This help page needs to be updated. The reason given is: this manual may contain out of date images. Please help update this help page to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (February 2020) |
You can edit Wikipedia articles to your heart's content—for the rest of your life even—without ever registering with Wikipedia. But the sooner you register (that is, get a user name), the sooner you'll have the benefits of a user account—like being able to create entirely new articles and to monitor changes to articles. A user account costs nothing, and you don't even have to provide any personal information. In fact, having an account actually protects your privacy better than editing anonymously, since you don't give away an IP address any more.
In this chapter, you'll learn more about the perks of a user account, get some suggestions on picking a user name, and find out about the personal user pages you can set up after you register.
If you sometimes feel as if every Web site, product manufacturer, and service provider wants you to register, you may be right—when you give someone your name, address, phone number, and so on, you're potentially opening yourself to junk mail, intrusive phone calls, and even the (small) possibility of identity theft. Registering with Wikipedia isn't like that at all. When you register, you don't provide any personal information except (optionally) your email address. It takes only a minute or two to get a Wikipedia user account, and it has many advantages. As you can see by the graph in Figure 3-1, you have plenty of company.
You can do a number of things as a registered (logged in) editor that anonymous IP users can't. With a registered account, you can:
Not only are there benefits to having a registered account, there are disadvantages to not creating one. If you make an edit without registering (or without logging in, if you've registered), Wikipedia records the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer from which you made the edit—for example, 202.83.118.28—as your user name. And that IP address is the source of all the problems.
Ironically, that cryptic Internet address number provides you with less privacy than a registered user name. Anyone who sees your IP on Wikipedia might use a WHOIS search or other commonly available Web tools to trace it. Depending on your connection, the search may be able to trace your IP address to either your Internet service provider (ISP), or even to your school, place of business, or home. So, for example, if you edit Wikipedia from work without a login, you're leaving a permanent and public record of exactly when your particular computer was used to edit exactly which page in Wikipedia, and exactly what changes were made (presumably by you).
By contrast, when you register for an account, you don't have to provide an email address or any other personal information. Your account name can be a pseudonym—most are—and although Wikipedia's servers still record the IP address from which you edit, that address stays private, available only to a few people. All of Wikipedia's public records and pages show only your user name. If you want more privacy, register for an account.
Depending on exactly what process you use to connect to the Internet, you may get a new IP address every time you connect. Other editors can't communicate with you via your user talk page (see the section about user talk pages), and you can't build a reputation for constructive edits (because your edit history will be scattered across dozens or hundreds of different IP accounts).
Similarly, if you ever edit via a public Wi-Fi connection, a library computer, a second computer, or a smartphone, then your identity on Wikipedia will also become spread across multiple IP addresses over time.
A third problem is that your IP address may be blocked. It could be blocked because another person who did extensive vandalizing previously used it. Or an entire network (a high school, for example) may be blocked from doing editing. If you have your own user name, blocking IP addresses doesn't affect you.* By contrast, without an account, an IP block could prevent you from doing any editing at all.
Finally, most regulars at Wikipedia tend to associate anonymous IP editing with vandalism. Roughly a quarter of all anonymous IP edits are considered unconstructive, and reversed by another editor. If you edit using a registered user name, other editors are more likely to assume good faith as they examine your edits for potential problems.
* On rare occasions, you might be blocked from editing even with an account. In that case, email unblock-en-llists.wikimedia.org with your message and someone will review it.
The English version of Wikipedia (which this book is about) is far from the only planet in the Wikimedia Foundation universe. As discussed in the Introduction, there are versions of Wikipedia in other languages, plus other Foundation projects (Wiktionary, Wikisource, and so on), again in a variety of languages.
With the single user login feature, you need to register in only one place (for example, the English version of Wikipedia). You can then use the same user name and password across all Wikimedia sites.
Be prepared: Before you follow the steps in the next section to create your account, have a user name (or at least a couple of ideas) all picked out and ready to go. You may get your best ideas away from the computer screen. Read this section, then take a walk, carry a notepad, or go wherever you do your best thinking. When you come back, the registration process will go much faster.
Why spend so much time thinking about your user name? There are approximately 47 million registered accounts at Wikipedia. So your chances of getting an easily remembered user name of (say) six characters or less are fairly low. You could use your real name. If you don't want to do that, you should understand what types of user names are not acceptable (see the section "What isn't allowed", below), and then you might want to look at some pages on Wikipedia (see below) for ideas.
You can use your own name as the name of your Wikipedia account, assuming no one else with the same name has done so already. You won't be the only editor using a real name, but you'll certainly be part of a small minority of editors.
