Asked in the open about something sensitive. Hoping for honest replies.
BuddyPress · BuddyBoss · Anonymous posting
Some members will not post under their own name. This plugin gives them a checkbox that says they do not have to.
A Post anonymously checkbox sits under the activity form for the members you allow. Tick it, and the update lands in the feed under the anonymous display name and avatar you set, while notifications and emails that would reveal the poster are held back.
★★★★★ Works with BuddyPress and BuddyBoss Platform · Role and member-type controls · Activity, comments, and forums
Sharing under my own name. Great turnout at the meetup last night.
Built for
Built for six kinds of community operators.
The checkbox appears the moment you activate the plugin and allow a context. Pick the scenario closest to how you run your community.
01
Support and recovery communities
Members who need to ask a hard question can tick Post anonymously and have it show under the name and avatar you chose, not their profile. The real author is still recorded in the database for your records, so anonymity is on the display layer, not a way to dodge accountability.
02
Workplace and internal networks
Restrict anonymous posting to the roles you trust and exclude the member types that should always be named. Administrators never see the checkbox and always bypass the restriction, so moderation stays under named accounts.
03
Feedback and whistleblower channels
Turn the checkbox on for profile and group activity so people can raise concerns without their name on the post. Notifications and emails that would tie the post back to them are suppressed, so a mention or reply does not leak the identity.
04
Forum-led communities
With forums support enabled, members post topics and replies anonymously in bbPress or BuddyBoss Forums. The real author is preserved in post meta for admins while the public view shows the anonymous label.
05
Membership site owners
Set the anonymous display name and avatar to match your brand, gate the feature to verified members if you run BP Verified Member, and decide per context where anonymous posting is allowed. Everything is configured from one settings tab.
06
Community managers
Anonymous posts read like any other activity, with the configured name and a default gravatar or your uploaded avatar. The activity type filter gains an Anonymous User option so you can review only the anonymous entries when you need to.
See it in action
How BuddyPress Anonymous Activity looks on your site.
Switch between the two surfaces in the preview: the activity composer with the Post anonymously checkbox and the anonymous post it produces, and the admin settings where you control it all.
How it works
Tick the box, post lands, identity is hidden.
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Tick the box
An eligible member opens the activity form and sees a Post anonymously checkbox below it. They tick it before submitting. Members whose role is not allowed, whose member type is excluded, or who are not verified when that gate is on simply never see the checkbox, and administrators never see it either.
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Post lands in the feed
The update is saved as a normal BuddyPress activity, marked with is_anonymous meta and an anonymous slug. Behind the scenes the real author's user ID is still recorded, so the post is accountable in the data even though the page will not show it.
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Identity is hidden
On the page the post shows your configured anonymous display name, your custom or default gravatar avatar, and a non-resolving profile link. Notifications and emails that would name the poster are blocked, and the single-activity permalink loads a template that does not expose the author.
Works with
BuddyPress and BuddyBoss, with bbPress and BuddyBoss Forums.
The plugin runs on standard BuddyPress and on BuddyBoss Platform, extends to bbPress and BuddyBoss Forums when forums support is on, and gates to verified members when BP Verified Member is active. These are the platforms it works with out of the box.
- BuddyPress
The core requirement. The Post anonymously checkbox attaches to the activity post form and comment form, and anonymous posts are stored as standard BuddyPress activities marked with is_anonymous meta.
- BuddyBoss Platform
Supported alongside BuddyPress with dedicated handling for subscribed-group notifications, on-screen notification text, and the anonymous avatar CSS so anonymous posts behave the same on a BuddyBoss build.
