This guide covers how to anonymize a user account in Discourse.
Required user level: Administrator or Moderator
Anonymizing a user account in Discourse allows you to remove personally identifiable information while preserving the user’s posts and contributions. This guide will walk you through the steps to anonymize a user account safely and effectively.
Steps for anonymizing a user account
1. Access the user’s admin page
Navigate to the user’s admin page following the instructions in the Access a User’s Admin Page guide.
2. Anonymize the user account
In the user’s admin page, scroll down to find the “Anonymize User” button.
Click the “Anonymize User” button. A confirmation dialog will appear asking you to confirm the action.
Important considerations
- Anonymization is irreversible. Make sure you have a good reason to anonymize a user and that you have their consent if required by your policies.
- While anonymization removes personal information, it does not delete the user’s content.
- Staff users (administrators and moderators) cannot be anonymized. Only non-staff user accounts can be anonymized.
Note: There is a site setting log_anonymizer_details (enabled by default) that controls whether the user’s original username and email address are recorded in the staff action log when they are anonymized. The anonymization action itself is always logged, but with this setting disabled the original identifying details are omitted and the old username is also scrubbed from historical staff action logs.
Last edited by @Lilly 2024-11-25T18:14:22Z
Last checked by @maiki 2024-07-27T00:27:56Z
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