Wikipedia:Username policy

For the guidelines on user pages, see Wikipedia:User page. For the United Nations WikiProject, see Wikipedia:WikiProject United Nations.

The username policy describes accepted practices and behavior in naming and operating a user account on Wikipedia.

You may wish to create an account if you do not already have one. Creating an account provides a number of benefits; in particular, your contributions are attributed to your username. See Help:Logging in for help with logging in to an existing account.

Choosing an appropriate username

Note to username patrollers and administrators: This section is aimed at new users. It does not make recommendations about how to enforce the username policy; that section is below.

Your username is a pseudonym that will identify all of your contributions to Wikipedia. It can even be your real name, if you so choose, but you should be aware of the risks involved in editing under your real name.

Whatever name you choose, it should be a name that other contributors are comfortable with and which does not interfere with the project. A controversial name may give a bad impression to other users, and avoiding this is in your own interest.

There are four kinds of usernames that are specifically disallowed:

• Misleading usernames imply relevant, misleading things about the contributor. Misleading names include those that imply you are in a position of authority over Wikipedia, or those that impersonate other people.
• Promotional usernames are used to promote a group, company, or product on Wikipedia.
• Offensive usernames are those that offend other contributors, making harmonious editing difficult or impossible.
• Disruptive usernames include outright trolling or personal attacks, or otherwise show a clear intent to disrupt Wikipedia.

If you choose such a username, you may be blocked until you create a new username.

As part of the rule against misleading usernames, your username must not give the impression that your account has permissions which it does not have. Thus it may not contain the terms "administrator", "bureaucrat", "steward", "checkuser", "oversight", or similar terms like "admin", "sysop" or "moderator". Your name also must not end with "bot", which is used to identify bot accounts.

These criteria apply to both usernames and signatures. Remember that the purpose of your username and your signature is to identify you as a contributor. If your username or signature is unnecessarily confusing, editors may request that you change it.

Usernames that are inappropriate in another language, or that represent an inappropriate name with misspellings and substitutions, or do so indirectly or by implication, are still considered inappropriate. Ultimately, the line between acceptable and unacceptable user names is based on the opinions of other editors. If you want to seek approval for a username, you can do so by filing a request at Wikipedia:Request an account.

How your name will appear

Wikipedia usernames are case sensitive, and the first letter of every username is automatically capitalized. By default, your username appears in your signature on posts to discussion pages; for details on signatures and how to customize them, see Wikipedia:Signatures.

Your username comes with a "user page", whose title is of the form "User:Yourname", and a "user talk page" entitled "User talk:Yourname" that people will use to contact you. If your username is commonly misspelled, consider helping people by adding a redirect from the misspelled username to your actual username. (Any user page can be created by any contributor, whether an associated account exists or not.)

Real names

Use of a real name allows contributions to be more easily traced to an individual. This may make a contributor more vulnerable to issues such as harassment. You should consider the benefits and drawbacks of making substantial contributions under your real name before doing so. While it is possible to rename accounts (see Changing your username below), a record of the previous name will still exist.

Do not edit under the name of a well-known living person unless it is your real name, and you either are that well-known person or you make it clear that you are not. Such usernames may be blocked as a precaution.

If you have been blocked for using your real name, please don't take offense; we're trying to prevent somebody from impersonating you! You are welcome to use your real name, but in some cases, you will need to prove you are who you say you are. You can do this by sending an e-mail to info-en@wikimedia.org; be aware that the OTRS system that handles e-mail is operated entirely by volunteers, and an immediate reply may not be possible.

Internet addresses

Conflating your Wikipedia identity with the identity of something else on the Internet can cause problems.

E-mail addresses and URLs are not valid usernames. Plain domain names are sometimes acceptable, such as when the purpose of the domain is simply to identify you as a person, but they are inappropriate if they promote a commercial Web page. Some users choose to make usernames based on their static IP addresses, but this is not recommended.

