Website for asking a Q, to get a MeFi-size&quality, but anon, readership
December 31, 2015 10:59 AM   Subscribe

Is there a non-tech "Ask" site as high-quality and high-readership as AskMetafilter, but where there's a place for responding with throwaway usernames? (Reddit isn't it.)

I want to ask a non-tech question, and have wise persons like yourselves answer, without concern for their answer being tied to their persistent identity. If I ask here on Metafilter and you answer, it'll be tied to your one-and-only Metafilter username. If I ask on AskReddit, it'll get like 2 low-quality responses, because it will be salient to only a minority of readers.

So, assuming Metafilter's not going to add this feature, is there somewhere else to ask?

(Yes, there's no such thing as true anonymity, but I want to have it be arduous for Putin's minions to connect your answer to you, when the day comes that they want to.)
posted by Baeria to Computers & Internet (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
This is not exactly the same, but if you contact one of the mods, they will post a response to an AskMe question anonymously under their name. From the FAQ:
There is no mechanism for following up anonymously, but the admins will post a follow-up comment to an anonymous question for you -- use the contact form linked at the bottom right of each page to reach the admins. Other MeFi users are often willing to do this too. Sometimes people set up disposable email accounts so they can be contacted about an anonymous posting. This feature is not intended to provide absolute anonymity, please do not use it if that is what you require.
posted by demiurge at 11:20 AM on December 31, 2015 [1 favorite]


The OPs question is about answering anonymously, not asking anonymously.

If I ask here on Metafilter and you answer, it'll be tied to your one-and-only Metafilter username.
True, and this might discourage some people from answering some questions. But they also have the option of opening up a second "sockpuppet" account and using that for those situations. Probably some do.

But what you're really looking for is available on Quora, both for asking questions and answering questions.
posted by beagle at 11:39 AM on December 31, 2015


here's a 2nd for quora. lots of smart thoughtful people (although it does lean toward tech-y types)
posted by bluesky43 at 12:23 PM on December 31, 2015


The OPs question is about answering anonymously, not asking anonymously.

The MeFi mods will also post anonymous answers - if you contact them with an answer to a question you don't want to have associated with your account, they'll post it themselves in the thread with a note to the effect of "this is from an anonymous answerer"
posted by Itaxpica at 12:54 PM on December 31, 2015 [1 favorite]


a fair number of mefites have sock accounts for exactly this - it's not anon, but it's also not tied to our main ids.
posted by nadawi at 1:01 PM on December 31, 2015


Also, if you ask anonymously and post a throwaway email address, people can email you from a throwaway of their own.
posted by Night_owl at 12:21 PM on January 1, 2016


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