# Question about anonymized usernames

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** anonymization
**Created:** [December 18, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047 "2019-12-18T16:47:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![acesoftheace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/acesoftheace/32/129456_2.png) [@acesoftheace](https://meta.discourse.org/u/acesoftheace)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047/1 "2019-12-18T16:47:08Z")

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Is this user also anonymized since he has the “anon” 🙄🙄

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/c/5/c5cb2c9fd8cd3cb7febec604704fc387b41d4260.png)

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### Author: ![ondrej](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ondrej/32/198804_2.png) [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047/2 "2019-12-18T17:06:28Z")

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… Yes users who begin with _anon_ seem pretty anonymized to me. Its a genreral pattern 🙂

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/d/1/d1b2f3b21de671da305a04bfe6658039f3efddf2.png)

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### Author: ![Mittineague](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mittineague/32/114259_2.png) [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047/3 "2019-12-18T17:17:15Z")

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> [@acesoftheace](#):
>
> since he has the “anon”

I suppose there might be a remote possibility that a member gave themselves such a username, as unlikely as that would be.

If in doubt, look for an “@example.com” email address.

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### Author: ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047/4 "2019-12-18T18:35:40Z")

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> [@Mittineague](#):
>
> If in doubt, look for an “@example.com” email address.

Are you sure about that? Pretty sure anonymized users have a `@anonymized.invalid` email address.

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### Author: ![Mittineague](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mittineague/32/114259_2.png) [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047/5 "2019-12-18T19:07:39Z")

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> [@jomaxro](#):
>
> Are you sure about that?

Not 100% I’m going by what I know (obsolete or otherwise 😊 ) and have not recently retested this on localhost i.e. this account anonymized 2 years ago

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/7/d/7da49b95c9e25188b169a0403a6281ce4537ebf3.jpeg)

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### Author: ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047/6 "2019-12-18T19:08:48Z")

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Yeah, that very likely changed with all the updates to anonymization. `.invalid` is a domain we use for emails that should never be emailed. Yes, no one will receive emails sent to [example.com](http://example.com), but better to not send them at all.

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### Author: ![Mittineague](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mittineague/32/114259_2.png) [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047/7 "2019-12-18T20:00:41Z")

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Ah yes, this account was anonymized summer 2018

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/6/6/66c1279d60e020091f27e50ea73462bf9506fd75.jpeg)

I’m assuming that running some type of (pseudo)  
“`UPDATE email SET email '/1@anonymized.invalid' WHERE email LIKE '%@example.com'`”

query could be a good idea. If anyone has run such a command with success I would appreciate knowing what it was.

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### Author: ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/system/32/443519_2.png) [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-anonymized-usernames/276047/8 "2023-08-21T15:09:44Z")

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