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I am very worried that someone will find out who I am if I post a story on here :l I have a few things I would like to say and post on this site but am too worried. Is it normal? And also is it possible to find out who posted a story?
We can't really tell half of the time. Unless the story includes people in the site. Plus, we can't see your username when you post a story. So, who the fuck cares?
I'm kinda paranoid about posting certain things up here too. But it is completely anonymous. As far as everyone knows, it could be anyone.
Set up a username that no-one could guess connected you to you! For example, abcdefg..
I've seen many users post of their own stories and it was shown that Annonymus thing on the website and then I would go on the app and it would say their real username. It doesn't happen all the time though.
As for you being scared of asking questions, you shouldn't be. I mean what are the chances of someone you know actually know of this website? I think it's very slim.
You can't see who the author is from the submission. I can sometimes tell from the writing style, but not very often.
Are you worried about people off the site knowing who you are, or people on the site?
Off site, some ISPs maintain logs of who was allocated what IP at what time (the IP you are allocated is often dynamic). If you say something which may be seen as a national threat, then obviously it helps for you to be identifiable. In some cases, the police may also intervene. If you work for a big organisation and have a static IP, the DNS entry for that IP may contain some or all of your name and very likely your organisation. With the exception of the site owners, I don't think it's possible for site users to know your IP address. Even if they did, it'd often not be that useful.
On site is a bit trickier. As far as I know, your identity is protected (although someone posted something to the contrary a few weeks ago). More pertinent is that everyone has a writing style, a set of beliefs, and a history. If someone has a good ability to spot pattern, a little deductive reasoning, a good memory, and a bit of insight into human behaviour, that anonymity is eroded quite a bit. Most people have these talents to varying degrees, but just letting slip a little extra information can really narrow the odds of identifying someone. If, for instance, I say I posted a story yesterday (and I did), most people on this site who've read my comments for more than a month or so should have a chance of matching me to the story.
I never say anything here that I wouldn't mind my name being against. There'll always be someone who can work it out.