Considerations for anonymous users

Question

So, the Web application I'm working on allows input from anonymous users (and their participation in the flagging system).

As for the spamming issue, would it be enough to use the honeypot method or is an image CAPTCHA (e.g. reCAPTCHA) necessary in this case?

For the flagging system, if I want to let anonymous users to "flag" posts, it's not enough to allow a flag (per post) per cookie because they have control over the cookies (and could bypass this prevention). I should allow ONLY a flag per IP then, right? I know that this method would prevent users that share the same IP (yeah, corporate networks, etc.) to flag to the same post, but there is no other way around it, is there?

How can I ensure anonymous users' anonymity? By this I mean, how to prevent their posts to be "tracked" (if this is even possible). I know that every server has a log of every connection, so, is it possible to hide theirs?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I got confused. Do you want to ensure anonymity or prevent it? — cherouvim, Nov 05 '11 at 07:37
He wants to ensure anonymity, but avoid having his site flooded with drug ads. — Matthew Flaschen, Nov 05 '11 at 07:39

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 05 '11 at 07:39

Honeypots are useless if your site is popular, because then people will write custom bots for it. For the flagging, you can limit it to one per cookie, and rate-limit it by IP. That way, people on corporate networks, etc. will be a little inconvenienced but not completely out of luck.

It's completely up to you what you log and how long you keep them. By default, the request IP may be logged, but you don't have to log it. Most sites do, but the real difference is how long they keep it.

Considerations for anonymous users

1 Answers1