Why do people have to sign in for anonymous?

They're required for safety reasons and practicality, I assume. If anyone could post... people could say things that weren't allowed, which is a broad list of things, I imagine. Also, by making people who post have to make an account, it filters TONS of spam, I bet.

EDIT: Yes, the post below me is also very true.

 

You need an account to post in anonymous because of the very reason you pointed out, the admins can find the the user behind an anonymous post if necessary. If a poster is posting rude or bigoted things as anonymous, the admins can find out who is doing it. If a user is using anonymous to post something serious such as they have decided to commit suicide, the admins can find out who it is to get them the help they need.

The thing is, the admins will only ever look up the true user behind an anonymous post in very serious circumstances, it's not something they do very frequently. In essence, it provides members a chance to talk/ask about topics they may feel too embarrassed to ask about normally. It provides a form of anonymity that can be broken if necessary.

 

Plain and simply, we don't want people to be able to post without us being able to contact them or restrict their access if necessary. If someone posted anonymous hate or hookup requests, for example, they wouldn't be able to be banned from the community.

We don't look up anon posters unless we have concerns.

 

Also to avoid spam.

 

Also a factor. People might have noticed that sometimes spam shows up in the anonymous section. If people could post in the anonymous section without it being linked to an account, bots would do so too, and it wouldn't be possible to ban the bot responsible.

 

To add onto Maddy's post, looking up Anonymous posters is on a very need-to-know basis. It's only done if necessary and as a last resort, and even then only the staff dealing with that specific issue become privy to that information.

And as a personal opinion, I think that if you're lurking on a coming-out site, you're probably considering coming-out at some point in the future. While the idea is certainly terrifying at that point in time, every little step you take towards actually owning some sort of "identity" with the LGBT community (even if it's just a username on a forum) is a step towards becoming more comfortable with the idea of being whatever form of queer you are.

 

You'd be suprised

 

I'd love to know though how seriously you guys take the "never looking at who has posted anonymously unless you really need to thing". Before I became administrator of big forum a few years ago, I found out that the previous administrator used read through people's private messages even though we had a strict policy that said we wouldn't do that unless there was a serious issue.

 

I completely disagree. I am really, REALLY glad that anonymous is not actually anonymous. I've seen a lot of emotional abuse on EC, and most of it occurs on anonymous. People use anonymous to post really bigoted and hurtful things about feminine men, bisexuals, and trans* people. They also try to get other people to their sickening sexual racism or fat-bashing.

In fact, administration recently removed a thread that was actually inviting this kind of terrible abuse. The OP included, no joke, "this is what anonymous is for, lol." Chip had to issue a correction, that NO, in that, anonymous is NOT for emotional abuse.

So, no. It's important that the administrators know exactly who these people are.

 

PM's are assuredly monitored on here, the staff has said so themselves on numerous occasions. I woudln't put anything in PM that you wouldn't want the staff to see (then again, what other than prohibited content on the site - dating, hookups, etc would that be?).

As far as anonymous posts, while I have no actual data, I'd assume that it's more of the exception than the rule. The staff have said that it's quite a pain to look it up, and as BudderMC said earlier in this thread, the information is not broadly shared even if it is looked up. I have no reason to not believe him.

 

It is these high-standards and morals that make me even happier that I've been a member for over a year now! And trust me, I don't think there are many admins (on other forums) that put the time you have into writing a post explaining the standards that staff members hold themselves to. Thanks.

 

Did that change? I know for a fact advisors (so not admins) were able to see who posted anonymously as well.

Not that I really care. Just something I remember.

 

Nope, just admins. If mods or advisors need to know who an anonymous poster is, we ask the admins behind the scenes because we can't check ourselves.

However, when we look into issues of any sort, we almost always do a bit of digging, so it's possible that depending on the circumstances we could deduce who an anonymous poster is based on other information. Rare, but theoretically possible.

 

Trolls breed like bunnies; first there`s 1, then you have 100 and before you know it the entire board sound like a 1000 3 year-old`s on a sugar kick screaming out all the new bad words they`ve learned that makes mommy angry :lol:

No, seriously, if people didn`t have to sign in, it would be chaos and yes, there really are that many trolls out there, not to mention all those that would love a place where they could a) preach the dangers of homosexuality b) spew hate.

So, I think losing a few due to people not wanting to sign in is better than opening the gates for a potential flood.

 

I had to adapt a different posting style when I post in anonymous, because I've had a few people message me before asking me if I want to talk, etc. because I was in a very depressing mood at the time and posting something anonymously. It actually hurts to type the way I have to in anon, but eh, I'd rather it be anonymous. xD

Then again, I also get asked why I still stick around, cause I haven't posted a support question in years. And in general, it's anonymous when I do it because this is the one place where I can post about something LGBT related or depression in general and have people respond. I usually do it anonymously, because I don't want people to know how bad my depression has gotten, but the comments really do help. Never assume someone isn't getting support here just because you don't see them posting anywhere except conversation threads. The same goes for the opposite, never assume they aren't posting help. xD Though, I haven't been able to do that much lately, been too preoccupied with my own head.

I like that the admin have the ability to see who it is in extreme circumstances. Like, if someone were to say they were about to kill themselves tonight or something. It's nice that they are able to see who it is and potentially stop something horrible.