Tardis:Username policy
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Logging in → Changing your username → Reclaiming your account → User pages → Why create an account? → Privacy policy → Username policy |
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Signature policy → On using multiple accounts → User rename policy → Why create an account? → Username policy |
While you have broad freedom to pick any username you'd like, Tardis Wiki does have a few policies about usernames that you are obliged to observe.
Creating a user name at the Tardis Wiki (and editing without logging in) means you accept our Tardis:Privacy policy and Tardis:General disclaimer.
What are usernames used for?
Your username is attached to all your edits when you're logged in to Tardis Wiki. This is partly for accountability reasons, but it's also helpful from a copyright perspective; if someone wants to use your contributions in a way not allowed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA) they can ask on your talk page. This also encourages people to give the appropriate credit to authors and your username is used to give that credit.
Choosing a username
The best username is typically a long standing Internet nickname or a new name that you use only for editing wikis, or Wikipedia etc.
Please pick a username that helps us write an encyclopaedia. 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 a controversial name may affect other users' perspective on your own credibility or viewpoint. Additionally, the Tardis Wiki is accessed and edited world-wide (and also linked to other language versions of this wiki) so take care to avoid anything that might cause offence to someone from a different culture, belief or ethnic group.
Username capitalisation
Tardis Wiki usernames are case-sensitive and the first letter of all usernames will be capitalised when you create an account. This means if your user name is "your username" when you create an account it will be "Your username".
Real names
Use of an real name allows contributions to be more easily traced to an individual; however, this makes a contributor more vulnerable to issues such as harassment. You should consider the benefits and drawbacks of making significant contributions under your real name, especially if you plan on editing or discussing potentially controversial subjects or subjects of a high edit rate on the Tardis Wiki.
What can be done about problem usernames
If you notice someone whose username is inappropriate, please ask them on their talk page to request a username change. If they don't seem to respond, contact an admin, and if it appears that their name is inappropriate, they will be blocked indefinitely.
If a username was obviously chosen in bad faith, or if a username is so problematic that it should never appear in article histories (e.g. a very offensive username), then admins may block it on sight.
Inappropriate usernames
Usernames that are inappropriate for editing on Tardis Wiki may be blocked. These names include attempts to advertise, mislead, or disrupt. As a global site, names of users in one language may appear offensive in another language, but are perfectly acceptable if they make sense in the language of the user's speaking. However fairly or unfairly, the line between acceptable and unacceptable user names is often drawn by those who find the username inappropriate, not by the creator of the name. Please don't try to find this line. Inappropriate usernames will be blocked.
The types of username we do not allow are detailed in the following sections.
Misleading usernames
Misleading usernames are to be avoided. Deliberate attempts to create confusion with your user name will almost certainly be met with a severe block. These include though aren't limited to:
- Names that can be confused with other existing contributors.
- Names of well-known living or recently deceased people unless you are that person. If you are, say so on your user page.
- Names that are extremely lengthy.
- Names with a confusing use of letters that look similar in sans-serif fonts. That is, the letters capital i and lower case L, and the numeral 1 look exactly the same (I/l/1) in certain fonts, as do upper/lower case O and the numeral 0 (O/o/0). This should be taken into account, and creative use of one in place of the other (I where L would be expected and vice versa) is discouraged, given its past misuse. See Wikipedia's Doppelganger account page for more information.
- Names that include commonly used wiki software or Tardis Wiki community terms, or imply an official position on this wiki. Prohibited username components include, but are not limited to, words resembling the following:
- "Administrator", "Admin", "Bureaucrat", "System operator", "Sysop", "Moderator", or any other name which implies an official role or role greater than that of a standard user.
- "Rollback" or "Revert", "Edit war", "POV", etc.
- "Delete", "Upload", "Pagemove", "Redirect", or other editing processes or abstractions.
- "Vandal", "Spammer", "Troll", or other names that may give the impression that you intend to cause trouble.
- "Bot", "Robot", "Script", "Initialise", "Automated", "Daemon", etc., unless the name is intended as a designated bot account. Names that imply bot accounts may be blocked, and the user may be requested to contact an administrator to confirm that the account is indeed a bot account.
- Any visible toolbar buttons, namespaces, or other technical terms which may be confusing to inexperienced users or otherwise imply a capacity different than that of a normal user.
Disruptive and offensive usernames
Disruptive usernames include outright trolling or personal attacks, include profanities or otherwise show a clear intent to disrupt editing on this wiki. Offensive usernames are usernames that offend other contributors, making harmonious editing difficult or impossible.
These include, though not limited to:
- Usernames that promote or imply hatred or violence.
- Usernames that are recognised as slurs or insults.
- Usernames that refer to symbols of hatred, including historical figures or events that are widely associated with such.
- Usernames that refer to or imply sexual acts, including slang, innuendo, and double entendre.
- Usernames that refer to or allude to reproductive or excretory functions of the body.
- Usernames that promote or refer to violent real-world actions (e.g terrorism, organised crime).
- Usernames mentioning or referring to illnesses, disabilities, or conditions.
- Usernames that contain profanity, obscenities, or other potentially offensive language. This includes non-English languages.
- Usernames which consist primarily of the name of a belief figure. Usernames that are clearly expressions of faith are discouraged, however considered allowed unless disruptive. Should a username not be clear as to the motive, it may be reviewed.
- Usernames that promote a controversial or potentially inflammatory point of view.
- Misspellings or spellings of any of the types of names listed above with "creative substitutions".
Spam in the username
We do not tolerate names which obviously attempt to promote or sell a product or service, or even those which appear to do so. If your user name is that of a website address, email address, company, religious group, non-profitable organisation or any other sort of formalised organisation or incorporation, your user and user talk pages are subject to deletion, and you will likely be infinitely banned.
Non-English usernames
There is no requirement for usernames to be in English. In fact, contributors may use usernames that do not employ the Latin alphabet.
Bear in mind, however, that this wiki is an English language wiki and most non-Latin languages may not display correctly in all browsers. You may need to perform some additional tasks to help make your name accessible to those who are used to the Latin alphabet.
- On your user page, please include a Latin alphabet transliteration of your username. A good place for this transliteration is in the "real name" line of the user page masthead. This will make your username appear in the alphabet of your choice, but the "aka" line be in the Latin alphabet.
- Your signature should also have a Latin transliteration somewhere in it. You can include it so that it is visible at all times. But you're not obliged to do so. You may find it better to include it as alternate text, so that only a mouseover reveals the Latin alphabet version of your name.
Using multiple accounts
- Main article: Tardis:Having multiple accounts
Sock puppets are not allowed for circumventing blocks, but within certain parameters, you're allowed to have more than one account. See T:SOCK for more details.
Changing your user name
Changing your user name is possible, see our Tardis:User rename policy for more detailed information. It is strongly encouraged that you choose a user name once and stick with it, changing your user name can lead to confusion on the wiki. You changed user name must still conform with the user name policy outlined above.