- bbPress
When forums support is enabled, members post topics and replies anonymously in bbPress. The real author is preserved in post meta and the standard bbPress anonymous name field is set to trigger its own anonymous display logic.
forums support enabled - BuddyBoss Forums
The same anonymous topic and reply posting is available in BuddyBoss Forums through a dedicated integration class that loads when BuddyBoss Forums is active.
forums support enabled - BP Verified Member
When this plugin is active and the toggle is on, only verified members see the anonymous checkbox, so you can require verification before anyone can post without a name.
via BP Verified Member toggle - RTMedia
When RTMedia is active, the plugin removes the secondary avatar it adds to activity actions so the anonymous avatar is not undermined by a second, identifying image.
when RTMedia is active
What you get
An anonymous checkbox, the controls around it, and honest display-layer hiding.
Every license is the complete plugin. The Post anonymously checkbox appears where you allow it, anonymous posts show under the name and avatar you set, notifications and emails that would reveal the poster are held back, and forums support extends the same behavior to bbPress and BuddyBoss Forums. The only difference between tiers is how many sites the license covers.
01
Post anonymously checkbox on the activity form
A Post anonymously checkbox is added below the activity post form for the logged-in members you allow. Ticking it before submitting marks that post as anonymous. The checkbox is also injected into the activity comment reply form, with its own label text, so comments can be posted anonymously too. The label wording for both the post and comment checkbox is yours to set.
02
Display-layer name and avatar replacement
For any activity or comment marked anonymous, the real author name is replaced with the configured anonymous display name, the avatar is replaced with your custom image or a default gravatar, and the profile link is replaced with a non-resolving link. The real author user ID is still stored in the database, so this is display-layer anonymity: admins can look up the original author directly in the data, members cannot.
03
Role, member-type, and verified-member controls
Restrict anonymous posting to specific WordPress roles. Leave the allowed list empty and every logged-in member can post anonymously. Exclude specific BuddyPress member types so members of those types never see the checkbox even when their role would allow it. When the BP Verified Member plugin is active and the toggle is on, only verified members see the checkbox. Administrators always bypass these rules and never see the checkbox.
04
Per-context toggles across activity, comments, and forums
Four independent toggles control where the checkbox appears: the sitewide activity directory, group activity, profile activity, and activity comments. Each is enabled or disabled on its own. When forums support is turned on, members can also post topics and replies anonymously in bbPress or BuddyBoss Forums, with the real author preserved in post meta for admin reference.
05
Notification and email suppression
When a post is anonymous, BuddyPress and BuddyBoss in-app notifications that would name the poster are blocked and deleted, and the matching emails are stopped at the validation filter before they send. For any email that still goes through, the poster name and link are swapped for the anonymous text. BuddyBoss subscribed-group notifications for anonymous activities are suppressed too, and the single-activity permalink loads a template that does not expose the real author.
06
Configurable anonymous identity
Set the anonymous display name shown in place of the real author and upload a custom image as the anonymous avatar through the WordPress media uploader. With no custom image set, a gravatar mystery-man avatar is used. The BuddyPress activity type filter gains an Anonymous User option (or your custom label) so you can list only the anonymous entries when you review the feed.
Made for
Six audiences. One product.
Support and recovery communitiesWorkplace and internal networksFeedback and whistleblower channelsForum-led communitiesMembership site ownersCommunity managers
Pricing
Same complete plugin on every tier. Pick how many sites you run.
Every tier ships the full feature set: the Post anonymously checkbox, display-layer name and avatar replacement, role and member-type controls, the per-context toggles, notification and email suppression, and forums support. Tiers differ only by the number of sites your license covers. Yearly plans include a year of updates and support; lifetime plans pay once and keep updates forever.
Personal
$39 / year
or $129 lifetime
One community site.
- 1 site
- Post anonymously checkbox on activity and comments
- Role, member-type, and per-context controls
- Notification and email suppression
- 1 year of updates + support
Most popular
Professional
$69 / year
or $199 lifetime
Five sites. Freelancers and small agencies.
- 5 sites
- Post anonymously checkbox on activity and comments
- Role, member-type, and per-context controls
- Notification and email suppression
- bbPress and BuddyBoss Forums support
- 1 year of updates + support
Agency
$99 / year
or $299 lifetime
Unlimited sites for agencies running many community builds.
