How to restrict anonymous comments for a page?

[Jochen Häberle]

I have setup a documentation section with anonymous access. Users are allowed to comment for the space, but I want to restrict that for some pages. On the restrict page, I cannot figure out how to adress the anonymous user.

Thanks!

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You can't - if you're allowing anonymous access, there's nothing for the page restrictions to "know" to restrict.  Restrictions rely on knowing who the user is.  You shouldn't use anonymous for anything other than read (especially if it's on the public internet)

[Jochen Häberle]

I don't agree. Anonymous is handled like any other group in the overall space config. I don't see a reason why this should not work the same on a page level. Just give me "anonymous" to set my page level restrictions. As well I don't see why the anonymous user should not be allowed to comment.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Ah, no, it really isn't handled like a group at all. The interface is similar, but that's the only thing in common. Anonymous is the absence of groups or even any data that identifies the user in any way. That's precisely why I'd tell you never to enable anonymous writes - you have no way of knowing who is making changes. There are a handful of cases, but in most fields of use, you REALLY don't want that. To the point where you can be arrested and jailed for deliberately not tracking changes. And certainly never on the internet - you WILL be spammed to the point of uselessness.