Company/group names

Use of Wikipedia for promotion of a company or group is not permitted, and accounts that do this will be blocked. Explicitly using a name or URL of a company, group or product as your username is considered a form of promotion.

Avoid editing articles with which you may have a conflict of interest. You will need to carefully follow Wikipedia's guide to editing with a conflict of interest.

Your username should represent you. Accounts that represent an entire group or company are not permitted; see Sharing accounts below.

Non-English usernames

See also: Wikipedia:Signatures § Non-Latin

There is no requirement that usernames be in English. Furthermore, contributors are welcome to use usernames that are not spelled using the Latin alphabet, but should bear in mind that scripts of non-Latin languages (such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, Greek or Japanese) are illegible to most contributors to the English Wikipedia. To avoid confusion and aid navigation, users with such usernames are encouraged to use Latin characters in their signature.

Similar usernames

Usernames that are very similar to existing ones can only be created by administrators; if you wish to use such a username, you may request its creation at Wikipedia:Request an account. You must not use a username that could easily be confused with that of an active contributor; a username that is similar only to unused or inactive accounts should not be a problem. Special:Listusers can be used to check for such usernames. The program that checks for similarity is a bit over-sensitive -- if the user name is different enough as to prevent other people from confusing the two users, the account should be approved regardless of how active the existing account is.

If your username is similar to that of another contributor or an article, you may wish to provide some form of disambiguation, for example by adding {{thisuser}} to the top of your user page. Linking to user pages within articles is not permitted.

Dealing with inappropriate usernames

If you have encountered an inappropriate username -- in particular, a username that is misleading, promotional, offensive, or disruptive as described above, you have several different options for how to proceed. You should choose one based on the severity of the problem, and based on what resolution would be the best for Wikipedia. Use common sense in making your choice, and avoid biting the newbies.

Talk to the user

Many users who create new usernames have not read this policy. If you see a username that is problematic but was not obviously created in bad faith, you should make an attempt to encourage the user to create a new account with a better username. Often, the problem can be cleared up in an amicable way. If you want, you can use the {{UsernameConcern}} template for this.

Soft blocking

The "softblock" is a measure that is particular to the username policy. A softblock consists of indefinitely blocking the user, but leaving them the option of creating a new account, thereby forcing the user to choose a new username before they can edit again.

A softblock is still a block. Many users who are softblocked find it frustrating and bewildering. While a softblock leaves the user the technical ability to return with a new username, many softblocked users choose not to return. Use softblocks when it is important to prevent the user from editing any further under that username, but not appropriate to prevent them from editing altogether. Avoid placing softblocks on good faith users, who may not come back, or on obviously malicious users, who you do not even want to leave the option of coming back.

Hard blocking

A "hardblock" is an indefinite block, as described by the blocking policy. It prevents the user from editing under that account, and also prevents them from editing as an IP or creating a new account for a period of time.

Hardblocks prevent users who are blatantly abusing Wikipedia from doing so in the future. Sometimes, the username will be so inappropriate that it leaves no doubt that the user is malicious; in other cases, you may need to look at the user's contributions so far.

Request for Comment

If you are uncertain about whether a user should be blocked over their username -- for example, if you have discussed a problem with their username with them, but they refuse to change it -- you can open a Request for Comment on the username, inviting other users to discuss whether to allow or block the name. As always, consider leaving well enough alone and assume good faith when dealing with usernames that do not unambiguously step out of bounds.

Other policies

The username policy does not have to override other policies. If you find a user who is spamming or vandalizing under a bad username, for example, you should follow up using the spam or vandalism policy.

Usernames for Administrator Attention

Because only administrators can block people, if you think a username needs to be softblocked or hardblocked, you should report it at Usernames for Administrator Attention.

Except in very clear-cut cases, it is preferable that you report users to this noticeboard only when they have made at least one recent edit. This avoids spending unnecessary effort on blocking accounts that are never going to be used again, or used at all. Having at least one edit to examine also helps by providing some evidence of whether or not the user intends to edit in good faith.

