The Anonymous Coward is the default username for editing this wiki. So if somebody edits the wiki without signing in, then their edits will be attributed to the Anonymous Coward. A few jokers have changed ‘AnonymousCoward’ to something different but equally anonymous … which is OK too.
However, people who really want to be anonymous should know that every editor's IP address is listed at RecentlyRevised. (Well, usually. Urs Schreiber —or for all we know, possibly somebody impersonating him (^_^)— has managed to keep his IP address out sometimes.)
Eric: Can we change this? I am not anonymous, but I also do not want my IP listed (since it resolves to my employer, which I think should be private.) I guess I can always just not post from work, but small distractions now and then are nice.
Toby: IP addresses are almost always logged by web software, even for readers; in the past, these logs were usually deleted after a while, but now storage space is so cheap that this may no longer be true. People like to have the IP address available in case of problems —spam, DoS attacks, etc—. I like having that sort of information publicly available, rather than tucked into logs that are hidden behind passwords, to prevent the devlopment of hierarchies.
But if you want to be anonymous on the web, try searching for ’web proxy’ or the like. However, Jacques's software makes a fair attempt to defeat these, since they are often used to spam. (Even in general, I don't know how well they work, and ultimately they become the people with the secret information.)
Toby: I see that Urs managed to post from ‘from bogus address’ today (June 27). Maybe we should ask him what he did differently!
Eric: I don’t mind if administrators can see my IP for security reasons, but it is not clear what purpose it serves to actually display it publicly for all to see. For example, I can see the IP addresses of people who comment on my blog, but it is not displayed for everyone to see.
Toby: That creates a hierarchy (of information if not power, but one leads to the other) where administrators are above everybody else. The wiki way gives the same information to everybody.