Suggestions to improve anon account functionality on SN \ stacker news ~meta

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Suggestions to improve anon account functionality on SN

2801 sats \ 11 comments \ @anon 3 Sep 2023 meta

zaps forwarded to @k00b (100%)

Love the anon feature on here, however there is something that I must suggest.

Once I've posted, you will have no idea if it is the actual anon OP responding in the comments or if another user is impersonating the anon OP.

This could cause some headaches in the future when it comes to whistleblowers or recurring anon users returning to discussion vs being impersonated.

The anons require some ability to "prove" their identity if they do so choose.

My suggestion is the inclusion of an optional SHA-256 hash generator that displays the last 8 digits of the hash as a tag next to the anon account if desired.

This way, no matter where I am, where I connect from, which device I am using, if I click the options menu and I can input the passphrase and post with my anon hash, then I will be able to prove to you I am anon [4c2e90b3].

Additionally: Click to expand the whole hash and view past threads/comments by this particular anon.

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nullama 3 Sep 2023

Why not use a throwaway account for that?

An anonymous poster should not have continuity over time. That's a pseudonymous, which is basically an account.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 3 Sep 2023

So basically a hashed password as your optional identity?

1 sat \ 7 replies \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 3 Sep 2023

Given you can log in with lightning or nostr, I don’t see the need for what’s proposed here? You can generate as many throwaway keys as you want, login using them for one post then never again?

10 sats \ 6 replies \ @zuspotirko 3 Sep 2023

I think the notion of explicitly being "anon" as opposed to just any throwaway account has some kind of cultual meaning that might be desirable

Edit: But I agree that throwaway account solves anons usecase for e.g. whistleblowers

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 3 Sep 2023

You’re not wrong, I just think making anon pseudo-accounts gets dangerously close to throwaway accounts, which would render anon useless in my perspective

Perhaps if we added the ability to decorate anon comments on anon posts if they’re from the same anon, that might solve the issue?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 4 Sep 2023

deleted by author

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b fwd 3 Sep 2023

There's also the fact that they might end up leaving sats in the account.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 3 Sep 2023

That only hurts other stackers, right? Since anon’s sats go to the rewards pool?