[TKGS]

I have a question about the forum.

Matthew has, on at least one occasion when someone was pretending to be multiple people on the anonymous guest forum, removed the mask of anonymity and revealed the screen names of the person who made the posts.  I also see to remember the same thing when a poster pretended to be someone else on that forum.  Therefore, it does seem that the forum "knows" who posts in the anonymous forum.

That said, if a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" is given to a post that is posted anonymously, does the forum credit the reputation score of the actual member who composed the post or does it get lost since the "Guest" screen name doesn't have likes/dislikes statistics.

I have the same question concerning the post count of a member.  If a member posts anonymously, does that post increase his personal post count?

[Matthew]

I have a question about the forum.

Matthew has, on at least one occasion when someone was pretending to be multiple people on the anonymous guest forum, removed the mask of anonymity and revealed the screen names of the person who made the posts.  I also see to remember the same thing when a poster pretended to be someone else on that forum.  Therefore, it does seem that the forum "knows" who posts in the anonymous forum.

That said, if a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" is given to a post that is posted anonymously, does the forum credit the reputation score of the actual member who composed the post or does it get lost since the "Guest" screen name doesn't have likes/dislikes statistics.

I have the same question concerning the post count of a member.  If a member posts anonymously, does that post increase his personal post count?

1. Only members may post in the Anonymous subforum. You have to be logged in with an account.

2. As such, it is possible for the Admin to know who posted each post in the Anonymous subforum. There IS a paper trail of WHO actually posted each post, even though it's impossible for everyone else to know who posted what.

3. When you post in the Anon subforum, it DOES increase your post count, but you are posting as "Guest" at least as far as the public is concerned. This public "Guest" user is who gets all down/up votes. However, when you vote you ALWAYS vote as your actual account. Putting two and two together, you can actually up-vote your own post every time you post in the Anon subforum!

4. Since you are voting up/down a "Guest" user, it doesn't affect the real Member's rep score at all.

5. Although the Admin/Mod knows who posted there, I won't break the "seal" unless the subforum is being abused. The subforum is there for people to ask SENSITIVE or PERSONAL questions. The anonymity is NOT to be used as a cloak for malice!


I hope this answers your questions.

[TKGS]

It sure does answer my questions.  I only remember you breaking the "seal" twice and both time I agreed that the posts were, as you said, malicious.

I didn't think that up and down votes affected anyone's reputation scores, so it makes no sense at all to give a "guest" up and down votes.

[MaterDominici]

I didn't think that up and down votes affected anyone's reputation scores, so it makes no sense at all to give a "guest" up and down votes.

I give "guest" up and down votes just to show that someone agrees or disagrees with what was said in that post. One vote in this case wouldn't mean much as the first vote could have been from the poster himself, but I've done it anyhow.