Wikipedia:The benefits of requiring account creation on Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. It is not a policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it.
Shortcut:
WP:TBRACW

A long-running debate amongst Wikipedians is whether or not to require users to register an account in order to be able to edit or not. Though consensus is currently such that creating an account is not a perquisite for editing, many Wikipedians feel that there are reasons why it should be a perquisite. This essay is designed to outline those reasons.

[edit] The reasons

  1. It would help to cut down on vandalism in general. It was found that 97% of all vandalism comes from anonymous IPs, presumably as it is much easier to edit a page without creating an account first. While it is true that many anon vandals would resort to creating accounts with which to vandalize, it is believed that, on the whole, vandalism would decrease if account creation was required.
  2. It would require people to be accountable for their edits. Many people connect to the internet over a range of IP addresses, loading a new IP address after a certain period of time (some load a new IP after each page load). As Wikipedia keeps track of anon contributors by their IP addresses, many people's edits (whether those of vandals or legitimate editors) are not easily tracked.
  3. It would keep IP addresses hidden from potential hackers. As the IPs of anon contributors are displayed next to their edits, it would be possible for someone with malicious intent to find personal information about a person or their computer by their IP address.
  4. It would give a chance for people to connect. If someone happens to see who created/edited/added to the Wikipedia page of their favorite topic they might be able to speak to that person on said subject.

[edit] See also