Lemmy admin should add option in the account settings for hiding your username from your posts/comments, and hiding your profile from the public, so noone would be able to see all of your posts in your profile page, and even if someone is using a tool for scrapping posts, they wouldn’t be able to link the posts to 1 user, because the username would be greyed out “anonymous” (and would not link to anywhere). Only lemmy staff would know the real username.
Edit
This feature would be useful for whistleblowers, or users who want to be anonymous (those who often delete their posts/comments and accounts, or have to use multiple accounts to reduce fingerprinting), while others who want to use lemmy as social media and create friendships would keep their username visible publicly.
Why are you trying to centralise lemmy?
I hear what you’re saying, but you’re essentially aiming for it 4chan. Lemmy is very much a social media network with emphasis on social. We are a community, you can’t build a community without being accountable and that happens with post history.
That said, the suggestion to have member only profile pages is a cool one. It wouldn’t stop anyone from searching for your username and finding your posts that way, but it would make it just a little bit harder for them.
4chan
Is 4chan as private and secure as lemmy? I never used it.
secure: only if https used, default on most board
private: there are no profile or username, everyone anonymous
You could go to 4chan for this feature…
Personally, I like author names on comments and posts. Also allows me to block trolls so I don’t see their troll comments anywhere.
If someone can identify you through your lemmy username an admin isn’t going to save you from your terrible opsec practices.
Lemmy is a social media service. Act accordingly.
I edited my post, check it out.
You’re better off rotating usernames on a semi-randomized schedule if it really matters to you that much. Is your personal threat model such that you actually need to be concerned about this?
Anyway, OpSec rather than asking others to fix your privacy concerns would be the way to go.
Create separate accounts by topic, with different fake identity details beyond what you made them for. Keep track of each identity’s fake time zone when planning when you post so that no one can figure out what time zone you really are posting from.
Beyond that decide on a lifetime (and “cooloff period” before you make a replacement) for each account using a random number generator.
Most importantly, use various AI tools to obsfucate your typing style and word choice.
This all seems like a shit ton of work to just talk about your hobbies. I sincerely hope you don’t have stalkers this dedicated.
ActivityPub makes this impossible. Everything on the fediverse is completely public, including votes, subscriptions and usernames. Even if Lemmy did offer the option, other servers wouldn’t necessarily.
And honestly this is a system that would be mainly used for spam and hate speech anyway. Just make a throwaway like everywhere else.
