Wikipedia:Request an account/Administrators

WP:ACC/ADMINS

This page is no longer updated, and should not be used to make decisions relating to the ACC process. Please see the current guide for up-to-date instructions on the ACC system or the procedures page for the internal processes of the process.

This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference.
Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump.

Subscribing to the e-mail list

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To subscribe to the list, please follow the instructions at https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/accounts-enwiki-l. Note: You do not need to subscribe to the list to request an account. Simply e-mail your chosen username to accounts-enwiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org. The mailing list is primarily used for internal discussion between the account creation team and is no longer used for account creation requests, unless the toolserver is down.

Account tool

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Any user can create an account tool account but only account tool users with Administrative or Accountcreator rights can freely create accounts for other users or override name conflicts. Any user is welcome to help. Most requests are submitted and processed through the account creation interface - other request sometimes come in through the admin only unblock-en-l mailing list. Any user wishing to participate should register at this page, and wait for approval from an interface administrator (not the same as a Wikipedia Administrator). Confirmation is required, so to speed up the process you must leave a message on your talkpage confirming your access request and the edit summary should reflect this as well. A list of current users and tool administrators is available here [1]

A guide to using the tool can be found here.

Handling requests

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Instructions to create an account:

Log in, if you haven't already. It's important to create these accounts while logged in.
Check Special:Listusers to see if the name or a similar name already exists (remember that case - other than the first character - and punctuation affect location in the list; so JoeSmith, Joesmith, Joe.Smith, and Joe.smith will not always be next to each other in the list).
If the account is similar to an existing one, check to see if the existing account is active (if the account is similar and you don't have administrative or accountcreator privileges, you should send an e-mail to accounts-enwiki-l (at) lists.wikimedia.org explaining why you believe the account should or should not be created).
Click this link.
Type in the requested username and the requester's e-mail address. You can leave the password fields blank. Check again that all of the fields, including the e-mail address, were filled in correctly.
Click "by e-mail" which will cause a randomly generated password to be e-mailed to the requester. If that button does not appear, then please make sure that you are logged in.
If you know that the account is similar to an existing account check "Ignore spoofing checks".
If unsuccessful, see "possible errors" below.
If successful, see instructions below.

Instructions after creating an account:

Reply to the requester and accounts-enwiki-l that the account was created.

See useful templates below for suggestions with replying. Remember, if the account cannot be created, reply to the requester and accounts-enwiki-l saying so.

Possible errors

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Problem	Solution
Account already exists	Reply to the requester and accounts-enwiki-l that the requested username is already taken and that they should choose another.
The account name is too similar to an existing account	If you are not an administrator, reply to accounts-enwiki-l (not the requester) with the account that it conflicts with and a description of whether the existing account has any edits and when it signed up. If you feel that there is likely to be confusion between the two accounts, please say so. If you are an administrator, handle the request only if the account it conflicts with is either unused or has very few edits and has not been used recently. If the requested username is too similar to an active account, reply to the requester and accounts-enwiki-l and ask them to choose another username. Administrators can override the error by checking "Ignore spoofing checks".
Account violates the username policy	Reply to the requester and accounts-enwiki-l and ask them to choose another username.
You are unsure whether the account name is acceptable	Reply to accounts-enwiki-l with your concern.
You entered the incorrect username	Fill the form out again, with the correct username
You entered the incorrect e-mail address	If possible, sign up for an e-mail account under that e-mail address if it is a free e-mail provider, then send a password reminder to that account, and then e-mail the account password to the requester. If that is not possible, that account will be inaccessible. Try contacting a bureaucrat and request an immediate usurpation. If this is not granted, the requester will need to choose a different username. They may be able to usurp the account at a later date.
You clicked "create account", not "by e-mail" when creating the account	Go to Special:Userlogin, type in the username and click the "E-mail new password" button. (Note: This will reveal your IP address to the person who requested the account.)

Useful Templates

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Account Created

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Dear (user),

Many thanks for your interest in joining Wikipedia. I've gone ahead and created the account for you. You will receive an automated e-mail from wiki@wikimedia.org with your login credentials. You can use these to log in for the first time, when you will be prompted to create a new password.

When you have successfully logged in, you may find the "getting started" section of our help pages useful (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents/Getting_started). Of particular interest may be the introduction to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction) which has some information to help you get up to speed with the way things work on the encyclopedia.

I wish you all the best and hope you enjoy your time on Wikipedia.

Regards, (list member)

Too Similar

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Dear (user),

Many thanks for your interest in joining Wikipedia. Unfortunately the username that you have requested is too similar to an active account, which may make it difficult for other contributors to distinguish you from the other user.

Please take a look at our username policy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Username_policy) and choose a different username. You may be able to create the account yourself at http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin&type=signup. If so, I wish you all the best and hope you enjoy your time on Wikipedia.

If you are still unable to create the name yourself, we will gladly process your new request here, and I look forward to hearing from you again with your new choice of username.

Regards, (list member)

Username policy violation

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Dear (user),

Many thanks for your interest in joining Wikipedia. Unfortunately the username that you have requested goes against our username policy because it is <add reason here>. Therefore, I'm afraid I cannot create your chosen account name for you.

If you are still unable to create the name yourself, we will gladly process your new request here, and I look forward to hearing from you again with your new choice of username.

Regards, (list member)

Malformed request

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Dear (user),

Many thanks for your interest in joining Wikipedia. Unfortunately we are unable to process your request because we do not have all the information that we require to create the account.

Could you please either resubmit the request, or reply to this email providing us with the username that you would like to use? We will then gladly create the account for you.

I look forward to hearing from you again with your choice of username.

Regards, (list member)

Technical Restrictions

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Dear (user),

Many thanks for your interest in joining Wikipedia. Unfortunately we are unable to process your request due to technical restrictions.

Please bear in mind that it is not possible to create usernames containing any of the characters # / | [] {} @, or consisting only of numbers.

Regards, (list member)

MediaWiki email messages

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MediaWiki:Createaccount-text provides the text shown in the body of the e-mail sent when a user creates an account for another user. The subject line for the e-mail is at MediaWiki:Createaccount-title.

Wikipedia:Request an account/Administrators

Subscribing to the e-mail list

Account tool

Handling requests

Possible errors

Useful Templates

Account Created

Too Similar

Username policy violation

Malformed request

Technical Restrictions

MediaWiki email messages

See also