How anonymous is it really?

August 28, 2006 3:52 PM

When someone asks an anonymous question on ask.metafilter, are people at Mefi or anyone else aware of the asker's identity? How anonymous is it really?
posted by vizsla to MetaFilter-Related at 3:52 PM (19 comments total)

Matt approves the anonymous questions before they appear, and he can see which user asked them.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 3:55 PM on August 28, 2006

Jessamyn approves too. We only have one tiny bit of info linking the question to you at the time you ask it, but nothing is stored in the db. The faq entry for this.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:57 PM on August 28, 2006

Jessamyn approves too. - mathowie

When did this change? Jess used to say that only you approved them.
posted by raedyn at 4:25 PM on August 28, 2006

How anonymous is an anonymous question on AskMe?
posted by sjvilla79 at 4:33 PM on August 28, 2006

one tiny bit of info linking the question to you at the time you ask it

IP address?

/nervously relocates corpse
posted by Saucy Intruder at 4:35 PM on August 28, 2006

Wondering how to get blood off the blinds?
posted by oxford blue at 4:57 PM on August 28, 2006

I did read the FAQ before I posted the question and I saw this :"Your posting is not linked to your username in any way once it goes up on the site"

I think that a number of people could be misled by the "in any way" when in fact some admins are in a position to link it. The previous sentence only says "your question goes into a queue that is only read by the admins". This does not make it clear that the question is delivered to the admins along with the username.
posted by vizsla at 5:01 PM on August 28, 2006

When you post anonymously there's an email sent to mathowie and I that says "new anonymous posting from [username]" but does not include the question or even a link to the question, just the queue. We go into the anonymous queue and approve or don't approve the questions, and I generally go into the queue without even checking the anonyme mail, so I rarely know who asked what. The questions in the queue have no identifying information attached to them at all. I made the faq a little clearer, but I think most people understand this.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:59 PM on August 28, 2006

I did read the FAQ before I posted the question and I saw this :"Your posting is not linked to your username in any way once it goes up on the site"

Not to be all lawyerly, but I said "once it goes up on the site" meaning, before that yeah, I know, but after that, there's no record of it.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:07 PM on August 28, 2006

Thanks for the clarification and modification to the FAQ.

Why have any opportunity to link them at all to the username though? Just in case someone, for example, admits to a murder and linking makes it easier to uncover their identity to report them? (A good reason. I'm just wondering what your stance is.)
posted by vizsla at 6:46 PM on August 28, 2006

All the questions and timestamps are uploaded to AOL's secure servers for archiving. You can put you trust in AOL, the trusters choice!
posted by blue_beetle at 7:05 PM on August 28, 2006 [2 favorites]

Why have any opportunity to link them at all to the username though? Just in case someone, for example, admits to a murder and linking makes it easier to uncover their identity to report them? (A good reason. I'm just wondering what your stance is.)

There's been at least one suicide question posed anonymously. That's why I did it, because I knew something like that would happen and it would help to know who exactly said it and could use some help.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:18 PM on August 28, 2006

/nervously relocates corpse

Do you mind?
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:43 PM on August 28, 2006 [2 favorites]

People also frequently post follow-ups to anonymous posts via me or mathowie. Since folks know we have a loose idea of who asked what, I think they're less likely to goof with this.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:44 PM on August 28, 2006

Uh-oh.
posted by mediareport at 8:53 PM on August 28, 2006

I think that if Matt were subpoenaed, he would have to give the authorities access to the server logs. From this information they could determine the likely IP address of the asker, even if the database had no record of the username.

If the request came under the Patriot Act, he couldn't even tell anyone it had happened.

So keep this in mind when anonymously asking how many cellphones on vibrate it would take to shake apart the Mackinac bridge.
posted by justkevin at 10:05 AM on August 29, 2006

So keep this in mind when anonymously asking how many cellphones on vibrate it would take to shake apart the Mackinac bridge.

Actually, it was the Port Mann bridge I was asking about.

Oops.
posted by deborah at 10:57 AM on August 29, 2006

It's usually me that posts 99 % of the anonymous threads - i'm just a very shy and inquisitive person.
posted by sgt.serenity at 11:14 AM on August 29, 2006

i'm just a very shy and inquisitive person.

With a lot of personal issues. I mean . . . wow. Goddamn.
posted by Ryvar at 11:22 AM on August 29, 2006