A real name makes it easier for you to remember your account name, and may encourage you to keep your edits polite and balanced. On the other hand, a pseudonym may make it easier for you to edit controversial topics. You should use a pseudonym if you don't necessarily want your friends and colleagues to see your name on Wikipedia.
Pseudonyms have no disadvantages. You'll probably want to use your real name only if it's important to you that the world knows that you are editing Wikipedia.
If you were planning to build a custom home, you'd walk through model homes to get ideas. Similarly, you may get a good idea for a user name by looking at others' user names. Here's how to browse for user names:
Wikipedia doesn't allow user names that are confusing, misleading, disruptive, promotional or offensive. Nor does it let more than one person use an account. Accounts used by two or more people in a household, an organization, or your local book club, are against the rules. You can set up such accounts, but if Wikipedia's administrators find out, they'll block that account.
If you want, you can read all the specific reasons for rejecting user names at the Wikipedia:Username policy page (type WP:UN into the search box). But assuming you're well intentioned, the best thing to do is simply to pick a user name and see what happens. If Wikipedia's administrators consider your chosen user name egregiously improper, they'll block that particular account, and you'll have to pick another name. If the user name you pick is considered borderline, you'll get a message on your user talk page (see the section "Setting up your user page") asking you to choose a new one.
Now that you're well informed about why you want to create an account, and have some thoughts about your user name, it's time to register. Here are the steps:
1. When you don't have an account, or aren't logged in, you see at the upper right of every Wikipedia page (that is, every page on en.wikipedia.org), a link to "Create account". Click that link. You'll see something like Figure 3-3
2. Type your proposed user name.
3. Type your password.
4. Type the email address you want to associate with your Wikipedia account.
5. Type the words that appear in the image, and then click "Create account".
Once you see the "Login successful" screen, you see, in the screen's upper right corner, six links (Figure 3-4).
One benefit of registering is that you have your own personal page in Wikipedia—your user page. You also can create additional pages (called user subpages) for things like drafts of articles, lists of helpful pages, and so on. Editors don't have to have a main user page, but the rest of this book assumes that you have one. For example, Chapter 4: Creating a new article has you work in a subpage of your user page (see the section about personal subpages), as opposed to using the common Sandbox, as you did in the tutorials in Chapter 1: Editing for the first time and Chapter 2: Documenting your sources.
You can use your user page for anything that you find helpful as an editor, including:
In addition, it's okay to post some information about yourself that might be helpful to other editors—for example, that you have specific language skills. You don't want to post information such as your home address, phone number, email address, or your age (especially if you're a minor), because you don't know who's going to read the posting, or what they might do with it. Furthermore, posting personal information can be considered disruptive, if your intent is clearly to start a social interaction with other editors (if your user page resembles a page on Facebook.com, for example).
The easiest way to get a sense of the possibilities of your user page is to click the names of other editors, which will take you to their user pages. You'll find a wide variety of user pages, some minimal or utilitarian, some clearly reflecting the personality of the editor. You can find names of other, established editors in many places, including:
Many editors aren't aware of a very important policy page about what Wikipedia is not. To distinguish yourself from the unedified, in the search box, type WP:NOT. This sentence is particularly relevant to user pages: "Wikipedia is not a blog, web hosting service, social networking service, or memorial site."
The Wikipedia community understands that it's normal and acceptable for there to be some social aspects of being a Wikipedia editor, as discussed in Part II: Collaborating with other editors. But editors who make the social aspects of Wikipedia their main priority, showing no particular interest in editing articles, will inevitably be asked to move on to the many other websites designed for broadcasting personal views or socially interacting with others.
Now, the bad news. An improper user page kicks off the standard process for dealing with problem editors: An editor who violates the policy gets a warning; another editor may even help by removing content. If the editor with the improper user page doesn't agree that a problem exists, an administrator removes the offending content. If the editor insists on putting that content back, they lose editing rights to their own user page, or altogether. In short, Wikipedia's purpose is to write the world's biggest and best encyclopedia. Those who want to do something else should read the page Wikipedia:Alternative outlets (shortcut: WP:OUT).
As noted above, once you've created an account, there's a red link to your user page at the top of the screen (it's the link that shows the actual name of the new account).
1. Click the red link for your user name (upper right).
2. Click either the "edit this page" tab or on the link that begins "Start the User:".
3. In the edit box, add some text.
4. After you've entered whatever text you want, tab to the "Summary" box. Add a brief edit summary, and then click the "Publish changes" button.
The link to your user page, at the top of the screen (the link that says your user name) should now be blue. If it's still red, refresh your Web browser (pressing Ctrl+R [⌘-R] does the trick in most browsers).
