Wikipedia:Account creator
 | This is an information page. It is not a Wikipedia policy or guideline; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect varying levels of consensus. |
 | This page in a nutshell: The account creator user group allows editors to register new accounts for other people without restriction, and may be granted to editors who are active in the request an account (ACC) process. |
The account creator user group (accountcreator) permits trusted Wikipedia contributors to bypass the account registration limit (currently six accounts in a 24-hour period), allowing them to register and create an unlimited number of new accounts for other people who request them. It also allows them to override automated checks that prevent the creation of accounts with usernames that are similar to existing usernames, are blocked by the title blacklist, or were previously used by accounts that have since had their usernames changed.
Account creators' abilities
Accounts that are members of the account creator user group (accountcreator) have the technical ability to perform the following actions:
- Create more than six accounts[note 1] in a 24-hour period using Special:CreateAccount or other tools (the noratelimit flag).
- Override the "anti-spoof" check and create accounts with usernames that are similar to existing usernames (the override-antispoof flag).
- Override the "blacklist" check and create accounts with usernames that are otherwise blocked by the title blacklist (the tboverride-account flag).[note 2]
- Create accounts with usernames that were previously used by existing accounts that have since had their usernames changed (the createpreviouslyrenamedaccount flag).
Becoming an account creator
The account creator permission may be granted to current ACC Tool Users who are active and experienced in the request an account (ACC) process.[note 3] ACC Tool Users are expected to have properly and consistently handled account requests for at least a few months and to have repeatedly encountered the account creation limit before requesting the permission. This permission may be requested at Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Account creator.
Administrators do not need to request this permission, as the relevant account creation rights are included in the administrator toolset. To grant the account creator permission to another account, administrators should follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Account creator/Administrator instructions.
Other information
The account creator permission is provided to editors active in the ACC process. Users with the account creator right are allowed to use any of the technical abilities included with this user right at their own discretion. The English Wikipedia currently has 8 users that are in account creator user group.
This user group was previously granted to individuals involved with off-wiki outreach events to help them create accounts for participants. In May 2018, the event coordinator user group was created, which allows users to exceed the maximum number of account creations allowed within a 24 hour period, but without any of the other abilities that are granted with the account creator user group. Editors who previously would have been eligible for account creator should instead request the eventcoordinator user group.
Notes
- ↑ This limit may be temporarily lowered due to persistent abuse.
- ↑ This action is not recommended and should never be used except in extremely rare edge cases and with the approval of an ACC tool administrator or an administrator who is highly familiar with the account creation process, the title blacklist, and how both function. If an account is created with a username that matches an entry in the title blacklist (even if the title blacklist was overridden during account creation), the user will be unable to create any pages within their own userspace due to how the title blacklist functions. The account will also be subject to many other problems on Wikipedia because its username matches an entry in the title blacklist. If the title blacklist erroneously flags a requested username as prohibited, you should request that the relevant title blacklist entry be modified to correct the false positive rather than override the title blacklist and create the account.
- ↑ All active ACC Tool Users have reviewed and signed the Wikimedia Foundation's confidentiality agreement for nonpublic information as a requirement before becoming a member of the ACC Tool User Team and granted access to the ACC Tool User interface. See the noticeboard for a list of users who have signed the agreement.
See also
- A list of users with the accountcreator user group
- {{Accountcreator topicon}}—a top icon displaying the accountcreator icon - adds category to page automatically
- {{User wikipedia/Accountcreator}}—a userbox for displaying accountcreator rights
- {{User account creator since}} for indicating account creator rights with period of time
- {{User wikipedia/acclabsuser}}—a userbox for displaying usage rights on the ACC Tool Server
- Mass account creation