Wikipedia:Not every unregistered user is a vandal
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Check before you revert an unregistered user's edit, as what may seem like being bold and clever may just be shoving a new user out of Wikipedia editing forever. |
Take a look at this. This is not meant to single any one user out, but this edit revert was not necessary. This was probably reverted because the editor wasn't registered.[a] Unregistered users were often reverted on sight, usually without checking what the edit consisted of. But not every unregistered user is a vandal.
Recent Changes
[edit]When looking for vandalism, many search for red usernames without a second look at the blue ones, assuming that red usernames signify a new vandal or unregistered user to punish. This is not always the case. This is a good example. Some users don't make userpages: some prominent editors include Nanonic, Serols, and Trappist the monk (an administrator). They haven't made their own userpages, but they have been here for a long time and have made lots of great edits behind the scenes. The unregistered user 76.66.193.90 made over 1,600 constructive edits to the English Wikipedia. Other non-vandal unregistered editors have included 220.101.28.25, 24.20.69.240, 69.181.249.92, 92.12.217.145, 47.227.95.73, 98.235.155.81, among many others.
On the Scots Wikipedia, there was an unregistered user that constantly helped with vandalism and other tasks like translating. They had been there for more than a year without a username and were colloquially known as 84.135, a shortened form of the account's IP address.
And probably most prominently and locally, right here on the English Wikipedia, 68.39.174.238 (also known as 76.117.247.55) may be the best example of an unregistered editor on Wikipedia. They were around for years, and had a request for adminship (now deleted).[b]
See also
[edit]- Wikipedia:Why create an account?
- Perennial proposals: Prohibit anonymous users from editing
- Wikipedia:Identifying test edits
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Vandalism studies
- Wikipedia:Unregistered editors are human too
- Wikipedia:IP addresses are not people
- Association of Good Faith Wikipedians Who Remain Unregistered on Principle
Notes
[edit]- ^ Unregistered users used to be identified with an IP address until 2025, when temporary accounts were rolled out on the English Wikipedia.
- ^ Due to technical reasons, unregistered users cannot be assigned the administrator user right.