Wikipedia:Benefits o an accoont
Ye nivver hae til log in ti read Wikipedia. Forbye ye dinna een hae to log in til edit airticles on Wikipedia—oniebodie can edit near onie airticle, athoot loggin in. Houaniver, makkin an account is snell, free an non-intrusive, an maist fowk conseider it the richt thing ti dae, for monie raisons.
Mynd: ti mak yer ain uiser accoont for Wikipedia, gang ti the login page.
Uiser name
eeditGin ye mak an accoont, ye maun chuise a uisername. Edits ye mak while loggit in will be pit agin that name. That wey ye get full credit for yer contreibutions in the page history (whan nae loggit in, the edits are juist pit agin yer IP address). Forbye ye can leuk at aa yer contreibutions bi clickin the "Ma contreibutions" link, that is visible juist whan ye'r loggit in.
Ye will hae yer ain uiser page whaur ye can screive a bit aboot yersel. Aiblins Wikipedia isna a webspace provider, but ye can uise this ti shaw twa or three pictures, screive aboot yer hobbies, an that. Monie uisers uise their uiser pages ti keep a leet o the airticles they are proodest o, or ti collect ither valuable wittins frae Wikipedia.
Ye will hae a permanent uiser collogue page as weel an ye can uise it ti write ti ither uisers. Ye will be telt whan somebodie screives a message on yer collogue page. Gin ye chuise ti gie an e-mail address, ither uisers will can contact ye bi e-mail. This feature is nameless ; the uiser that emails ye winna ken yer e-mail address.
Repute an privacy
eeditYe dinna hae to gie oot yer affline identity, but haeing an accoont gies ye a fixed Wikipedia identity that ither uisers will ken. Altho we walcome nameless contreibutions, loggin in lets ye big trust an respeck thro a history o guid edits. It's easier forbye ti communicate an work wi an editor gin we ken yer name (at least, yer name on Wikipedia). Mairower, it is easier for langtime uisers ti assume guid faith frae new uisers that tak the time ti mak an accoont.
Ye maun understaund that Wikipedia gets vandalised, spammed, and wittins gets uploaded bi fowk that juist want til advertise. Information sources maun be verified an Wikipedia maun hae a wey ti tell trustie contributors and sources frae the lave.
Gin ye arna loggit in, aa yer edits ar pit agin your IP address at the time o that edit. Gin ye log in, aa yer edits are pit agin yer accoont name, an ar internally associated wi yer IP address. See Wikimedia's privacy policy for mair information on this practice.
The privacy implications o this depend on the naitur o yer Internet Service Provider, local laws an regulations, an the naitur an amoont o yer edits ti Wikipedia. Tak tent that Wikipedia technologies an policies may chynge.
Opeinions differ on the desirability o perfect namelessness. Some fowk deem namelessness ti be a licence for a lack o accoontability, or that it micht mak puir behaviour easier, or that contreibuting athoot a fixed identity is disempouering an juist nae nice. Sic fowk conseider that makkin an accoont an loggin in micht resolve sic feelins.
New editin options
eeditThere ar monie features o the MediaWiki saftware (that pouers Wikipaedia) that are juist available ti registered users. For exemplar, ain o these features is ti can mairk edits as "smaa", that juist registered members can dae. Smaa edits can be filtered frae the leet o "Recent chynges". Mairking edits as smaa gin they arna is conseidered gey ruch, sae juist mairk an edit as smaa whan a wee chynge has been daen, for exemplar graimmar correction. Nameless uisers dinna hae the preivilege o mairkin edits as smaa sith the chiel ahind the IP Address micht be oniebodie, sae a basis o trust canna be biggit.
Ae gey important feature that workin contreibutors will likely uise aa the time is watchleets. Ye will get a new link "Watch this page" on ilka page you leuk at. Gin ye click that link, a page will be eikit ti yer watchleet. This leet is a filtered view o the "Recent chynges" page that juist shaws chynges recently made ti items in yer watchleet. This wey ye can keep track o pages ye work on athoot haeing ti fallow aa chynges.
Nane but registered users are alloued ti rename pages, a feature that is gey important for the maintenance o structure an conseistency on Wikipedia.
Forbye, ye maun be loggit in gin ye want ti upload Eimages.
Monie uiser preferences
eeditAside frae thir features, ye can customise the wey MediaWiki behaves in great detail. Ye can chynge the hale leuk o the wabsite bi pickin, for exemplar, the auld "Standard" skin ower the new defaut "MonoBook" skin; ye can chuise whit wey ye want mathematical formulae ti be shawn, hou lairge the editin box shuid be, hou monie pages shuid be shawn in "Recent chynges" and mair.
Admeinistrator status
eeditAdmeinistrators (sometimes kent as sysops, short for System Operator) can delete an undelete pages, proteck them frae bein edited, edit proteckit pages, an block uisers for violation o wir policies. They maistly cerry oot the will o the wiki community on pages sic as Wikipedia:Votes for deletion.
For obvious raisons, juist loggit in uisers can become admeinistrators. Maistly it is eneuch to hae daen some fine work on Wikipaedia ower a couple o months athoot claishing ower muckle wi ithers.
Gin ye ar a loggit in user an want to be an admeinistrator, see Wikipedia:Requests for adminship for mair information.
Walins, polls, surveys and reps
eeditIn maist Wikipaedia polls, oniebodie can gie their opeinion, gif they are loggit in or no, but yer opeinion micht be gien mair wecht gin it is made by a fixed identity wi a record o sensible commentary an informed edits.
There will be twa uisers' representatives on the Wikimedia board - ain o them represents the interests o aa users, an the ither juist represents the interests o uisers wi an accoont. Sae, gin ye hae an accoont, ye hae a chyce o representatives that can intermediate atween yersel an the board in cases o dispute.