Pseudonymity
Pseudonymity means a person's visible, in-product display identity is deliberately decoupled from their real billing, authentication or legal identity — so other participants see a consistent handle, not a name that traces back to who they really are.
Full anonymity (no persistent identity at all) and full "real name" identity are two ends of a spectrum with real drawbacks at both extremes — anonymity makes moderation and accountability difficult, while a mandatory real-name policy can be actively unsafe for people discussing sensitive topics: health conditions, personal safety, or anything where being identifiable to other participants carries real risk.
Pseudonymity sits deliberately between the two: a person has a consistent, persistent identity within a space (so moderation, reputation and continuity still work) but that identity is a display handle, not their legal name, billing account, or cross-workspace identity. The system still knows who someone really is for auth and billing purposes — it just doesn't surface that to other participants.
Implementing this correctly requires discipline everywhere identity is shown, not just in the obvious places: an avatar tooltip, a hover card, an export, or an admin view that leaks the real identity behind a pseudonym undoes the entire guarantee in one spot. A single leak point is treated as a privacy bug, not a minor inconsistency.
Pseudonymity, in the product
When a workspace is in Sensitive Community Mode, or a profile is individually marked pseudonymous, aanty renders the pseudonymous overlay identity everywhere and never surfaces primary email or cross-workspace identity — a UI discipline treated as a binding rule, since one leak point (an avatar tooltip, an export) would undo the guarantee.
Related terms and pages
See Pseudonymity in a real workspace
Bring a channel from wherever your team works today. In fifteen minutes we'll show what pseudonymity looks like on a real conversation, not a slide.