Userboxes are small colored boxes that editors can add to their user pages. As shown in Figure 3-8, userboxes can provide information about language skills, interests, profession, location, and so on. Userboxes are a slightly more advanced technique because they're templates, which you first read about in the section about templates.
When you're ready to add userboxes to your page, you'll find all the information you need about the design, construction, and usage of userboxes on the Wikipedia:Userboxes page (into the search box, type the shortcut WP:UBX). Many userboxes, after being added, also put a category at the bottom of the user page. You can click on that category to see other Wikipedians who have the same userbox.
As shown in Figure 3-4, once you're registered and logged on, Wikipedia shows, in the screen's upper right, a link to your personal page (click your user name). There's also a link to your user talk page (click "my talk"), which is described in detail in Chapter 8. This page is for other editors to talk to you. These two standard links are in red if not yet created, or in blue, if they exist.
You're not limited to one personal page in Wikipedia (or two, if you count the user talk page, but that's really a discussion page, not a page for you to play with). You can create additional personal pages if you want. In Wikipedia, these additional pages are called subpages.
This help page needs to be updated. The reason given is: There is now a "Sandbox" link at the top of every page. This section should suggest using it, with the standard name "User:Xxx/sandbox". Please help update this help page to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (February 2020) |
In Chapter 1: Editing for the first time, while editing the common sandbox, you might have seen the problem of an edit conflict (see the section about edit conflicts). Creating your own page to practice at—that is, your own sandbox—takes care of the edit conflict problem. You also don't see any of the standard warnings or hidden text that come with the common sandbox. Plus it's good practice for creating other personal subpages that you may later decide you need.
1. In the screen's upper right corner, click your user name.
2. Click "edit this page".
3. In the edit box, enter the text that'll become a link to the subpage you're going to create.
4. Tab to the "Summary" box. Add a brief edit summary, and then click the "Publish changes" button.
5. Click the red link to the new subpage you want to create.
You can always get back to it in two steps:
1. Click your user name (upper-right part of the screen, whenever you're logged in) to go to your user page.
2. Click the link that you added to your user page.
If you create a user subpage and later decide you don't want it, you can't delete it yourself because you're not an administrator. If you want it deleted, just post {{ db-userreq}} on the subpage. That creates a notification to the Wikipedia administrators that you'd like one of them to delete the page.
This help page needs to be updated. The reason given is: this manual may contain out of date images. Please help update this help page to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (February 2020) |
You can edit Wikipedia articles to your heart's content—for the rest of your life even—without ever registering with Wikipedia. But the sooner you register (that is, get a user name), the sooner you'll have the benefits of a user account—like being able to create entirely new articles and to monitor changes to articles. A user account costs nothing, and you don't even have to provide any personal information. In fact, having an account actually protects your privacy better than editing anonymously, since you don't give away an IP address any more.
In this chapter, you'll learn more about the perks of a user account, get some suggestions on picking a user name, and find out about the personal user pages you can set up after you register.
If you sometimes feel as if every Web site, product manufacturer, and service provider wants you to register, you may be right—when you give someone your name, address, phone number, and so on, you're potentially opening yourself to junk mail, intrusive phone calls, and even the (small) possibility of identity theft. Registering with Wikipedia isn't like that at all. When you register, you don't provide any personal information except (optionally) your email address. It takes only a minute or two to get a Wikipedia user account, and it has many advantages. As you can see by the graph in Figure 3-1, you have plenty of company.
You can do a number of things as a registered (logged in) editor that anonymous IP users can't. With a registered account, you can:
Not only are there benefits to having a registered account, there are disadvantages to not creating one. If you make an edit without registering (or without logging in, if you've registered), Wikipedia records the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer from which you made the edit—for example, 202.83.118.28—as your user name. And that IP address is the source of all the problems.
Ironically, that cryptic Internet address number provides you with less privacy than a registered user name. Anyone who sees your IP on Wikipedia might use a WHOIS search or other commonly available Web tools to trace it. Depending on your connection, the search may be able to trace your IP address to either your Internet service provider (ISP), or even to your school, place of business, or home. So, for example, if you edit Wikipedia from work without a login, you're leaving a permanent and public record of exactly when your particular computer was used to edit exactly which page in Wikipedia, and exactly what changes were made (presumably by you).
By contrast, when you register for an account, you don't have to provide an email address or any other personal information. Your account name can be a pseudonym—most are—and although Wikipedia's servers still record the IP address from which you edit, that address stays private, available only to a few people. All of Wikipedia's public records and pages show only your user name. If you want more privacy, register for an account.
