Biocrawler:Username
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
See also: Biocrawler:How to log in, Biocrawler:Changing username, Biocrawler:Account deletion
When you create a new account, so you can log in, one of the things you'll have to do is pick a username. This page gives some advice on this.
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What are usernames used for?
Your user name will be attached to all your edits (while logged in). This is partly for reasons of accountability. It's also helpful from a copyright perspective: if someone wants to use your contributions in a way not allowed under the Biocrawler copyright, they can ask you on your talk page, for example. Also, the GFDL encourages giving appropriate credit to authors, and your username is used to give that credit.
It's possible to change your username, see Biocrawler:Changing username.
We recommend against using multiple usernames, unless you have a very good reason. See Biocrawler:Sock puppet.
Choosing a username
The best username is typically either your real name, or a longstanding internet pen name. Please pick a username that helps us to write an encyclopedia. That means picking a name that you're comfortable writing under, but it also means picking a name that others are comfortable seeing and collaborating with.
Remember that a controversial name may colour other users' perspective on your own credibility or political viewpoint. In addition remember that Biocrawler is a world-wide source book and so take care in selecting a name to avoid anything that might potentially cause offence to someone from a different culture, religious or ethnic group.
Biocrawler recommends that users avoid
- names of politicians, military or religious figures or events;
- any other names that may be seen as potentially offensive, or endorsing or opposing the politics, policies or beliefs of a public figure.
People should be able to judge you purely on your contributions, not an emotional response to a potentially controversial nickname. Avoiding an offensive or insensitive name is in your own interest. So do please be careful. Remember you are working as part of a community. Show everyone else the respect for their beliefs that you expect them to show to you.
Real names versus pseudonyms
Historically many wikis have encouraged users to use their real name as their user name see, e.g MeatBall:UseRealNames, in their belief that a user will offer constructive contributions to the project if they are more likely to be accountable for their actions. Whilst real names are encouraged, they are not demanded.
Also if you use a pseudonym rather than a user name that identifies you with your real name U.S. copyright law grants you only a fixed period of copyright rather than one based upon when you die.
Avoid using real names of famous figures (living or recently deceased). Many editors consider them overly disruptive and may request that you change it. Creating a username of a famous person, and then performing disruptive eds in that "name" or in an attempt to discredit it will likely result in actions listed under the "Inappropriate usernames" section.
Username capitalization
Biocrawler usernames are case sensitive and, for consistency, the first letter of all usernames will be capitalized when you create an account. This means that if you request the username "your name", the account created will instead be: "Your name".
If your username will consist of more than one name, and you'd like your signature to be internally consistent, you might prefer to capitalize each one when you create the account. This conforms to the widely accepted rules of capitalization: usernames are, after all, proper nouns. Examples would be "Your Name", "Your Middle Name", and "Your M Name".
Inappropriate usernames
Inappropriate usernames include both clear and masked names. Biocrawler does not allow certain usernames, including the following:
No deliberately confusing usernames: usernames designed to cause confusion with other contributors, or features of the software. If someone else is using a nickname that you wish to use, please consider using your real name or an alternative pseudonym instead. In the unlikely event that someone else is editing Biocrawler with your real name, please add a middle name or some other way of distinguishing between you and the existing contributor. Do not choose names such as recent changes, Administrator, or any other part of the interface or commonly used terms on Biocrawler. Users have been blocked in the past for choosing usernames which were perceived as impersonation attempts on present users.
No inflammatory usernames: Biocrawler does not allow inflammatory or offensive user names. Inflammatory usernames are needlessly discouraging to other contributors, and disrupt and distract from our task of creating an encyclopedia. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Names which promote racial/ethnic/national/religious hatred
- Names which are recognised as racial/ethnic/national/religious slurs
- Names which refer to symbols of racial/ethnic/national/religious hatred
- Names which refer to sexual acts or genitalia
- Names which refer to violent real world actions
- Names which are scatological or pornographic
No harassing or defamatory usernames: Harassment and defamation is in any case inappropriate on Biocrawler. Further, your username is not a vehicle to attack other users with whom you have a disagreement. Your username should not be used to insult or mock other users, usernames, articles, or actions. Additionally, a username should not be used to defame other people, companies or groups, regardless of whether they edit Biocrawler.
Fairly or unfairly, the line between acceptable and unacceptable user names is drawn by those who find the username inappropriate, not by the creator of the name.
Rationale
The primary purpose of user names is to identify and distinguish contributors. This facilitates communication and record-keeping. The user name is not a forum to be offensive or make a statement. No one has a right to any particular user name. While colorful, interesting, or expressive names may add to the pleasure of Biocrawler, they are not essential. This might include legitimate names and long-established internet pseudonyms that can be misconstrued.
Signatures
Through the Preferences, one can choose a nickname used in signatures, independent of the actual user name (connected to a User: page). In general, the same rules apply for signatures as for usernames.
For more information on signatures, read the official guideline at Biocrawler:Sign your posts on talk pages.
Changing inappropriate usernames
If enough people complain about your user name (through talk pages or the mailing lists or Meta-Biocrawler (http://meta.wikipedia.org)), the administrators will change it. Neither complaints, nor name changes should be arbitrary, but user names that are offensive to a significant number of people will be changed, not without notice, but without appeal.
Co-operative contributors should normally just be made aware of our policy via a post on their talk page. Voluntary changes (via wikipedia:changing usernames) are preferred: users from other countries and/or age groups may make mistakes about choosing names -- immediate blocking or listing on RfC could scare off new users acting in good faith.
Where a change must be forced, we first discuss it. This can take place on either (A) the user's talk page, (B) a subpage of the user's talk page, or (C) a sub page of Biocrawler:Requests for comment. It should be listed on Biocrawler:Requests for comment in the appropriate section. The user should also be made aware of the discussion.
For uncontroversial cases where the user is actively editing, the decision can be taken in a day or two. For more controversial cases where the user is less actively editing, a week is more appropriate. For highly controversial cases, or cases whether the user has left Biocrawler, discussion might well take a month.
After an appropriate time for discussion, a sysop can take a judgement on the name in question. They should only take action if their judgement is that a "rough consensus" has arisen that the username is inappropriate. This will involve blocking the inappropriate username, for which see wikipedia:blocking policy.
Where inappropriate or borderline inappropriate usernames are coupled with vandalism, the username may be blocked indefinitely on sight: again, see wikipedia:blocking policy.
Usernames that are designed to impersonate legitimate users may be blocked immediately. The IP address of these users should be left autoblocked.
See also
cs:Wikipedie:Uživatelské jménoit:Biocrawler:Nome utente ja:Biocrawler:ユーザー名 simple:Biocrawler:User name fi:Biocrawler:Kyttjtunnus sl:Wikipedija:Uporabniško_ime zh:Biocrawler:用户名