- Unlimited sites
- Post anonymously checkbox on activity and comments
- Role, member-type, and per-context controls
- Notification and email suppression
- bbPress and BuddyBoss Forums support
- 1 year of updates + support
Before you install
Questions community operators ask.
Answered by the team that maintains the plugin. Anything else, reach out through the contact page.
- 01
Can admins see who really posted an anonymous activity?
Yes. This is display-layer anonymity, and we are upfront about that. The post shows the anonymous display name and avatar to everyone on the page, but the real author's user ID is stored in the activity meta. An administrator can look that ID up directly in the database. There is no admin screen that lists real authors, and the plugin never exposes the identity in the public interface, but the data is recoverable for accountability and moderation.
- 02
Does this require BuddyPress?
Yes. It runs on BuddyPress or BuddyBoss Platform. On admin_init the plugin checks that one of them is active, and if neither is found it deactivates itself. The anonymous checkbox attaches to the BuddyPress activity post form, so the Activity component needs to be on.
- 03
Does it work with BuddyBoss?
Yes. BuddyBoss Platform is supported alongside standard BuddyPress. The plugin adds BuddyBoss-specific handling for subscribed-group notifications, on-screen notification text, and the anonymous avatar styling, so anonymous posts behave the same on a BuddyBoss build.
- 04
Who is allowed to post anonymously?
You decide with three controls. Restrict anonymous posting to specific WordPress roles, and if you leave that list empty every logged-in member can use it. Exclude specific BuddyPress member types so they never see the checkbox. Optionally require verified members when the BP Verified Member plugin is active. Administrators always bypass these rules and never see the checkbox themselves.
- 05
Where does the anonymous checkbox appear?
In up to four places, each with its own toggle: the sitewide activity directory, group activity, profile activity, and the activity comment reply form. Turn on only the contexts you want. When forums support is enabled, members can also post anonymously in bbPress or BuddyBoss Forums.
- 06
What happens to notifications and emails on an anonymous post?
BuddyPress and BuddyBoss in-app notifications that would name the poster are blocked and then deleted, and the matching emails are stopped at the validation filter before they send. For any email that still goes out, the poster name and link are replaced with the anonymous text. BuddyBoss subscribed-group notifications for anonymous activities are suppressed as well. This keeps a reply or mention from leaking the identity through an alert.
- 07
Does it support forums?
Yes, when you enable forums support. Members can post topics and replies anonymously in bbPress or BuddyBoss Forums. The real author's user ID is preserved in post meta, and the standard bbPress anonymous name field is set so bbPress's own display logic shows the post as anonymous.
- 08
Can I change the anonymous name and avatar?
Yes. Set the anonymous display name that shows in place of the real author, and set separate label text for the post checkbox and the comment checkbox. Upload a custom image as the anonymous avatar through the WordPress media uploader; if you do not set one, a gravatar mystery-man image is used.
- 09
Does it have a REST API or WP-CLI commands?
No. The plugin does not register any REST endpoints or WP-CLI commands of its own, and it creates no custom database tables. It stores its settings as a single option in wp_options and marks anonymous posts with activity and post meta. There is one logged-in-only AJAX action, check_activity_anonymous, used by the frontend to tell whether a given activity is anonymous.
- 10
What happens to my data if I deactivate or uninstall?
Deactivating leaves everything in place: your settings option in wp_options and the meta on existing anonymous posts stay where they are. The plugin does not run a destructive cleanup on uninstall, so if you need a full removal you delete the plugin's option and the anonymous meta after deactivation. Because the real author was always stored, deactivating the plugin can reveal those past posts under their original authors again.
Give the members who need it a way to post without a name.
Activate the plugin, set the anonymous display name and avatar, choose which roles and contexts can post anonymously, and the Post anonymously checkbox appears on the activity form right away. Members tick it when they need to, the post lands under the anonymous identity, and the notifications and emails that would reveal them stay held back.