No login is required before viewing or editing pages on Wikipedia. But creating an account and logging into Wikipedia offers additional functions, and it is generally recommended. If you do not want your IP address to be known, you have to register and login to your Wikipedia account. Creating a personal user account is quick and easy. Gadget Wrights will help you with the best tips on websites login and more.
Creating a Wikipedia account
To create an account, click the Create Account link at the top right of the page. You will need to provide a username and password and perform a visual “captcha” test. Users with a text, language, or legacy browser cannot create an account if they cannot see this captcha image. If you don’t see the Captchas, you can request an account to be created at Wikipedia: request an account.
You may also not be able to create an account if it contains certain symbols (especially the ‘@’ symbol and certain non-Latin characters) or words, or if it is too similar to that of an existing user. In this case, you also need to request an account. If your account is not authorized to create your IP address, you can request an unlock or request an account directly from Wikipedia.
Why log in to Wikipedia?
You do not have to be logged in to read Wikipedia content. You don’t even have to sign in to change most of Wikipedia (there are a few exceptions).
However, it is always a good idea to sign up for the following reasons:
- Other users may recognize you by your username when you make changes to the pages. Like “Name”, an IP address is somewhat problematic. If you use computers in different places (at home, in the office, in an internet café, etc.), you have a different IP address. Even at the same location, the IP address can be different each time, depending on the internet connection. Therefore, a username is preferable to maintain an identity.
- You have your user page where you can write a little about yourself and a user talk page where you can communicate with other users.
- In addition to your user page, you can also create user pages.
- You can mark an edition as minor to avoid inconvenience to other users.
- You can track changes to pages that interest you using a watch list.
- If you provide an email address, other users can contact you by email. This function is anonymous: the user who sends you an email does not know your email address. You don’t have to provide your email address if you don’t want to.
- If necessary, check the privacy policy of the website you are visiting (e.g., Wikipedia’s privacy policy).
- You can change the name of the pages.
- You can make your settings to change things like:
- The number of pages viewed in the most recent changes
- The fonts, colors, and design of the website thanks to the use of different masks.
Logging to Wikipedia
Creating a user account means that you must provide a username (your real name or nickname) and a password. The system rejects a user name that has already been used. A user account is only created once. You are then “connected.” The next time you log in, enter your username again and use your password to prove that you are the same person. (Do not share your password with other people. This can lead to misuse and crash of your account.)
Any changes you make will be saved with your username. If you are not logged in, your changes in the page history will be marked with your IP address.
Newly created user accounts are “unified” (i.e, accessible from all Wikimedia projects). A previous non-unified account can be unified in special:
MergeAccount; Unified users can check the status of their Unified account on this page. The settings are currently set independently in each wiki. See m: Single Sign-On.
How to Login to Wikipedia
First, make sure that your browser accepts cookies. Some browsers may accept or reject cookies from individual websites. Users must configure the browser to accept cookies from any wiki that they want to edit, e.g., wikipedia.org.
Click on the login link just at the top right of the page. You will be asked to enter your username and password on the next screen. If you don’t have an account, you need to create one first. When you’re done, click the login button to connect.
If you click on Stay logged in (maximum one day), you do not have to re-enter your password if you access Wikipedia from the same computer. This function only works if your password was not automatically generated by the software.
The settings for connection and settings were previously defined separately in each wiki. It is now possible to use the same username, password, and e-mail address in all Wikimedia wikis without having to create an account in each wiki.