Utilizing pseudonyms allow people to post without revealing their real identity. They might not always be traceable to the poster. On other websites, IP addresses may not be publicly available, but they can be obtained from the website administrators only through legal intervention.

For example, WikiScanner associates anonymous Wikipedia edits with the IP address that made the change and tries to identify the entity that owns the IP address. Online anonymity is also limited by IP addresses. Levels of anonymity Īnonymity on the Internet can pertain to both the utilization of pseudonyms or requiring no authentication at all (also called 'perfect anonymity') for posting on a website.

Such high traffic suggests a broad demand from Internet users for anonymous content sharing sites. At that time, that level of content was on par with YouTube. In 2011, on 4chan's most popular board, /b/, there were roughly 35,000 threads and 400,000 posts created per day. Today, image boards receive tremendous Internet traffic from all parts of the world. These 'large-scale anonymous textboards' were inspired by the Usenet culture and were primarily focused on technology, unlike their descendants. The precursor to Internet forums like 2channel and 4chan were textboards like Ayashii World and Amezou World that provided the ability for anonymous posts in Japan. Online services which facilitated anonymous posting sprang up around mid-1992, originating with the cypherpunk group. There was also the introduction of anonymous remailers which were capable of stripping away the sender's address from mail packets before sending them to the receiver. This was primarily used for discussion on newsgroups pertaining to certain sensitive topics. Online anonymity can be traced to Usenet newsgroups in the late 1990s where the notion of using invalid emails for posting to newsgroups was introduced. Users of 4chan, in particular, interact in an anonymous and ephemeral environment that facilitates rapid generation of new trends. Others like Juic圜ampus, AutoAdmit, 2channel, and other Futaba-based imageboards (such as 4chan) thrive on anonymity. Some online forums such as Slashdot do not allow such posts, requiring users to be registered either under their real name or utilizing a pseudonym. Entry on a bulletin board system, Internet forum, or other discussion forums, without a screen nameĪn anonymous post, is an entry on a textboard, anonymous bulletin board system, or other discussion forums like Internet forum, without a screen name or more commonly by using a non-identifiable pseudonym.

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