diff --git a/public/src/modules/helpers.common.js b/public/src/modules/helpers.common.js
index c5533cf56b..742d1a3c16 100644
--- a/public/src/modules/helpers.common.js
+++ b/public/src/modules/helpers.common.js
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ module.exports = function (utils, Benchpress, relative_path) {
 		userAgentIcons,
 		buildAvatar,
 		increment,
+		anonTrue,
 		generateWroteReplied,
 		generateRepliedTo,
 		generateWrote,
@@ -318,6 +319,12 @@ module.exports = function (utils, Benchpress, relative_path) {
 		return output;
 	}
 
+	// this help function is used inside node_modules/nodebb-theme-harmony/templates/partials/topic/post.tpl
+	// to check whether to indicate objects depending on the anonymous data field value
+	function anonTrue(anonymousVal) {
+		return anonymousVal === 'true';
+	}
+
 	function increment(value, inc) {
 		return String(value + parseInt(inc, 10));
 	}
diff --git a/src/meta/themes.js b/src/meta/themes.js
index 5113b916f2..43a82cdf4a 100644
--- a/src/meta/themes.js
+++ b/src/meta/themes.js
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ Themes.set = async (data) => {
 				// Re-set the themes path (for when NodeBB is reloaded)
 				Themes.setPath(config);
 
-				console.log('jonathan lai');
+				// console.log('jonathan lai');
 
 				await Meta.configs.setMultiple({
 					'theme:type': data.type,
diff --git a/src/posts/create.js b/src/posts/create.js
index f4dbe63939..dc4bf9e2cf 100644
--- a/src/posts/create.js
+++ b/src/posts/create.js
@@ -19,7 +19,12 @@ module.exports = function (Posts) {
 		const content = data.content.toString();
 		const timestamp = data.timestamp || Date.now();
 		const isMain = data.isMain || false;
-		const isAnon = true;
+		// const anonymous = false; // hard code anonymous to become false
+		const anonymous = true; // hard code anonymous to become true
+		// attempted to get id from the tpl but we don't know how to do it
+		// const anonymous = data.getElementById('anonymousInput').value === 'true';
+		// log anonymous field to see which variable it is
+		// console.log('get anon value:', anonymous);
 
 		if (!uid && parseInt(uid, 10) !== 0) {
 			throw new Error('[[error:invalid-uid]]');
@@ -36,7 +41,7 @@ module.exports = function (Posts) {
 			tid: tid,
 			content: content,
 			timestamp: timestamp,
-			anonymous: isAnon,
+			anonymous: anonymous, // set anonymous datafield to be anonymous value
 		};
 
 		if (data.toPid) {
diff --git a/src/posts/summary.js b/src/posts/summary.js
index 0356779d6f..b8cbd45e4c 100644
--- a/src/posts/summary.js
+++ b/src/posts/summary.js
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 'use strict';
 
 const validator = require('validator');
@@ -52,7 +51,7 @@ module.exports = function (Posts) {
 			post.isMainPost = post.topic && post.pid === post.topic.mainPid;
 			post.deleted = post.deleted === 1;
 			post.timestampISO = utils.toISOString(post.timestamp);
-			post.anonymous = post.anonymous ? post.anonymous : 'false'; // checks if anonymous is true if not then false
+			post.anonymous = post.anonymous ? post.anonymous : 'false'; // makes sure anonymous is a required field for every post, false if anonymous field is undefined
 		});
 
 		posts = posts.filter(post => tidToTopic[post.tid]);
diff --git a/src/topics/create.js b/src/topics/create.js
index f8bf75cef8..a584b47208 100644
--- a/src/topics/create.js
+++ b/src/topics/create.js
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ module.exports = function (Topics) {
 			title: data.title,
 			slug: `${tid}/${slugify(data.title) || 'topic'}`,
 			timestamp: timestamp,
-			// anonymous: data.anonPosts ? data.anonPosts : false,
 			lastposttime: 0,
 			postcount: 0,
 			viewcount: 0,
@@ -124,10 +123,10 @@ module.exports = function (Topics) {
 		postData.tid = tid;
 		postData.ip = data.req ? data.req.ip : null;
 		postData.isMain = true;
-		// postData.anonymous = data.anonPosts ? data.anonPosts : false;
 		postData = await posts.create(postData);
 		postData = await onNewPost(postData, data);
 
+
 		const [settings, topics] = await Promise.all([
 			user.getSettings(uid),
 			Topics.getTopicsByTids([postData.tid], uid),
@@ -233,7 +232,7 @@ module.exports = function (Topics) {
 			topicInfo,
 		] = await Promise.all([
 			posts.getUserInfoForPosts([postData.uid], uid),
-			Topics.getTopicFields(tid, ['tid', 'uid', 'title', 'slug', 'cid', 'postcount', 'mainPid', 'scheduled', 'tags']), // add anonymous field
+			Topics.getTopicFields(tid, ['tid', 'uid', 'title', 'slug', 'cid', 'postcount', 'mainPid', 'scheduled', 'tags']),
 			Topics.addParentPosts([postData]),
 			Topics.syncBacklinks(postData),
 			posts.parsePost(postData),