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July 15, 2025 41 mins

In this episode, we’re hearing from Anonymously Anxious About Anonymity. Our letter today deals with a community builder who has seen firsthand how opening a community to anonymous posts can go downhill fast, and wants to know if it's possible to do so without that outcome.

To better help Anonymously Anxious, Amanda Northcutt, the CEO of Level Up Creators, as my guest expert. She is a six-time executive with over 20 years of experience in building and optimizing recurring revenue businesses. She is brilliant (.25 speed is encouraged for this episode, we won’t judge!) and has seen it all in the community spaces.

So, tune in for how to leverage anonymity as an asset in your community and where challenges might show up, how to effectively gamify your community, and the essential ingredients for creating a high-ticket community.

In this episode:

(03:50) The communitea: Anxiously Anonymous About Anonymity’s letter

(04:33) Amanda's experience with TexAgs, an anonymous discussion forum

(07:00) Cases where allowing anonymous posts can work, and what to consider

(09:55) The value of having members opt into anonymity

(11:50) What you need to have in place to stop your community from spiraling into chaos

(14:09) How to handle negative feedback and prepare your community for doing it right

(18:20) Badging and the power of gamification in community

(20:48) The importance of experimenting before fully implementing

(23:53) The role of gamification in habit formation

(27:52) The different moderation needs of low and high-ticket communities

(32:25) The essential ingredients for building a high-ticket community

(39:12) When in doubt in business, test


Resources Mentioned:

🎧 Go down the moderation rabbit trail next, listen to Dear Bri Episode 7 with Andrea Middleton, Community Empowerment Leader at Reddit.

❤️ Sign up for Heartbeat. Bri’s recommended all-in-one community platform.

💛 Join Ember. The place for go-getter community creators building community-powered businesses.


Amanda Northcutt

🖥️ Website

📱 LinkedIn

🎙️Podcast


Bri Leever

🖥️ Website

📩 Newsletter

📹 Youtube

📱LinkedIn


Want your story to be next? Submit an anonymous letter about your community conundrum, fiasco, drama, or other dilemma here.

*Dear Bri is produced by Ideablossoms.


Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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