How anonymous is an anonymous question on AskMe?

March 9, 2006 8:38 PM

How anonymous is an anonymous question on AskMe?
posted by sjvilla79 to MetaFilter-Related at 8:38 PM (31 comments total)

Is the poster's identity ever revealed for example? And does Matt ever know who the poster is?
posted by sjvilla79 at 8:39 PM on March 9, 2006

No. And yes.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:44 PM on March 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

As I understand it, anonymous posts are vetted by Matt, who can see the name of the poster. It don't get beyond him, although I would assume he has a lot of blackmail material by this point.
posted by brundlefly at 8:50 PM on March 9, 2006

Well, what if you didn't want Matt to know your identity? Does anyone have a sockpuppet account they'd care to share?
posted by sjvilla79 at 9:13 PM on March 9, 2006

Matt has said that he doesn't remember nor care to remember who asked what. You're secret is safe with him.
posted by puke & cry at 9:22 PM on March 9, 2006

Isn't that a rather public way to go about asking a question anonymously?
posted by brundlefly at 9:22 PM on March 9, 2006

Mathowie will and has revealed an anonymous poster's identity non-publicly, for matters of life and death. Literally. Essentially, you'll have to trust mathowie. He is the only one that could reveal your identity. He has promised not to and his description of the mechanics of anonymous askme questions indicate that his ability to do so is limited. I for one am strongly inclined to believe him.
posted by insomnus at 9:38 PM on March 9, 2006

I'd be willing to post anonymous questions for folks if they have a serious problem with Matt knowing who they are. My email's in my profile.
posted by esch at 9:45 PM on March 9, 2006

Mathowie will and has revealed an anonymous poster's identity non-publicly, for matters of life and death. Literally.

link?
posted by puke & cry at 10:06 PM on March 9, 2006

I seem to recall -- though I feel cheerfully certain that someone will correct me if I'm wrong -- that Matt once explained that the way the anon form works is that the OP's identity is not immediately evident to him, though he can find out who it is if he needs to. So the questions come to him semi-anonymized; he actually has to take the time to search out who the OP actually is. The impression I got is therefore that Matt is technically able to find out who each Anon poster is, but certainly isn't inclined to (given that I suspect he has more pressing things to do with his time than to figure out who's got hemmorhoids or is cheating on their spouse or whatever).
posted by scody at 11:10 PM on March 9, 2006

Scody, some confirmation on that would be nice. Cheers.
posted by sjvilla79 at 11:36 PM on March 9, 2006

sj: here.
posted by dhruva at 11:46 PM on March 9, 2006

Mathowie will and has revealed an anonymous poster's identity non-publicly, for matters of life and death. Literally.

A couple times people have used the anon feature to ask questions regarding their own suicide attempts, which caused me to go through the motions to track them down by name and make sure they were getting help. Other than that, I've never felt the need to identify anyone.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:30 AM on March 10, 2006

Well, what if you didn't want Matt to know your identity? Does anyone have a sockpuppet account they'd care to share?
posted by sjvilla79 at 12:13 AM EST on March 10 [!]

uh, isnt sharing accounts so completely against metafilter policy?
posted by naxosaxur at 1:53 AM on March 10, 2006

Now I really want to know what this question is about...
posted by SuperNova at 2:13 AM on March 10, 2006

I doubt my endorsement carries much weight, but Matt is about the only net personality I would trust with a truly personal problem.
posted by mischief at 4:58 AM on March 10, 2006

If you want Sooper-Dooper Anonymity, to the extent that's possible, you could always ask a real-life friend to register a MeFi sockpuppet account for you with their credit card, and post the question from their house or from a public library, perhaps a couple of towns over from where you live...
posted by Gator at 5:06 AM on March 10, 2006

"We know who your friends are..."
posted by mischief at 5:35 AM on March 10, 2006

naxosaxur: "uh, isnt sharing accounts so completely against metafilter policy?"

I don't see anything on the guidelines that says anything about "no sharing accounts". I don't see why it would be any less frowned-upon here than really any other site. Even sock-puppetry doesn't seem to be actively discouraged in the general case. (Although IIRC some specific cases of bannage included the abuse of sock puppets.)
posted by Plutor at 5:56 AM on March 10, 2006

sharing accounts has always been anathema at every other login/forum site i've belonged to...i assumed it was the same here.

think of it this way, regardless: every shared account is minus $5.00 USD on Matt's dinner table. Why would he endorse it?
posted by naxosaxur at 6:38 AM on March 10, 2006

All I know is that I'll be watching AskMe very closely over the next couple of days... there should be a really juicy anonymous post coming up!
posted by Hanover Phist at 6:40 AM on March 10, 2006

I believe I've read of some couples that share screen names on the site. Is it really so wrong?
posted by Roger Dodger at 6:41 AM on March 10, 2006

Yeah, it is wrong. A username is supposed to represent a particular person with a particular set of ideas and views. What, are they too cheap to spring for another five bucks so they can each have their say?
posted by languagehat at 6:57 AM on March 10, 2006

I'm just saying some people don't take the notion of internet identity so seriously, and do not use Metafilter as a place to promote their views. If a couple mainly reads the site only, and occasionally would help out with an AskMe question here or there, what's the big deal? If it got to a point where they feel they need their own identity, I'm sure they'd get another account. Otherwise, $5.00 is enough to pay to take the ads off the site and show some support to Matt. Think of it as a joint checking account. On the other hand, if someone is purposely using an account to deceive, that's another story.

And for full disclosure, nobody else uses my account.
posted by Roger Dodger at 7:13 AM on March 10, 2006

Matt has also said that if approached by law enforcement, he would reveal an anon's identity.
posted by deadfather at 8:30 AM on March 10, 2006

But now I'm feeling mixed-up on that point, can anyone confirm?
posted by deadfather at 8:32 AM on March 10, 2006

That equals true.
posted by Gator at 8:36 AM on March 10, 2006

What if your anonymous question is about how hot you are for Matt?

Did I just say that out loud?
posted by Pollomacho at 8:46 AM on March 10, 2006

"VitalJuicesFilter: If I stalk, kill and drink the precious fluids of the owner of a popular community website, will his baby call me Daddy? [more inside]"
posted by ColdChef at 1:17 PM on March 10, 2006

no, pollo. you typed it.
posted by crunchland at 1:31 PM on March 10, 2006

ColdChef: Lol.
---

If I were in your position, I would sign up for an account on metachat, and ask people there if they'd be willing to post an anon question for you.

Asking a question Anon does not take up one of your one question/week allowance.
posted by delmoi at 6:38 PM on March 10, 2006