Wikipedia:Writing Wikipedia Articles course/Create an account

This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference.
It was a course on how to write a Wikipedia article that last ran in 2017.


	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	Can get full credit in the "real world" for her work.^[1] "Outing" is not an issue.^[2] Those searching the web for her name may find her Wikipedia user page.^[3] If diligent, she can manage any conflicts of interest (COI) responsibly.^[4]	Can get full credit in the "real world" for his work.^[1] "Outing" is not an issue.^[2] Those searching the web for his username may find his Wikipedia user page.^[3] If diligent, he can manage any COI responsibly.^[4]	She can get credit (as her online handle) for her work.^[1] She can share as much or as little as she likes^[5]	Shadowy Figury 9876 can keep his work on Wikipedia compartmentalized from the rest of his life.^[6]	555.555.555.555 can keep his work on Wikipedia entirely compartmentalized.^[6] 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	It's hard for her to compartmentalize her Wikipedia work.^[6]	It's hard for him to compartmentalize his Wikipedia work.^[6]	It may be difficult for Historynut1234 to take credit for her work.^[1] If another Wikipedian appreciates Historynut1234's work and wants to follow up, she might have difficulty getting in touch with her. Risk of being "outed."^[2] Hard to avoid ethical problems with COI.^[4] If she wants to take on certain positions of trust in the community, she must disclose her identity (privately) to the Wikimedia Foundation	It may be difficult for Shadowy Figury to take credit for his work.^[1] If another Wikipedian appreciates Shadowy Figury's work and wants to follow up, she might have difficulty getting in touch with him. Risk of being "outed."^[2] Very hard to avoid ethical problems with COI.^[4] If he wants to take on certain positions of trust in the community, she must disclose his identity (privately) to the Wikimedia Foundation	555.555.555.555 is less anonymous than Shadowy Figury.^[7] It is pretty much impossible for Bob to take credit for his work.^[1] If another Wikipedian appreciates 555.555.555.555's work and wants to follow up, it can be almost impossible to get in touch.^[8] 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 of being "outed."^[2] Impossible to avoid ethical problems with COI.^[4] Various aspects of the Wikipedia social order are unavailable: Bob can't volunteer to serve as an administrator; can't vote in some elections; some users may give his comments/opinions less weight.
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

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f How easy is it for colleagues, bosses, friends, and Internet followers to associate your "real life" identity with your Wikipedia work?
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Wikipedians who have tried to keep their identities hidden have, from time to time, been "outed" -- either accidentally, or maliciously.
^ ^a ^b Wikipedia articles are very heavily indexed by web search engines. If you are active on Wikipedia, when people search for your username, your Wikipedia user page will tend to come up as a result, making your Wikipedia accomplishments highly visible.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e When a Wikipedian works on content that relates strongly to his or her personal or professional life, he or she stands in a conflict of interest (COI). Dealing with a COI responsibly includes clearly disclosing one's connection to the subject. The more anonymous you choose to be, the less likely you will be able to manage the COI responsibly.
^ If you don't use your real name, you have a good deal of choice about how much personal information you do disclose. Some Wikipedians share a fair amount of information, stopping just short of revealing their names: personal & professional interests, career, city or state, etc. Of course, if you claim authoritative status (for instance, that you hold an advanced degree, have played professional sports, have traveled to Antarctica, etc., others may be skeptical in the absence of proof.)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d If your Wikipedia username is sufficiently disconnected from your name or your other online persona, it can be easier to leave any big, long-term projects on Wikipedia aside during busy times, or walk away from frustrating disputes. On occasion, your Wikipedia work might attract unwanted attention. Wikipedia attracts all kinds of people; unkind or insensitive behavior is not uncommon. An editor might be angry about your edits, and seek you out by email, Twitter, or any other means to continue the argument. Or somebody might become interested in pursuing a relationship beyond Wikipedia editing, and approach you in ways you don't consider appropriate. Your personal level of comfort and sense of safety is an important consideration.
^ Bob's IP address (which can probably be linked to his home address, work address, his Internet Service Provider, etc.) is displayed next to every edit he makes. Shadowy Figury's IP address is visible only to a small group of elected or appointed Wikipedians, trusted to handle that information responsibly.
^ If a Wikipedian chooses to enter their email address when registering, it becomes possible for others to email him or her through a form. Even if a Wikipedian has not entered an email address, it's possible to leave them a public message on their user talk page. The only way to get in touch with an IP user like Bob, though, is to leave a note on that IP address's talk page, and hope that (1) he or she doesn't share that IP address with too many other people (e.g., at a public library or a large company), and (2) that he or she comes back to Wikipedia and notices the message before his or IP address changes (which can happen for any number of reasons; in some cases IP's change automatically every few days).

[credit-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f How easy is it for colleagues, bosses, friends, and Internet followers to associate your "real life" identity with your Wikipedia work?

[outing-2] Wikipedians who have tried to keep their identities hidden have, from time to time, been "outed" -- either accidentally, or maliciously.

[SEO-3] Wikipedia articles are very heavily indexed by web search engines. If you are active on Wikipedia, when people search for your username, your Wikipedia user page will tend to come up as a result, making your Wikipedia accomplishments highly visible.

[COI-4] When a Wikipedian works on content that relates strongly to his or her personal or professional life, he or she stands in a conflict of interest (COI). Dealing with a COI responsibly includes clearly disclosing one's connection to the subject. The more anonymous you choose to be, the less likely you will be able to manage the COI responsibly.

[disclosure-5] If you don't use your real name, you have a good deal of choice about how much personal information you do disclose. Some Wikipedians share a fair amount of information, stopping just short of revealing their names: personal & professional interests, career, city or state, etc. Of course, if you claim authoritative status (for instance, that you hold an advanced degree, have played professional sports, have traveled to Antarctica, etc., others may be skeptical in the absence of proof.)

[compartmentalize-6] If your Wikipedia username is sufficiently disconnected from your name or your other online persona, it can be easier to leave any big, long-term projects on Wikipedia aside during busy times, or walk away from frustrating disputes. On occasion, your Wikipedia work might attract unwanted attention. Wikipedia attracts all kinds of people; unkind or insensitive behavior is not uncommon. An editor might be angry about your edits, and seek you out by email, Twitter, or any other means to continue the argument. Or somebody might become interested in pursuing a relationship beyond Wikipedia editing, and approach you in ways you don't consider appropriate. Your personal level of comfort and sense of safety is an important consideration.

[anon-7] Bob's IP address (which can probably be linked to his home address, work address, his Internet Service Provider, etc.) is displayed next to every edit he makes. Shadowy Figury's IP address is visible only to a small group of elected or appointed Wikipedians, trusted to handle that information responsibly.

[email-8] If a Wikipedian chooses to enter their email address when registering, it becomes possible for others to email him or her through a form. Even if a Wikipedian has not entered an email address, it's possible to leave them a public message on their user talk page. The only way to get in touch with an IP user like Bob, though, is to leave a note on that IP address's talk page, and hope that (1) he or she doesn't share that IP address with too many other people (e.g., at a public library or a large company), and (2) that he or she comes back to Wikipedia and notices the message before his or IP address changes (which can happen for any number of reasons; in some cases IP's change automatically every few days).

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