you guys saw was probably about half of it, because a lot of the spam got moderated pretty quickly.

[brytta.leofa]

Can you create an alt handle with the same email address that you use for your current handle?

If you use GMail, you can try one or both of the following tricks:

(1) Put a period somewhere in your email address, or, if you have one already, move it.  GMail ignores periods for the purposes of mail delivery (though it matters when you're trying to log in).

(2) Append something of the form "+foo": for instance, mansa+myGDBalt@gmail.com.  Sometimes web sites will erroneously complain at you that this is an invalid email address, but it's great when it works.

Though...last time I tried to create an alt, it never got approved, and I haven't bothered to follow up on why.