When anonymous mode is enabled, logged in users are able to switch from their normal account to an anonymous account. This allows users to create topics and replies without any details being displayed in the Discourse user interface to connect the anonymous user with its associated account.
See also: Enable anonymous mode
For self-hosted sites, enable anonymous mode by selecting the allow anonymous posting site setting.
For sites on our hosting, these setting are hidden. Please send a message to our support team at
team@discourse.org, and we can enable anonymous posting on your site for you.
Configure anonymous mode
The anonymous posting allowed groups site setting allows you to limit the use of the feature based on the user’s group membership.
The anonymous account duration minutes site setting sets the period of time that an anonymous account will remain in place after a user has entered and then exited anonymous mode.
This setting defaults to 10080 minutes (7 days.) With the default value for this setting, if a user exits anonymous mode and then re-enters it within 7 days, they will be logged back into their previous anonymous account. If the user waits longer than 7 days before re-entering anonymous mode, a new anonymous account will be created for them.
Finding an anonymous user’s regular account
It’s worth noting that while anonymous mode gives users anonymity in the Discourse user interface, anonymous accounts can be associated with their regular user accounts via the Discourse database. Here is an example of a Data Explorer query that can be used for that:
SELECT a.username AS anonymous_username, u.username AS original_username
FROM users u
JOIN anonymous_users au ON (u.id = au.master_user_id)
JOIN users a ON (a.id = au.user_id)