Wikipedia:Writing Wikipedia Articles course/Create an account

	Writing Wikipedia Articles: The Basics and Beyond
	a free six week course

Are you ready to create a Wikipedia account, so you can keep track of articles in a watch list, customize your reading and editing preferences, and communicate with other Wikipedia volunteers about improving articles that interest you? GREAT!

Your first big decision will be choosing a username. And you can't do that until you've considered:

"Should you be fully public about your contributions? Or anonymous? Or somewhere in between?"

If you already know what username you want, you can skip the rest -- just go create your account!

If you're unsure, well…there are reasons for going in any of these directions. Consider the following fictional "personae" and their reasons, summarized in the table below:

Personae

In order from most public to most anonymous:

• Pamela Bunster is passionate about local history. She participates in several online blogging and social media communities, and is building a reputation as an expert in environmental and transportation issues. On Wikipedian, she calls herself Pamela Bunster; and on her user page, she lists various personal and professional accomplishments, and links various online profiles.
• Jim Mickles is a lot like Pamela, but he is building a career and an online presence as a tax attorney. He doesn't mind anybody knowing who he is, but prefers not to emphasize his name. On Wikipedia, he calls himself LocalHistory9999; he puts his name on his user page along with some info about himself.
• Heather Bronson is like Jim and Pamela, but she is more private by nature. She doesn't like getting in arguments, and when they happen, she likes to be able to walk away from them easily. She has been online for a long time; her Twitter account, and her username in many online forums, is "Historynut1234." She chooses the Wikipedia username Historynut1234; her name doesn't appear anywhere on her user page, but she does link to her Twitter account.
• Anthony Robson is a very private person. He has similar interests to these others; but he likes to be prepared. For instance, maybe in the future he will be interested in something that is culturally taboo or politically unpopular, and edit relevant Wikipedia articles. He wants to be very confident that co-workers or family members won't connect those things to him. He chooses Shadowy Figury 9876 as his username. His user page has little or no information about himself or his interests; he just uses it to keep links to interesting Wikipedia pages for future reference.
• Bob Dobbs is just like Anthony, but chooses a different approach: he doesn't create a Wikipedia account at all, and edits without logging in. In the edit history, instead of a username, you will see his IP address, which looks like: 555.555.555.555

Pros & cons

	Username is real name	Real name used on user page	Username is online handle	Username is unconnected to identity	No user account created
government name	Pamela Bunster	Jim Mickles	Heather Bronson	Anthony Robson	Bob Dobbs
username	Pamela Bunster	LocalHistory9999	Historynut1234	Shadowy Figury 9876	(none; IP address appears, e.g. 555.555.555.555)
benefits	Pamela can tell colleagues, potential employers, etc. about her good work on Wikipedia, and it's easy to corroborate She never has to worry about somebody "outing" her After she has been active for a while on Wikipedia, web search results on her name start to include her Wikipedia user page; her accomplishments are highly visible If she works on articles where she might have a real or perceived conflict of interest (e.g., her employer's biography) there will be little concern that she is "sneaking around" to try to get away with something inappropriate	LocalHistory9999 can tell colleagues, potential employers, etc. about his good work on Wikipedia, and it's easy to corroborate He never has to worry about somebody "outing" him If he works on articles where he might have a real or perceived conflict of interest there will be little concern that he is "sneaking around" to try to get away with something inappropriate	Historynut1234 can continue to establish herself online as somebody with interest and knowledge about local history, and meet others through her work; for instance, collaboration around an article might lead to a Twitter conversation and a friendship She can choose to share as much or as little personal or professional information as she likes	Shadowy Figury 9876 doesn't have to worry about anybody knowing who he is, and can keep his work on Wikipedia compartmentalized from other parts of his life.	555.555.555.555 doesn't have to worry about anybody knowing who he is, and can keep his work on Wikipedia entirely compartmentalized. Edits he makes from different locations (like home vs. a coffee shop with WiFi) will not be visibly related to each other He may choose this approach for philosophical reasons, and find satisfaction in helping keep Wikipedia truly open to everyone to edit.
drawbacks	If Pamela gets in an epic fight over a trivial point on Wikipedia, a transcript may remain "forever" on Wikipedia, with few options for avoiding it showing up in web searches on her name, etc. If she attracts the anger or interest of somebody who is annoying (or even criminally obsessive), she may receive unwanted attention, advances, or threats.	If LocalHistory9999 attracts the anger or interest of somebody who is annoying (or even criminally obsessive), he may receive unwanted attention, advances, or threats.	If Historynut1234 wants to show off her good work on Wikipedia to her boss, colleagues, etc., it may be difficult to prove that she did the work If another Wikipedian appreciates Historynut1234's work and wants to follow up, she might have difficulty getting in touch with her. Risk being "outed" by somebody (either maliciously or accidentally) If working on articles where she has a WP:Conflict of Interest, ethical problems (lack of transparency) are hard to avoid	If Shadowy Figury 9876 wants to show off his good work on Wikipedia to her boss, colleagues, etc., it is difficult to prove that he did the work If another Wikipedian appreciates Shadowy Figury's work and wants to follow up, she might have difficulty getting in touch with him. Risk being "outed" by somebody (either maliciously or accidentally) If working on articles where she has a WP:Conflict of Interest, ethical problems (lack of transparency) are very hard to avoid	555.555.555.555 is actually less anonymous, in one important respect, than Shadowy Figury: his IP address (which may be linkable to his home address, work address, etc.) is displayed next to every edit he makes. If 555.555.555.555 wants to show off his good work on Wikipedia to his boss, colleagues, etc., it is impossible to prove that he did the work If another Wikipedian appreciates 555.555.555.555's work and wants to follow up, it can be almost impossible to get in touch. 555.555.555.555 does not have access to basic software features, like maintaining a watch list or adjusting preferences. 555.555.555.555 may have difficulty keeping track of his own work, and may be frustrated in the future trying to find an article he wrote. Risk being "outed" by somebody (either maliciously or accidentally) If working on articles where she has a WP:Conflict of Interest, ethical problems (lack of transparency) are impossible to avoid
second thoughts?	Revision deletion Suppression Right to vanish Change username (but history still exists and may be noted elsewhere on the WWW)	Revision deletion Suppression Right to vanish Delete real name from user page (but it still exists if a sophisticated user wants to find it)	Easy to add real name & info to user page in the future if desired Possible to adopt real name as username if desired Revision deletion & suppression might be used to mitigate if you are "outed"	Easy to add real name & info to user page in the future if desired Possible to adopt real name as username if desired Revision deletion & suppression might be used to mitigate if you are "outed"	Possible to create user account at any time 555.555.555.555's past edits will not be linked to new account