The "thanks" facility and name changes

Eh? How is that even possible?

How can you join without a user name, is that something new?

@MattTech do you mean someone who hasn't joined yet?

I have just noticed that I have received a thanks from "Anonymous user"

Is this to do with these changes, or is there a MNer called "Anonymous user" ?

Actually there can't be, because it includes a space!

Curious as to what this is all about.

I do suspect that this is all being done to warm people up to the idea of the thanks/like and eventually the plan is to make it public.

Didn’t know you could see who thanked you…

I'm really glad the change is being made so your thanks will show from the name you're using on that thread. Thanks @LilyMumsnet and @MattTech

I'm glad I found your thread @endofthelinefinally ; just discovered the name anomaly thanks to the button tooltip that has just been added. Agree that it's completely rubbish and makes the whole "thanks" system clunky if you have to go into account settings every time to make sure what username you're logged in as.

I think there are different interpretations of 'outing' going on in this thread.

Some are using it to mean that a person being thanked might guess that a username belongs to someone using a different username in the thread.

Normally it's used to mean that there is a direct connection between two usernames. I don't think I would feel confident that any guessing I see on thanked posts is a definite link. Others may feel differently.

The simple solution is to change your username in settings if you want to both switch between names on threads AND use the Thanks.

Or just don't use the Thanks.

You’ve already said, ‘Im not sure I understand the problem.’ Myself and another poster have given you an explanation to show why/how it can be a problem.

If you’re not able to see how it can be outing then I’m not really sure what you’d like me to say? I said ‘don’t worry about it!’ because I really didn’t know how to explain it. Absolutely no reason to be snarky.
Enjoy your day

You have no idea if it impacts me, I can worry about whatever I choose

@Rummikub smart😂😉

@shoppingshamed if you don’t get it then that’s because it won’t impact you. Don’t worry about it!

I sort of agree but then I also don't really like the popularity-type culture that comes through visible likes.

Anyone else find the thanks facility really irritating? It would be better to have visible likes on the post rather than an email

This is true as a one-off, but it's much more obvious on longer threads where people have habits, etc.

Not necessarily, I thank good or helpful replies even if I'm not the question-asker.

The only person who can see the thanks is the writer of the post, in what circumstances would that aid stalking?

Horse & barn door but an anonymous thanks might have been better to start with until logged-in-name, thread-name & thanks-name interactions were worked out.

I’m glad the feature is explained/tweaked now so we can chose but, given the number of female mners who may already have to take security measures, any future features need to be devised and tested with that in mind.

An essential question of ‘is this an open door to stalkers?’ should be addressed well before reaching rollout & if there is a still potential for abuse that the danger is spelled out as a user beware thing.

It can be difficult to manage lots of security aspects, tiring for everyone, so clarity helps a lot to balance safety against enjoyment against fucking everyone (who have the circumstances to go with the flow) off.

@AromanticSpices I mean it didn't say it was by my username as they said it would be!

It's outing in this sort of scenario:

You usually post under Username123 but have something super personal you don't want linked so you create UsernameHelpWithNeverendingThrush instead, for that one thread. Because UsernameHelpWithNeverendingThrush is the "most recent" username, when you go back to your usual threads (where you're listed as Username123 and post as Username123 with no trouble) and ask a question, when you thank the answerers, your secret identity as UsernameHelpWithNeverendingThrush is revealed. It's usually pretty obvious in those cases that you've been thanked by the questioner so it would be quite easy for lots of people on say the gardening/property/cycling board to realise that you are in fact UsernameHelpWithNeverendingThrush because of the consistency between Username123 posting, and UsernameHelpWithNeverendingThrush always thanking.

That's the basics. Quite easy if you stick with continuous threads and don't realise your "default username according Mumsnet" isn't the one you use the most.

Only the person who made the post that is being thanked, is able to see how many thanks and who they are from. I prefer it that way!

@MattTech I don't think anyone is ever going to update the App thread. It is being studiously ignored by MN