Allow anonymous posting on forums (opt-in only)
Desmond During
Provide an optional setting to allow members to post to a "Forum" page anonymously. If implemented,
this feature would be disabled by default
and would require an admin or page editor to enable.ORIGINAL POST:
Develop a way for users to post anonymously on community forums or have their identities hidden from the rest of the community. I want people to feel free to do so. People should feel like they should have their voices heard without being directly identified to their peers.
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Nancy Lail
Please, do not add options for anonymous posts. If it is worth sharing then it’s worth adding your name. (Note: I am not speaking for my HOA directors as I am a volunteer and not a board member.) Transparency is the only way to go!
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William Nisley
How do you identify a member who's post violates the forum rules if they are allowed to post anonymously? I disagree with this proposal. Let them go to Nextdoor if they don't want to be accountable...
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Charles Bierbauer
I would not want anonymous posting on our Forum page for all the concerns noted here. The Forum is a helpful, albeit underutilized, place for members to openly share views and seek help. Not meant to be a snipers' nest. Having enough trouble with political lawn signs as it is.
Larry Larke
I believe allowing anon posts would invite conflict and divisiveness from verbal snipers who like to stir up trouble and remain invisible.
Matt Katsarelis
It would be a complaining fest and it could get ugly, the idea seems innocent but could turn into community horror, or worse-jmo. People or Owners must be accountable for what they say, you have to own change, not just blurt it out
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Gary Simon
That would be fine if you also provided a setting to allow administrators to review/approve forum posts prior to their being published. One without the other is not optimal. We had to remove our Forum section due to impolite posts (in spite of numerous warnings & even deletion of several posts) - which was unfortunate as it was the single most popular feature of our website. The abuse by a few forced us to shut it down, however, since we had no ability to first approve a post.
Meredith Owens
Gary Simon: Thank you for sharing this, Gary. We have a separate post where we're looking at allowing admins to approve topics and comments before they're published. I've linked that here: https://feedback.hoa-express.com/feature-requests/p/approvals-for-new-forum-posts.
It looks like you've already added your vote to that post, so you'll be notified via email when we update its status.
Doug Vogt
Gary Simon: We had to do the same thing - one resident was monopolizing the forum to push his viewpoint as he had a financial interest in doing so. An alternative is to allow banning someone from a particular subject forum or all forums. Unfortunately the only way is to delete them from the website
Joel Swanstrom
Gary Simon: We shut ours down also for the same reasons.
Don Morgan
I disagree with this. Our Forum has become an opportunity for people to bitch about things, rather than its orginal intent. If people don't have the courage of their convictions to identify themselves, then we run the risk of the Forum becoming nothing more than a place to complain about things rather than a place to share legitimate concerns and opportunities. I say "no" to this idea.
Mike Klackle
Don Morgan: I agree with Don.
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Jim Morvay
Mike Klackle: Ditto
Meredith Owens
Mike Klackle: It looks like you've voted for this request. Since you would not like this to be implemented, I would recommend removing this.
Mike Klackle
Meredith Owens: sorry about that, my mistake. No, I do not want members to be able to post anonymously.
Meredith Owens
Mike Klackle: Thank you for clarifying, Mike!
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Kimberly Carr
Don Maurer.-morgan-1: ditto
Meredith Owens
This is a capability we're open to considering! If implemented, this would be an opt-in setting on the part of administrators. Therefore, we've updated the post's description to align with how we'd consider this.