Product Safety and Integrity/Anti-abuse signals/User Info
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User Info
A card with data helping moderators assess account trustworthiness
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The User Info card displays data related to a user account when a logged-in user taps or clicks on the 
"user avatar" icon button next to a username.
The feature is part of the Anti-abuse signals project – a broader initiative to make it easier for moderators to assess account trustworthiness.
After the initial deployment, we will be monitoring its usage to understand how the feature works in practice, and making improvements accordingly.
Use cases:
- Users with extended rights can make an informed judgment about an account's behavior
- In-context shortcuts for common actions via the User Info card menu
- Users without extended rights, including newcomers, can assess how they may interact with a given user or whom to reach out to for help
- Users patrolling temporary accounts and new user activity can see how many temporary accounts are operating on the same IP address to gauge suspicious activity
- Users with access to temporary account IP addresses can check which other users have this access for the purposes of sharing privileged information
Background
In early 2025, the Wikimedia Foundation conducted a research study to identify patterns that lead to an account being blocked. This analysis focused on publicly available data. The initial idea was to come up with solutions that could assist users with extended rights in anti-abuse work. The research found many signals that are helpful for understanding if an account displays good or bad faith behavior.
Product & design specifications
Design
- A small clickable button appears next to usernames on pages like page history, Special:IPContributions, Special:GlobalContributions, Recent Changes, Watchlist, logs, etc.
- Clicking the button opens the User Info card, a popover
- The button can be turned off via user preferences or through the menu on the card
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A mock-up of the User Info card displaying data about a registered account -
User Info for temporary accounts (person viewing has access to temporary account IP addresses)
Data displayed
See T384725.
- User name
- Date joined (local and global)
- Active local blocks (across all wikis, sitewide, or partial)
- Recent past blocks (on local wiki, sitewide, or partial)
- Edit count (local and global)
- Locally reverted edits
- New articles created
- Thanks given and received
- CheckUser investigations (local) – only CheckUsers will see this
- Date of last CU check (local) – only CheckUsers will see this
- Graph and count of editing activity over last 60 days
Experimentation & analytics
To evaluate the success of the feature, we will collect metrics on usage and monitor feedback from users. Metrics include: the number of times the card is opened, repeated usage per user, and usage distribution across interface contexts. We will consider the feature to be successful if we see users are making use of the feature repeatedly. We welcome suggestions of how to make the card more useful.
Deployment plan
- : We have rolled the first version of the feature out to testwiki. It's enabled there for logged-in users as the default. You are all invited to test it.
- : Deployment on all wikis as opt-in
- Later, the feature will be enabled as the default (opt-out) on selected wikis. If your wiki is a good candidate for this, please reach out to us.
FAQ
Is User Info available on the apps?
No. The initial implementation is desktop and mobile website, but not apps.
How can I disable this feature?
Open the User Info card, navigate to the menu and click "Turn off this feature".
What data is shown in the card?
Publicly accessible user activity data (e.g. edit counts, blocks, article creation, thanks), as well as CheckUser-specific information for those users with permissions.
How will the success of the feature be measured?
Success is measured by repeat usage of the tool—indicating utility in moderators' workflows. You may follow along on Phabricator.
Can developers extend User Info via user scripts?
Not yet, but we would like to make it possible for users to add or remove data points and menu items for the card as it displays for their individual account (not for all users).
