Have you seen the Ask me Anything (AMA) segment on popular sites like Reddit, Tumblr, Quora, etc? Recently, a user asked if it was possible to add it in WordPress. AMA allows users to ask you questions anonymously and then you can answer those questions. In this article, we will show you how to add ask me anything (AMA) anonymously in WordPress.

What is Ask Me Anything Anonymously?

Popular sites like Reddit and Quora occasionally host famous personalities to their websites to answer questions submitted by their users. Users on Reddit can also host their own Ask me Anything forums.

Tumblr also has a similar feature which allows blog owners to receive questions from their users.

Both Quora and Tumblr provide an option for users to ask questions anonymously. The anonymity helps users who don’t want to reveal their identity when asking a question.

On your WordPress site, you can simply add a post or page where users can ask you questions in comments. While users can use fake names to post anonymous questions, it’s not encouraging for many users.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how you can add an ‘Ask me anything anonymously’ feature in WordPress.

Adding Ask Me Anything Anonymously Feature in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Ask Me Anything (Anonymously) plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Tools » Ask me anything page to generate the shortcode.

The plugin allows you to display ask me anything feature on post/page or in a widget. You will need to create a post/page with Ask me Anything shortcode, even if you decide to show it in a sidebar widget.

Basically, the plugin uses WordPress comments for questions and answers, and all WordPress comments need to be associated with a post type.

Once you have created a post or a page with the shortcode, then you can configure the plugin options.

When you visit the post or page, you will see the Ask me Anything feature nicely displayed there.

Adding Ask Me Anything in Sidebar Widget

First you will need to create a WordPress post or page with the Ask me Anything shortcode inside it. Note the post or page ID, as you will need it in the next step.

After that you need to visit Tools » Ask me anything and select sidebar widget for location. The plugin will switch its options for the sidebar widget. Now you need to enter your post or page ID.

Once you are satisfied with the options, then copy the shortcode and paste it in a Sidebar text widget.

You can do this by going to Appearance » Widgets page and adding a text widget to your sidebar from the list of available widgets.

Next, paste the shortcode inside the widget area and click on the save button to store your changes.

You can now visit your website to see the plugin in action.

Answering and Moderating Questions

User questions are stored in your WordPress database as comments. You can simply visit Comments page to see them.

You can answer a question by simply clicking on the reply link below the question. You can delete a question if you don’t want it to appear on your website.

All questions will appear anonymously on your website. Approved questions and your answers to them will appear below the AMA form.

That’s all, we hope this article helped you add Ask me Anything anonymously feature to your WordPress site.