What happened to the anonymous posts?

I noticed that posts from the "Anonymous ATS" user stopped appearing.

I thought that this feature may have been disabled, but I saw that there was one post yesterday.

Was anything changed? Can people still make anonymous posts?

reply to post by ArMaP


I thought the feature was disabled a few weeks ago, never to return.

I haven't seen any anonymous postings since then.

reply to post by skeptic1


I thought so, but the Anonymous ATS member profile shows that the last post was on 19/3/2009, as you can see here.

reply to post by ArMaP


Here is another thread about this where SO said they were disabled.

I don't know.....

reply to post by ArMaP


That's really strange...

The posts don't seem to be showing up in the threads (one of them should directly follow this post according to the time stamp, and I checked a couple others as well.

But you can read them from Anonymous' profile.

Maybe they are required to know just who posts now.

I'm just covering more of the bases until they are loaded.

If they are gone, I'm glad. I honestly didn't think they added anything important to the threads. If someone cares that much about a particular topic, it only takes a couple of minutes to join.

Even though our avatars are our online personality and we still enjoy anonymity, our persona is held to account within the community and I feel that's an important thing if you want to be seen as credible within a debate or discussion.

IRM

reply to post by ArMaP


There is an actual member here with the username "Anonymous ATS" who is not the old ananymous posters we used to get around here.

I think I know what the problem may be, I have to ask SkepticOverlord about it.

reply to post by ArMaP


Funny, the last few days, I had noticed there were no more anonymous posts.... and wondered about it.

Figuring - that a new rule of "not a member - not a poster" was around, even though it was not broadcasted.

Glad you started this thread.

Actually I've read many helpful Anonymous ATS posts on here. I also didn't notice until the last couple of days that there were no recent ones showing up.

reply to post by ArMaP

You know I never even noticed that.. how did you notice?.. well anyways, and as IRM says, this is better, nobody ever took the anonymous posts seriously anyhow, and signing up takes no more than two minutes...

reply to post by Majorion


LOL I didn't notice either. How embarrassing.
I agree with infraredman. Nice post.

reply to post by Majorion


I noticed they were missing after I noticed I could make an anonymous post.

reply to post by Majorion


I noticed they were missing after I noticed I could make an anonymous post, as you can see here.

I just made that post as the old "Anonymous ATS" user.

I do hope they do not do away with the anonymous post for one important reason that troubles me more and more of late.

Certain topics regarding politics, the economy, the Middle East, are often resulting in lots and lots of flags, and lots and lots of stars for the original post, but very few members are actually adding posts to these threads.

Are people flagging and starring but not weighing in actually all just saying hey to original poster said it all? So I starred it and flagged it to say so, and there is nothing I can personally add?

Or is the level of paranoia by many people starring and flagging increasing to the point they are fearful that leaving a comment could target them for some reprisal in the future because of their politics and perspective.

If this latter is the case it sure is a frightening time for free speach advocates like myself, that would prefer my trial last a good long while reviewing all my politiacl oppinions and statements before they hang me!

The anonymous post is one way for the fearful to weigh in and share.

I hope ATS will keep it available so the more cautious amongst us will share.

I really hope they bring back the anonymous postings. I liked seeing all the anonymous posts. They were really helpful as has been said and all of the posts I've seen were good contributions to the discussions here. It's funny sometimes to watch anonymous users debate each other. I want for it to return. I've also noticed they've been done lately.

The problem with anonymous posts, I suppose, was the time it took for the staff to look through all the posts to see if there was anything that was not acceptable.

While we agree to follow the Terms & Conditions when we sign up to ATS (although many people act in a way that makes me think that they did not read what they signed), anonymous posters are not under those rules, so these must be enforced by the staff.

Originally posted by ArMaP
The problem with anonymous posts, I suppose, was the time it took for the staff to look through all the posts to see if there was anything that was not acceptable.

That logic seems backwards, given the time it would take to view anon posts all lined up for moderation versus scanning through the rest of the board.

reply to post by roadgravel


I said that because of this post from Skeptic Overlord.