What is anonymous participation?
Anonymous participation allows residents to hide their identity when contributing to your platform. It’s designed to:
Promote inclusivity for residents who may feel hesitant sharing under their real name.
Encourage open dialogue and more honest input.
There are two types of anonymity:
Voluntary anonymity: available for ideation, proposals, and commenting; users can choose to post anonymously.
Mandated anonymity: applies to surveys; all survey data is anonymized by default.
How to enable anonymous participation for ideation, proposals, and commenting?
By default, all phases are non‑anonymous until you enable it. Admins/project managers can decide per phase whether anonymity is allowed.
Go to project phase settings on the Set Up tab
Find the toggle “Allow users to participate anonymously.”
Turn it ON for the phase or module where you want to allow anonymity.
Users can now choose to hide their identity for that project phase.
How does anonymity work for ideation, proposals, and commenting?
What happens when anonymity is enabled?
Residents can choose to submit ideas, proposals, or comments anonymously.
The contribution will not be linked to the user’s profile (even admins cannot see who posted it).
Users see a message prompt reminding them they are posting anonymously.
Anonymous user data
Anonymous posts cannot be tied to demographic data, making reporting less detailed.
Each anonymous submission receives a unique ID, shared on the confirmation page and email, so users can reference their submission if needed.
Content moderation
Profanity filters, spam detection, and inappropriate content detectors still work on anonymous posts.
Admins and moderators can moderate content (delete, edit, flag) exactly as they do with named contributions.
Participating without a username
Some interactions (e.g., commenting) require a username.
Users can delete their first and last name in their profile → they will appear as either:
User1234 (random number) OR
Elephant Cat (random animal name).
you can decide on the options above in the general Settings tab of the platform > General tab > User name display (for users with email confirmed only)
This username behavior also applies to residents using the Email confirmation access right.
How to enable anonymous participation for surveys?
1. Go to project phase tab Phase access and user data
2. in the User data collection section you can then enable full anonymity or partial anonymity
full anonymity is possible by selecting the option Exclude both personally identifiable data and demographics from the results (full anonymity)
partial anonymity is possible by selection the option Exclude personally identifiable data but include demographic data in the results
How does anonymity work for surveys?
Exclude both personally identifiable data and demographics from the results (full anonymity)
When you select this option no demographic data is recorded and stored
Exclude personally identifiable data but include demographic data in the results
When you select this option name/email data is not recorded by demographic data such as gender/age/... is collected and stored and can be used for analysis of the data. You will find this data in the Audience tab > Demographics
These demographic questions can be asked before participation OR in the last page of the survey. You can select which option in the section below
How anonymity interacts with access rights
Anonymous participation is a privacy layer on top of access rights, not a replacement.
If a phase uses Email confirmation, users already appear without a first/last name, anonymity reinforces that.
If a phase requires Account creation, users can still post anonymously, but their profile won’t be visible on their contributions.
This clarifies the relationship for admins so they understand anonymity doesn’t override who can access or participate, it just hides the contributor’s identity.
How to manage anonymous participation?
Moderate as usual: all moderation tools remain functional.
Remind users what anonymity means:
Their demographics won’t be tracked.
Their post is tied only to a unique ID, not their account.
Need more help or support? Contact our Support Team via the chat bubble.