If the problem is not with the username, but the fact that the username draws attention to another problem such as vandalism, it is usually better to block for the bigger problem and not the smaller one. A vandal or spammer with a confusing username, for example, should be reported to the Administrator intervention against vandalism noticeboard so they can be blocked for vandalism or spam. The username will help to clarify that they are editing disruptively.

If the username simply indicates that the user has a conflict of interest, without otherwise being an inappropriate username, report it at the Conflict of Interest Noticeboard.

Confusing usernames

Some usernames appear problematic without fitting clearly into one of the four categories. This is often the case with confusing or extremely lengthy usernames, which are highly discouraged but which are not so inappropriate on their own that they require an immediate block.

Confusing usernames can often be a red flag for other problems. An editor with a confusing username or signature may be blocked sooner than usual for other policy violations such as disruption or vandalism, if their confusing username contributes to the disruption. As with all other blocks, admins should use their discretion and common sense.

Blocking guidelines for administrators

To place a softblock, ensure that the "Autoblock any IP addresses used" and "Prevent account creation" boxes are unchecked on the block screen. To place a hardblock, ensure that those boxes are checked.

Both softblocks and hardblocks for inappropiate usernames should have an expiration time of "indefinite".

Usernames are usually not blocked solely for being confusing, but in the uncommon case that an otherwise good-faith contributor deliberately ignores requests to change their username, and goes on using a name that other editors agree is too confusing, then that username may be blocked to prevent further disruption. (This is a controversial practice.)

After blocking, you should notify the user by substituting an appropriate template on their talk page, such as {{UsernameBlocked}}, {{UsernameHardBlocked}}, or {{spamusername}}.

Changing your username

Usernames can be changed by bureaucrats; requests should be made at Wikipedia:Changing username. User accounts with few or no edits will not normally be renamed, as it is quicker and easier to simply create a new account.

Once a username has been changed, existing contributions will be listed under the new name in page histories, diffs, logs, and user contributions. Signatures on discussion pages will continue to use the old name; while these can be changed manually, it is not recommended unless a contributor wishes to remove as much information as possible about their previous name for privacy reasons. In such situations the old name will still be available in old versions of discussion pages. Username changes are listed in the user rename log.

Deleting your account

It is not possible to delete user accounts. One reason for this is the need for all contributions to be assigned to some identifier; either a username or, in the case of anonymous contributions, an IP address. However, you may request that your user page and user talk page be deleted, as explained at Wikipedia:User page, and have your account renamed as described above.

Sharing accounts

User accounts must only represent individuals. Sharing an account – or the password to an account – with others is not permitted, and doing so will result in the account being blocked.

Exceptions to this rule are limited to accounts that directly represent the Wikimedia Foundation or internal Wikipedia committees, though none are currently active, and bot accounts that are maintained by more than one contributor, provided the existence of such an arrangement is made clear and has consensus.

Using multiple accounts

Main page: Wikipedia:Sockpuppetry

It is recommended that contributors do not use multiple accounts without good reason. For example, a user may wish to create an alternate account for use on public computers as a precaution to keep their primary account more secure. Contributors operating any sort of automated editing process should do so under an alternative bot account. It is recommended that multiple accounts be identified as such on their user pages; templates such as {{User Alternate Acct}} may be used for this purpose.

Use of multiple accounts to alter the apparent weight of an opinion is known as sock puppetry, and is not permitted. For example, multiple accounts may not be used to comment on proposals or requests, cast votes, or engage in edit warring.

Policies apply to individuals, not accounts. Using a second account for policy violations will cause any penalties to be applied to both accounts. Blocked or banned users must not use sock puppets to circumvent a block; doing so will result in an extension of the block or ban.

See also

• Wikipedia:User page
• Help:Logging in
• Wikipedia:Changing username
• Wikipedia:Sock puppetry
• Wikipedia:Usernames for administrator attention
• Wikipedia:Requests for comment/User names