Suggestion: Ability to see your anonymous posts in your posting history

I'm on the fence about this. I can certainly see the benefit of it, but my immediate concern would be that having a page in which all this is readily accessible to that member also poses significant potential for them to be embarrassed about their posting history in there, should their account be compromised. Obviously, any account being compromised is going to be deeply troubling for that member, but at least the damage is limited by the data we collect and display, and them only being able to search for content that the member has posted knowingly under their own alias. However, if that is changed so that Anons automatically display inside a Control Panel type page, it is effectively a database of sensitive information for somebody to access.

It's interesting that this proposal popped up today, as I was working on the anonymous feature for EC's Invision Power Board platform earlier today so it's fresh in my mind. What we're actually trying to achieve is a system that goes in the opposite direction by further distancing an OP from their anonymous post. The new feature we're planning to use incorporates authenticity into its posting by automatically generating MD5 hashes whenever somebody posts anonymously. For example, member X posts a thread anonymously. They'll be assigned a unique hashcode for that post which is automatically attached. Any future replies in that thread will also attach that hash to their post, thus allowing readers to know that it is the OP who is genuinely replying. When they post a new thread, a new hash is generated, which will remain the same for every post they make inside that thread, and so on. At present, we have to take it on trust that somebody claiming to be the OP actually is so, whereas this feature will allow us to know for sure in a way that cannot compromise the identity of anybody posting anonymously. Additionally, the anon logs themselves are going to be guarded by additional layers of privacy, as there'll be greater levels of control over a) who has access to them, and b) the information that a person must know to access that page. Therefore, you can't just hack a member or staff member's account and then have a way of accessing anon logs. In the former case, it just isn't readily available, and in the latter case you would need to know additional access credentials that aren't stored on-site.

I can certainly see why this would be of use to people, but I sort of wonder whether it's the most effective way of going about it. Instead, perhaps a more viable solution would be to either encourage OP's to subscribe to threads when they've posted in Anon, or to see if automatic subscription would be an option. The latter might be difficult, due to the way that Anon strips user ID and applies it to a whole new account, but it could be looked into. Either way, I think thread subscriptions might perhaps be a more suitable alternative, as many individuals use it for a whole range of things. As such, if their account ever was compromised and the hacker saw various Anon threads in their subscription history, there would be no way of confirming that it's there because the OP specifically posted it. It's an indication, but there's also plausible reasons for why it might have been subscribed to. If they're given an all-encompassing log inside their control panel, it's all conclusive information that the person would be able to know about the account holder.

That's my immediate two cents. It's something I'll have to ponder and also see what other members think.

 

It's definitely an interesting idea. We have a pretty long "wish list" for the new platform now that we're getting closer to being able to make the shift, and this suggestion is one that hasn't come up before so it's something we'll add for consideration.

If/when it happens is another thing, in part for the reasons Martin's already mentioned, but at least we'll add it to the list to be considered.