# “匿名”指的是什么？
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-we-mean-by-anonymous/107262
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [2019年一月23日 10:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-we-mean-by-anonymous/107262 "2019-01-23T10:10:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rizka](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rizka)
#### Post date: [2019年一月23日 10:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-we-mean-by-anonymous/107262/1 "2019-01-23T10:10:06Z")
The word ‘anonymous’ currently means a few things in Discourse.
- The user is not logged in or doesn’t have an account.
- The user is logged in but is in **anonymous mode**.
- Furthermore, a staff member can anonymize a user.
All this could be confusing for a less experienced admin. Could we improve nomenclature of these features somehow?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2019年一月23日 10:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-we-mean-by-anonymous/107262/2 "2019-01-23T10:42:24Z")
> [@rizka](#):
>
> The user is not logged in or doesn’t have an account.
That doesn’t _need_ to be called “anonymous”, per se, but it is a nice shorthand for “user who is not logged in”. Other synonym suggestions are welcome.
> [@rizka](#):
>
> The user is logged in but is in **anonymous mode**.
A very rare use case behind a default-off site setting. I don’t see a huge conflict here.
> [@rizka](#):
>
> Furthermore, a staff member can anonymize a user.
This is the strongest case for the literal meaning of the word.
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### Author:  [@rizka](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rizka)
#### Post date: [2019年一月23日 14:23 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-we-mean-by-anonymous/107262/3 "2019-01-23T14:23:46Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> That doesn’t _need_ to be called “anonymous”, per se, but it is a nice shorthand for “user who is not logged in”. Other synonym suggestions are welcome.
Would it make sense to refer to _anonymous users_ as _guests_? It’s the best I can think of, but my vocabulary could be broader, I admit.
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### Author:  [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [2019年一月23日 16:22 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-we-mean-by-anonymous/107262/4 "2019-01-23T16:22:30Z")
> [@rizka](#):
>
> Furthermore, a staff member can anonymize a user.
I would argue this case is “anonymized” not “anonymous”. One will never have an anonymized user accessing their site.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2019年一月24日 00:46 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-we-mean-by-anonymous/107262/5 "2019-01-24T00:46:19Z")
That’s a good point so then technically we have
- anonymous _mode_ – always those two words together, and remember this is a rare mode that must be expicitly enabled, is _default off_, and that mode to be explicitly entered and exited by an already logged in user with a valid account.
- anonymized – as in “that user was anonymized”
- anonymous – as in “this is an anonymous browser visit”
That seems pretty clear to me @rizka, not sure much else is needed here.
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### Author:  [@rizka](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rizka)
#### Post date: [2019年一月24日 06:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-we-mean-by-anonymous/107262/6 "2019-01-24T06:10:07Z")
I’m alright with it. It’s still good that we gave this some thought.