Depending on exactly what process you use to connect to the Internet, you may get a new IP address every time you connect. Other editors can't communicate with you via your user talk page (see the section about user talk pages), and you can't build a reputation for constructive edits (because your edit history will be scattered across dozens or hundreds of different IP accounts).
Similarly, if you ever edit via a public Wi-Fi connection, a library computer, a second computer, or a smartphone, then your identity on Wikipedia will also become spread across multiple IP addresses over time.
A third problem is that your IP address may be blocked. It could be blocked because another person who did extensive vandalizing previously used it. Or an entire network (a high school, for example) may be blocked from doing editing. If you have your own user name, blocking IP addresses doesn't affect you.* By contrast, without an account, an IP block could prevent you from doing any editing at all.
Finally, most regulars at Wikipedia tend to associate anonymous IP editing with vandalism. Roughly a quarter of all anonymous IP edits are considered unconstructive, and reversed by another editor. If you edit using a registered user name, other editors are more likely to assume good faith as they examine your edits for potential problems.
* On rare occasions, you might be blocked from editing even with an account. In that case, email unblock-en-llists.wikimedia.org with your message and someone will review it.
The English version of Wikipedia (which this book is about) is far from the only planet in the Wikimedia Foundation universe. As discussed in the Introduction, there are versions of Wikipedia in other languages, plus other Foundation projects (Wiktionary, Wikisource, and so on), again in a variety of languages.
With the single user login feature, you need to register in only one place (for example, the English version of Wikipedia). You can then use the same user name and password across all Wikimedia sites.
Be prepared: Before you follow the steps in the next section to create your account, have a user name (or at least a couple of ideas) all picked out and ready to go. You may get your best ideas away from the computer screen. Read this section, then take a walk, carry a notepad, or go wherever you do your best thinking. When you come back, the registration process will go much faster.
Why spend so much time thinking about your user name? There are approximately 47 million registered accounts at Wikipedia. So your chances of getting an easily remembered user name of (say) six characters or less are fairly low. You could use your real name. If you don't want to do that, you should understand what types of user names are not acceptable (see the section "What isn't allowed", below), and then you might want to look at some pages on Wikipedia (see below) for ideas.
You can use your own name as the name of your Wikipedia account, assuming no one else with the same name has done so already. You won't be the only editor using a real name, but you'll certainly be part of a small minority of editors.
A real name makes it easier for you to remember your account name, and may encourage you to keep your edits polite and balanced. On the other hand, a pseudonym may make it easier for you to edit controversial topics. You should use a pseudonym if you don't necessarily want your friends and colleagues to see your name on Wikipedia.
Pseudonyms have no disadvantages. You'll probably want to use your real name only if it's important to you that the world knows that you are editing Wikipedia.
If you were planning to build a custom home, you'd walk through model homes to get ideas. Similarly, you may get a good idea for a user name by looking at others' user names. Here's how to browse for user names:
Wikipedia doesn't allow user names that are confusing, misleading, disruptive, promotional or offensive. Nor does it let more than one person use an account. Accounts used by two or more people in a household, an organization, or your local book club, are against the rules. You can set up such accounts, but if Wikipedia's administrators find out, they'll block that account.
If you want, you can read all the specific reasons for rejecting user names at the Wikipedia:Username policy page (type WP:UN into the search box). But assuming you're well intentioned, the best thing to do is simply to pick a user name and see what happens. If Wikipedia's administrators consider your chosen user name egregiously improper, they'll block that particular account, and you'll have to pick another name. If the user name you pick is considered borderline, you'll get a message on your user talk page (see the section "Setting up your user page") asking you to choose a new one.
Now that you're well informed about why you want to create an account, and have some thoughts about your user name, it's time to register. Here are the steps:
1. When you don't have an account, or aren't logged in, you see at the upper right of every Wikipedia page (that is, every page on en.wikipedia.org), a link to "Create account". Click that link. You'll see something like Figure 3-3
2. Type your proposed user name.
3. Type your password.
4. Type the email address you want to associate with your Wikipedia account.
5. Type the words that appear in the image, and then click "Create account".
Once you see the "Login successful" screen, you see, in the screen's upper right corner, six links (Figure 3-4).
One benefit of registering is that you have your own personal page in Wikipedia—your user page. You also can create additional pages (called user subpages) for things like drafts of articles, lists of helpful pages, and so on. Editors don't have to have a main user page, but the rest of this book assumes that you have one. For example, Chapter 4: Creating a new article has you work in a subpage of your user page (see the section about personal subpages), as opposed to using the common Sandbox, as you did in the tutorials in Chapter 1: Editing for the first time and Chapter 2: Documenting your sources.
