Patent ID: 8590029

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system, for managing access authorization to a communication forum, the method comprising: generating, by a server application in the data processing system, a user member list identifying a plurality of users authorized to access a communication forum, wherein a token distributor generates a token for each user in the user member list to form a token list without storing an association between the token and the user, wherein a number of tokens generated by the token distributor matches a number of users in the user member list; responsive to receiving, from a given user, a token from the token list, registering, by the server application, the given user as being authorized to access the communication forum, wherein registering the given user comprises generating a registration entry for the given user in a registry, wherein the registration entry stores an anonymous identity in association with the token; responsive to an instruction to ban an offending user, setting, by the server application, a ban flag in association with a token for the offending user in the registry; receiving, by the server application, a request for access from a requesting user, wherein the request for access comprises a given anonymous identity; and denying, by the server application, the request for access responsive to the given anonymous identity of the request for access matching a banned registration entry in the registry.