Make anonymous mode button less prominent, less likely to be pressed accidentally?

UX
1

I’m at a workshop in :kenya: where I just trained up a bunch of people on using discourse. One of the things that came up is that one person (who is an active smartphone user) accidentally entered anonymous mode. It was only later that we realized it, after he liked and wrote posts, and wrote some PMs.

I was able to merge the anonymous account into the main account using the rake command, and I think there was no bad after affect to it.

However, it seems to me that this button, which is rarely used, should maybe sit somewhere less prominent so an errant finger doesn’t accidentally land you in anon mode. Near the bottom of the hamburger menu seems to make sense.

Another thought is that maybe a modal could pop up to explain what it’s for and allow the user to cancel and go back, in case they accidentally select it.

2 Likes
2

The anonymous feature is very niche, we know of only a small handful of sites actually using it.

Is it actually required on this site? Or has it just been enabled “because it’s an option”? The best way to reduce confusion is to not have it at all :wink:

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I am aware that it’s a niche feature. But it is something we considered and decided to keep because many of our members work in human rights. It has not been used much but we want to make sure it’s available for those who feel the need to use it.

2 Likes
4

You could probably add a confirmation popup fairly easily using a theme component. The relevant code can be found here:

7 Likes
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Recently, I have accidentally enabled anonymous mode several times. I think the normal situation should be that certain categories allow anonymous posting or replying. Of course, popping up a confirmation dialog after clicking on anonymous mode is also a relatively straightforward approach.
Additionally, I have encountered issues where temporary anonymous accounts receive SQL badges, especially some limited badges, which is very frustrating for me.