Reasons to create an account
Creating an account
is fast, easy, and completely free of charge. You don't need to be registered to contribute, but registering and using an account on
Wikipedia
to contribute provides many benefits, including the ability to:
Once you have had an account
for 4 days and made 10 edits
, you can:
And once you have had an account for
30 days, and have made more than 500 edits
, you can:
Summary of benefits
Username and privacy
When you
create an account
, you can pick a
user name
provided it is available and unique.
Edits you make while logged in will be associated to the username of your account instead of your IP address.
You will have your own permanent
user page
where you can write a bit about yourself. While
Wikipedia is not a homepage provider
, you can use this to display a few
free
pictures, write about your hobbies, etc. Many users use their user page to maintain a list of the articles they are most proud of, or to list other valuable information they've collected from Wikipedia.
You will also have a permanent
user talk page
that you can use to communicate with other users. You will be notified whenever someone writes a message on your talk page. If you choose to provide an email address with your account, other users will be able to contact you by e-mail if you choose. This feature is
anonymous
; the user who emails you will not know your email address unless you respond to them using your email address.
You are less identifiable logged in than you are as an unregistered editor, owing to the hiding of your IP address (so long as you avoid disclosing identifiable information on your user page). You might want to consider privacy and the possibility of offline harassment when deciding what to say on your user page.
Reputation, communication, and more successful edits
Having an account gives you a fixed Wikipedia identity that other users will recognize. While we welcome contributions from unregistered editors, logging in under a user name lets you build trust and respect through a history of good edits, and makes it easier for veteran users to
assume good faith
, communicate and collaborate. Having a good name (or a pseudonym to protect your identity) promotes more responsible editing, and more
civil discourse
.
Sometimes new or unregistered users are prevented from editing pages that are common targets of
vandalism
(just as
this page is protected
, and only users with an account can edit it). Also,
bots
can mistake even good-faith IP address edits for vandalism. For these reasons, edits under a user name tend to be more successful.
Having an account is a must for many processes in Wikipedia, such as
voting for administrators
or
bureaucrats
. As your reputation builds, it is possible to earn privileges such as
rollback
,
sysop/administrator
, and
others
. It is not possible for an unregistered editor to be granted these privileges.
Your user name may also receive recognition for good work such as
Barnstars
,
Project Awards
,
Personal User Awards
, or nomination for voted accolades like
Editor of the Week
. You need a fixed account identity to accumulate these pats on the back; they are not awarded to IP addresses.
User preferences
As a registered user, you can customize the way pages are displayed by altering your
preferences
. There, in the
Appearance
tab, you can change the following display settings:
- Under
Skin
: various options as to the appearance of the website
- Under
Math
: how mathematical formulas are displayed
- Under
Files
: how large image thumbnails should be
And various editing preferences:
- How your username signature appears on talk pages
- How pages should be displayed in recent changes
- and many others
Open research
People who have Wikipedia accounts can gain access to the vital reliable sources via
The Wikipedia Library
.
Blocked?
Shared
IP addresses
such as school and enterprise networks or
proxy servers
are frequently blocked for
vandalism
which, unfortunately, may also affect innocent editors on the same network. However, registered users in good standing can
request
existing blocks on their IP address be modified to affect only unregistered editors so that they can continue contributing to Wikipedia. If you are currently blocked from creating an account, we suggest you do one of the following:
See the
Blocking policy
for details.
To create an account, click on the "Create an account now" link and fill out the required fields. This will be
logged
, and your account will be created.
See also
- Related Wikipedia information pages