Difference between revisions of "Help:How to log in"

Revision as of 07:34, November 19, 2011

Go to Special:Userlogin to login to an existing account or to create a new one. An account is only needed if you want to edit. No login is required for using the index or reading any page of the wiki.

User name

Your user name will be shown in page histories and on recent changes. Please choose a user name that will not cause offense. See Wikipedia's policy on names for further guidance.

Your user page will be at a page starting with User: on whichever Wiki you are working on. You can choose to have one user page per Wiki.

This page is for you to introduce yourself, or to keep a collection of useful links to pages on the wiki. Your user page is editable by others, just like any other page on the wiki.

You will also have a talk page at a page starting with User talk:.

This is a place for other users to leave you messages. You will see a you have new messages sign on the wiki whenever you have a new message.

You can also create a limited number of user subpages. For example, you might want to keep a list of the links you find useful at [[User:Your Name/Links]]. Although this is in your namespace, this is not a private area, and is editable and viewable by any user. The wiki must not be used as though it were your homepage provider. Content should be relevant to the Wiki at which you create the page. Misuse of the user namespace may lead to the deletion of your pages.

Password

Please choose a secure password. You can choose to have the site remember this password so you do not need to login every time you edit.

Do not use words from any dictionary in your password. These are open to dictionary attacks where hackers will be able to steal your password. Do not use easy to guess personal information in your password, such as a date of birth or child's name. It is best to use a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. Do not share your password with anyone, do not write it down, and change it frequently. Your password will be stored in a hash, so is not accessible to anyone else.

Email

Entering an email address is optional, but recommended. If you forget your password, clicking the mail me a new password button is the only way to retrieve it.

An email address also allows other users to contact you privately. It lets other logged-in users email you via the wiki without you needing to disclose your email address to them. Your email will not be used for any other purposes, and will not be sold or passed on to third parties.

Real name field

The real name field on the login form is optional. It may in future be displayed as part of the meta data of a page, but is currently not used.

Editing without an account

You can edit the wikis without an account. If you do this, your IP address will be visible, and will remain permanently in page histories. For privacy reasons, it is therefore recommended that you log in.

Although you can edit without an account on the wikis, you will not be able to move pages, add pages to your watchlist, upload files, or change your preferences.

Watchlist

Logged in users have the option of adding wiki pages to their watchlist. It is possible this feature will be added to URLs in the index in future.

Each page has a "watch" link. Your can go to Special:Watchlist to view all changes to pages that you have chosen to watch. See MetaWikipedia:Help:Watchlist for full details on this.

You will have a different watchlist for every Wiki. It is not possible at this time to combine them.

User preferences

Special:Preferences allows logged in users to change the appearance of the wiki by choosing different skins. Note that not all of the links in the sidebar are available in other skins. Other options include setting your timezone, changing the number of items in recent changes, and various options to allow you to edit in different ways. See Help:Preferences for instructions on each of the preferences.