You can use your user page for anything that you find helpful as an editor, including:
In addition, it's okay to post some information about yourself that might be helpful to other editors—for example, that you have specific language skills. You don't want to post information such as your home address, phone number, email address, or your age (especially if you're a minor), because you don't know who's going to read the posting, or what they might do with it. Furthermore, posting personal information can be considered disruptive, if your intent is clearly to start a social interaction with other editors (if your user page resembles a page on Facebook.com, for example).
The easiest way to get a sense of the possibilities of your user page is to click the names of other editors, which will take you to their user pages. You'll find a wide variety of user pages, some minimal or utilitarian, some clearly reflecting the personality of the editor. You can find names of other, established editors in many places, including:
Many editors aren't aware of a very important policy page about what Wikipedia is not. To distinguish yourself from the unedified, in the search box, type WP:NOT. This sentence is particularly relevant to user pages: "Wikipedia is not a blog, web hosting service, social networking service, or memorial site."
The Wikipedia community understands that it's normal and acceptable for there to be some social aspects of being a Wikipedia editor, as discussed in Part II: Collaborating with other editors. But editors who make the social aspects of Wikipedia their main priority, showing no particular interest in editing articles, will inevitably be asked to move on to the many other websites designed for broadcasting personal views or socially interacting with others.
Now, the bad news. An improper user page kicks off the standard process for dealing with problem editors: An editor who violates the policy gets a warning; another editor may even help by removing content. If the editor with the improper user page doesn't agree that a problem exists, an administrator removes the offending content. If the editor insists on putting that content back, they lose editing rights to their own user page, or altogether. In short, Wikipedia's purpose is to write the world's biggest and best encyclopedia. Those who want to do something else should read the page Wikipedia:Alternative outlets (shortcut: WP:OUT).
As noted above, once you've created an account, there's a red link to your user page at the top of the screen (it's the link that shows the actual name of the new account).
1. Click the red link for your user name (upper right).
2. Click either the "edit this page" tab or on the link that begins "Start the User:".
3. In the edit box, add some text.
4. After you've entered whatever text you want, tab to the "Summary" box. Add a brief edit summary, and then click the "Publish changes" button.
The link to your user page, at the top of the screen (the link that says your user name) should now be blue. If it's still red, refresh your Web browser (pressing Ctrl+R [⌘-R] does the trick in most browsers).
Userboxes are small colored boxes that editors can add to their user pages. As shown in Figure 3-8, userboxes can provide information about language skills, interests, profession, location, and so on. Userboxes are a slightly more advanced technique because they're templates, which you first read about in the section about templates.
When you're ready to add userboxes to your page, you'll find all the information you need about the design, construction, and usage of userboxes on the Wikipedia:Userboxes page (into the search box, type the shortcut WP:UBX). Many userboxes, after being added, also put a category at the bottom of the user page. You can click on that category to see other Wikipedians who have the same userbox.
As shown in Figure 3-4, once you're registered and logged on, Wikipedia shows, in the screen's upper right, a link to your personal page (click your user name). There's also a link to your user talk page (click "my talk"), which is described in detail in Chapter 8. This page is for other editors to talk to you. These two standard links are in red if not yet created, or in blue, if they exist.
You're not limited to one personal page in Wikipedia (or two, if you count the user talk page, but that's really a discussion page, not a page for you to play with). You can create additional personal pages if you want. In Wikipedia, these additional pages are called subpages.
This help page needs to be updated. The reason given is: There is now a "Sandbox" link at the top of every page. This section should suggest using it, with the standard name "User:Xxx/sandbox". Please help update this help page to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (February 2020) |
In Chapter 1: Editing for the first time, while editing the common sandbox, you might have seen the problem of an edit conflict (see the section about edit conflicts). Creating your own page to practice at—that is, your own sandbox—takes care of the edit conflict problem. You also don't see any of the standard warnings or hidden text that come with the common sandbox. Plus it's good practice for creating other personal subpages that you may later decide you need.
1. In the screen's upper right corner, click your user name.
2. Click "edit this page".
3. In the edit box, enter the text that'll become a link to the subpage you're going to create.
4. Tab to the "Summary" box. Add a brief edit summary, and then click the "Publish changes" button.
5. Click the red link to the new subpage you want to create.
You can always get back to it in two steps:
1. Click your user name (upper-right part of the screen, whenever you're logged in) to go to your user page.
2. Click the link that you added to your user page.
If you create a user subpage and later decide you don't want it, you can't delete it yourself because you're not an administrator. If you want it deleted, just post {{ db-userreq}} on the subpage. That creates a notification to the Wikipedia administrators that you'd like one of them to delete the page.