NEW! Anonymous Posting Is Here on AboveTopSecret.com

I have to say that I was a little concerned when I read the title of this thread.

And sorry SO, but the first thing I thought was that you had completely lost your mind.

But the sub-domain seems like a good idea, I can't even imagine how long the unkillable titor thread would get or say any other hot button thread would get with anonymous posting, but again the sub-domain thingy is very clever.

You kids with your technology and jet packs, you constantly amaze me.

Spiderj

Originally posted by KhieuSamphan
can you guarantee that information will not be revealed that would lead back to the post originator.

If we're served with a proper legal request, we'd have no choice but to comply... and that is the only way in which we would.

However, any smart ATS regular would certainly have additional countermeasures in place on their end... thereby making the IP we record functionally useless.

[edit on 26-12-2005 by SkepticOverlord]

If the IP you use is in CHINA and YOU are North Dakota for example, what could ANYONE discover about you?

NOTHING...

THAT is anonymity at it's highest level...

Springer...

[edit on 12-26-2006 by Springer]

Electronic Countermeasures

Note the careful avoidance of the term "blind proxy".

Nobody's saying "use a blind proxy if you're worried", but I'm sure those who are truly paranoid can do the math.

Not that you heard it from me.

Originally posted by Springer
If the IP you use is in CHINA and YOU are North Dakota for example, what could ANYONE discover about you?

ermm...that your a communist sympathizer

I really think it doesn't matter what redirecting precautions you take, if you post something really, really secret like the exact engineering plans for the latest nuclear weapons or other classified military hardware, they'll be able to track you.

So just send it to the New York Times and get another one of their reporters in jail!

Originally posted by djohnsto77
So just send it to the New York Times and get another one of their reporters in jail!

New York Times? isn't that your favourite paper

Originally posted by infinite
New York Times? isn't that your favourite paper

yeah right

A bit OT, but I subscribed to that rag for about a year when I moved to NYC and tried to read as much as I could. It just made my blood boil, that paper is so biased in their supposedly straight facts stories (not OP/ED, don't care about that) it's scary.

I canceled it telling their representative on the phone that I hated the paper because it's so liberal biased, and the only use for it is kindling to start a fire.

damn those liberals djohnsto77!

corrupting your conservative mind (joke)

Ok, I love the anon posts, but . . . will bashing of members of ATS and mods by name. . . should be allowed?

That to me will be like spam.

It's eerie... this topic has been on my mind for the past few months. The touchless mind-meld may be working.

But I never anticipated guest posting. That is a great idea, but I must warn you, you need to be constantly on the lookout for porn links, etc. It can be hidden in the most innocent-looking posts. I say this from my own experience in other forums.

This will be interesting!

Initially, I feared what I was reading. But I believe the Pro's severely outweigh the Con's on this one.

I can see immature members using this as a tool to attack other members. Someone posts something that gets their motor running, so rather than responding quickly, they throw something up anonymously. Their ego is fed, but their name is protected.

But I do believe this is some creative thinking on behalf of the Admin, which is only going to benefit the community.

There is some very interesting reading in the anonymous posts
Including two nice announcement posts.

anon.abovetopsecret.com...

I am very impressed by some of the post, The administration is going to have their hand full when the post start increasing in numbers.

How can we answer back to these post?

Sorry if I miss the answer to that one.

Is anyway they can be put on some kind of order? in relation to the threads they are link too.

I already got the answer to my first question. and the second one.

[edit on 26-12-2006 by marg6043]

I am going to be honest here,I don't think that an unregistered poster should be allowed to post. To my notion, all anonymity does is allow people to post things without being held accountable. GLP allows anonymity as well, and to me, it causes nothing but problems. :shk: If a person doesn't have the guts to register, then they shouldn't post. That is just my opinion.

Originally posted by Springer
If the IP you use is in CHINA and YOU are North Dakota for example, what could ANYONE discover about you?

NOTHING...

THAT is anonymity at it's highest level...

Springer...

[edit on 12-26-2006 by Springer]

You get the server admin in china to give you the IP that bounced through there server. Everything leaves a paper trail on the internet.

What I'm wondering is what protection is in place to stop bots? I didn't see any image verification or any security measure to stop bots spamming.

The only other thing I find amusing is this

When you post to the anonymous page, a unique username is created for you and stored in a cookie.

What good is anonymous posting if it creates a username and cookie. Apart from that its not a bad idea.

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth
I am going to be honest here,I don't think that an unregistered poster should be allowed to post. To my notion, all anonymity does is allow people to post things without being held accountable. GLP allows anonymity as well, and to me, it causes nothing but problems. :shk: If a person doesn't have the guts to register, then they shouldn't post. That is just my opinion.

I whole-heartedly agree. Registration is not that difficult. Personally, I don't want to see any Anon Posts. I doubt that I will ever look for them. By reading what a person posts, you learn something about them. I tend to have great respect for people whose REAL names are unknown to me, simply based on what they say here.
I hope this works out as planned, but I have my doubts.
If you had a club and opened Some activities for Non-Members, would you allow those same Non-Members a voice in how the club was run, OR ANYTHING ELSE, for that matter?
I am both Doubtful and Skeptical.
Rawiea

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth
I am going to be honest here,I don't think that an unregistered poster should be allowed to post.

Which is exactly why anonymous posts do not appear in threads.

However, there are already several interesting posts we'd not normally see, a couple good announcements we wouldn't normally allow, and a couple new members because of this feature. Overall, I think it's going to work out for the positive.

Originally posted by rawiea
Personally, I don't want to see any Anon Posts. I doubt that I will ever look for them.

That's the beauty of the system, if you don't want to see them you will never see them.

Like S.O. said we have received a few great posts, announcements and garnered a couple new Members out of this system in it's first day. This is a unqualified success already. The voices of those who would otherwise remain silent are being heard.

Spam is instantly deleted either automatically (based on certain "spamorific" words) or by staff. Bots are blocked by means you can't see.

You all need to think of this as the "wild side of town" and not worry about it if you aren't interested in it. You never have to go there or ever see it. Never.

Springer...

I also noticed the new members and some excellent information post in anon.

Occurs we also have some of the usual rant.

I think some information will be so interesting that will outweighs the cons.

But I wonder about answering to some of the post.

If every time that we are to answer to any particle post that is related to already existing thread . . . would that make it a double thread on the same subject?