Turn On Anonymous Reviews

Goal: let members write a review without their name and picture showing. This helps people give honest feedback.

Steps

1. Go to WB Plugins > Member Reviews and open the General tab.
2. Switch Anonymous Reviews on. (“Allow users to submit reviews anonymously.”)
3. Click Save Changes.

It is off by default.

What members see

• The review form gets a tick box: “Send review anonymously.”
• When ticked, the review shows the name “anonymous” and a plain default picture instead of the writer’s profile. There is no link to the writer’s profile.
• The same applies on the single review page, in the activity stream (“An anonymous user”, no profile link), in emails and in BuddyPress notifications.

What you see

Anonymous does not mean unknown to you. In the admin, the Author column on the Reviews list still shows who wrote it. Only members and visitors are kept in the dark.

Tips

• Turning the setting off later hides the tick box on the form. Reviews that were already written anonymously stay anonymous on the site.
• Everywhere a review is shown, including the BP Displayed Member Rating Widget, an anonymous review shows “Anonymous” and the default picture instead of the reviewer’s name and photo.
• Anonymous reviewing can lead to more unfair reviews. Consider switching on approval or reporting too. See Require approval before reviews go live.

If it does not work

• The tick box is missing: check that Anonymous Reviews is on and saved, and clear any page cache.