Thread:Talk:Wikimedia Labs/Create account

The page says, "'You can create a Labs account to do MediaWiki development, tools, or analytics by simply filling out the account creation form.'" But when I submit that account creation form, I get the error message mentioned in this note from the page bottom: 'Note: For shell account name I tried 'roger', 'rogehc' and 'rogervoy' but none worked; all produced the error indicated in the above note.
 * The error message "There was either an authentication database error or you are not allowed to update your external account." generally indicates an invalid shell account name was used (see bug 16524).'

How can I create an account? I do not have shell access nor obviously any shell account name. Is that a prerequisite?