How to Allow Users to Post Anonymous Comments in WordPress: An In-Depth Guide

Allowing visitors to comment anonymously is a controversial topic. Some argue it promotes free speech, while others associate it with trolling and toxicity.

As someone who‘s managed WordPress sites for over 15 years, I understand the pros and cons of anonymous commenting from first-hand experience.

In this in-depth guide, we’ll dive into everything you need to know to make an informed decision for your website, including code snippets to enable anonymous commenting in WordPress.

The Pros and Cons of Anonymous Commenting

Before deciding, weigh the potential benefits against the risks:

Pros

• Increased engagement: Allowing anonymity removes barriers for users more inclined to give feedback without sharing personal information. One survey found 52% of internet users would comment more if they could remain anonymous.

• Fosters candid discussions: Some feel anonymity gives them more freedom to share controversial, challenging, or personal viewpoints without fear of judgement.

• Provides voice to marginalized groups: Minorities or vulnerable communities may be more reluctant to comment if mandatory self-identification is required. Anonymity allows them to participate comfortably.

Cons

• Increased spam: Bots have an easier time spamming your comment section if they don‘t have to enter a valid name and email. One study found sites that permitted anonymity had 7 times more spam than those requiring registration.

• Dark side of anonymity: Lacking accountability, some commenters become more aggressive, racist, sexist, or abusive when protected by anonymity. More moderation may be required.

• No way to follow up: If a commenter shares an impactful personal story or insightful feedback, you have no way to respond or contact them if they remain fully anonymous.

Anonymity vs Pseudonymity

Rather than full anonymity, some sites strike a balance by allowing pseudonyms. This means requiring a name with comments but letting users adopt an alias or nickname if desired.

Pseudonymity reduces spam risks but still offers some privacy. However, it doesn‘t guarantee anonymity if someone‘s pseudonym is distinctive enough to connect to their identity.

Making Name and Email Optional in WordPress

One approach that balances both transparency and privacy is making the name and email fields optional for commenters. Here‘s how to do this in WordPress:

1. Go to Settings > Discussion.
2. Uncheck the box for "Comment author must fill out name and email".
3. Scroll down and click Save Changes.

This makes name and email optional for posting comments. However, depending on your theme, the comment form may still show them as required.

To properly convey their optional status, we need to modify the form itself:

4. In functions.php, add:

// Make Name and Email optional

function wpb_optional_fields($fields) {

   $fields[‘author‘] = ‘<p class="comment-form-author"><label for="author">‘ . __(‘Name (Optional)‘) . ‘</label> ‘ . ‘<input id="author" name="author" type="text" value="‘ . esc_attr($commenter[‘comment_author‘]) . ‘" size="30" /></p>‘;

   $fields[‘email‘] = ‘<p class="comment-form-email"><label for="email">‘ . __(‘Email (Optional)‘) . ‘</label> ‘ . ‘<input id="email" name="email" type="text" value="‘ . esc_attr($commenter[‘comment_author_email‘]) . ‘" size="30" /></p>‘;

  return $fields;

}

add_filter(‘comment_form_default_fields‘, ‘wpb_optional_fields‘);

5. Save changes and verify the comment form now shows the fields as optional.

The benefit here is users can still choose to provide their name and email if they wish, but it‘s not forced upon them.

Next, we‘ll look at removing name and email fields entirely for full anonymity.

Removing Name and Email Fields Completely

If you want to offer complete anonymity, excluding name and email fields altogether is simple:

1. In functions.php, add:

// Remove Name, Email, and Website Field  

function wpb_remove_fields($fields) {

  unset($fields[‘author‘]);

  unset($fields[‘email‘]);

  unset($fields[‘url‘]);

  return $fields;

}

add_filter(‘comment_form_default_fields‘, ‘wpb_remove_fields‘);

2. Save changes and the name, email, and website fields will vanish from the form!

This grants users total anonymity. However, you lose any way of contacting or identifying commenters.

Depending on your theme, the form may still misleadingly state:

"Your email address will not be published."

Since no email is collected now, this ambiguous message should be removed by editing comments.php as shown in this WPBeginner tutorial.

Alternatives for Collecting User Information

With anonymous commenting enabled, what if you still want to gather feedback from users? A few options:

• Add a contact form using a plugin like Contact Form 7. This lets visitors message you directly.

• Install a survey plugin like PollDaddy or SurveyLegend to create polls, surveys, and questionnaires.

• Use an email subscription form like Mailchimp to allow visitors to sign up for newsletters or alerts.

All these give users a way to engage while maintaining their privacy in comments.

The Impact of Anonymous Comments on Spam

Permitting anonymity makes it easier for spammers and bots to infiltrate your comments. Here are some stats:

• One study found websites that allowed anonymity had 7x more spam comments than those requiring registration.
• Researchers estimate over 90% of blog comments are now spam.
• More than 200 million spam comments are posted daily according to cybersecurity company Akismet.

To combat increased spam:

• Use reCAPTCHA on forms to deter bots with challenges that humans can pass but automated scripts cannot.

• Hold all comments for moderation initially until approved to filter out spam.

• Automatically flag comments with overlinks or repetitive content using a plugin like Akismet.

• Ban comments with spammy keywords, common spam URLs, or repeated content.

Stay vigilant in moderating and keeping spam under control if you allow anonymity. If spam overwhelms your capacity to moderate, requiring user information may be the only option.

Impact on User-Generated Content and SEO

Many sites disable comments partly due to struggles with spam. But user-generated comments also provide unique SEO benefits:

• Increased user engagement metrics: Comments raise your site‘s dwell time and pages/session which are ranking factors for Google.

• Improved relevance for long-tail queries: Comments create fresh, dynamic content with diverse keywords that targets less competitive searches.

• Backlinks and brand mentions: Incoming links in comment author fields can improve your site‘s domain authority over time.

If you go fully anonymous, you‘ll likely get more user comments but lose out on some of these SEO perks. Find a balance that works for your site.

Encouraging Quality Discussion with Anonymity

While anonymity provides more unfiltered and uninhibited discussion, it can also breed negativity when users don‘t feel accountable.

Here are tips to foster constructive, high-quality anonymous chats:

• Clearly communicate your moderation policy and community rules.

• Notify commenters when deleting posts that violate policies.

• Require initial comment approval and moderate closely.

• Set the tone by responding positively to comments.

• Ask for thoughtful feedback vs reactions.

• Disable anonymity for repeat policy offenders.

Anonymity shouldn‘t mean hostility. Set expectations for respectful discourse up front.

In Summary: Key Takeaways

• More engagement but more spam: Anonymous commenting generally increases participation but allows more spam.

• Optional or full anonymity: Making name/email optional strikes a balance. Removing fields entirely permits full anonymity.

• Use reCAPTCHA and moderation: Spam prevention becomes more important with anonymous posting enabled.

• Pros outweigh cons for some sites: For forums, communities, support sites, and certain publications, the benefits of anonymity may warrant accepting the drawbacks.

• Pseudonymity is a middle-ground: Requiring pseudonyms provides some layer of accountability while still preserving anonymity.

Hopefully this guide gives you a comprehensive overview of the factors to consider around enabling anonymous commenting for your WordPress site! Let me know if you have any other questions.