Trust and Safety Product/Temporary Accounts/FAQ/ia
Le principios de base del contos temporari
Que es un conto temporari?
Cata vice que tu publica un modification sur Wikipedia o altere sitos albergate per le Fundation Wikimedia sin aperir session con un conto registrate, un conto temporari essera create pro te. Iste conto recipera automaticamente un nomine de usator. Al creation del conto, un cookie se pone in tu navigator. Al nomine de usator mentionate se attribue tote le modificationes subsequente, etiam si tu adresse IP cambia. Con un conto temporari, tu adresse IP es accessibile solmente pro le personal e membros del communitate autorisate, como es describite in le Politica de confidentialitate actualisate.
Como functiona le contos temporari?
- Le nomines de contos temporari seque le patrono:
~2025-12345-6(un tilde, le anno de creation, un tracto de union, un numero de serie generate automaticamente e subdividite per tractos de union in gruppos de 5 cifras). Le usatores non pote eliger o cambiar le nomines de lor contos temporari. - 90 dies post le data de creation, le conto temporari expirara automaticamente. Illo devenira inutilisabile e non potera reciper messages in su pagina de discussion. Edits made will still be tracked by page histories and logs, and the talk page of the temporary account will also remain available. However, the user will no longer be able to use that account or receive notifications for messages posted on its talk page.
- Le modificationes subsequente assignara un nove conto temporari. Le ancian conto essera disactivate e tu non potera conservar lo ni aperir session a illo. It will be permanently inactive. The only indication the account has expired is it is no longer used. There is no flag or message indicating whether a temporary account has expired or not.
- Es impossibile aperir session a un conto temporari. Le contos temporari non ha contrasignos.
- Tote le modificationes apportate desde le mesme apparato e navigator essera attribuite al mesme conto temporari, mesmo si le adresse IP que tu usa cambia (per exemplo, si tu modifica in casa e in un café). Isto es realisate per medio de un cookie del navigator que memora le conto temporari que te ha essite assignate.
- Le contos temporari non es como le historia de navigation o schedas aperte. Si tu ha un navigator synchronisate inter apparatos, tu essera assignate a contos differente in apparatos differente. Isto es un consequentia del modo de functionamento de navigatores. Si isto te preoccupa, considera crear un conto registrate.
- Le contos temporari pote esser disactivate manualmente a omne momento. Pro facer isto, termina tu session o elimina le cookies de tu navigator.
Aspectos notabile del contos temporari
- Le contos temporari es differente del contos registrate. Illos ha un vita curte e offere functiones limitate. Nos non collige alcun datos additional pro contos temporari ultra lo que nos collige pro modificationes normal.[clarification needed]
- Le contos temporari non ha accesso a tote le functiones disponibile pro usatores authenticate. Alcun actiones, como le incargamento de photos a Commons, es reservate al usatores con un conto registrate.
- Le contos temporari ha lor proprie paginas de usator e de discussion, ma illos ultimatemente se disligara del persona que ha create le pagina. In general, un conto temporari e un conto regular (subsequente) pote esser ligate. Ma a causa del possibile disligamento, in alcun projectos non es technicamente permittite modificar le pagina de usator de un conto temporari post que illo ha expirate o ha essite permanentemente blocate.
- Le contos temporari pote reciper notificationes e vider un quadro de aviso de nove messages sur le proprie pagina de discussion.
- Le contos temporari pote reciper regratiamentos de redactores authenticate ma non pote inviar los.
- Le contos temporari pote inviar alertas de mention (“ping”) a altere usatores, e illos pote facer lo in retorno.
Vide etiam
- Pagina de adjuta pro titulares de contos temporari (usatores temporari)
- Le pagina de information technic pro casos ubi tu robot o utensile debe differentiar inter contos temporari e permanente
Le principios de base del projecto
Proque travalia vos sur le contos temporari?
Primarily, to improve the privacy of logged-out users. In addition, this change will allow us to build better anti-abuse tools.
Our wikis should be safer to edit by default for logged-out editors. Temporary accounts allow people to continue editing the wikis without creating an account, while avoiding publicly tying their edits to their IP address. We believe this is in the best interest of our logged-out editors, who make valuable contributions to the wikis and who may later create accounts and grow our community. Even though the wikis do warn logged-out editors that their IP address will be associated with their edit, many people may not understand what an IP address is, or that it could be used to connect them to other information about them in ways they might not expect.
Additionally, our moderation software and tools rely too heavily on network origin (IP addresses) to identify users and patterns of activity, especially as IP addresses themselves are becoming less stable as identifiers. Temporary accounts allow for more precise interactions with logged-out editors, including more precise blocks, and can help limit how often we unintentionally end up blocking good-faith users who use the same IP addresses as bad-faith users.
Proque es un conto temporari le solution juste de iste problema?
Il ha alcun exigentias dur que ha menate al conception de contos temporari. Alcunes es de natura juridic, e alteres de natura technic:
| Le situation | Nostre solution |
|---|---|
| Es un del principios fundamental de nostre movimento que le gente debe poter facer modificationes simple sin registrar un conto permanente. | Le contos temporari se crea automaticamente (le gente non ha besonio de crear un conto illes mesme). |
| A causa de requisitos juridic, le modificationes sur le wikis debe esser attribuite a un identificator de usator altere que le adrese IP. | Si le contos temporari ha essite activate sur un wiki, un conto se crea pro un usator del momento que ille committe su prime modification. Iste conto es ligate a un nomine de usator generate aleatorimente e le session del usator se aperi automaticamente. Le nomine de usator mentionate appare ubicunque le adresses IP esserea monstrate alteremente (excepte in le diverse utensiles pro functionarios). |
| Le identificator al qual le modificationes de un certe usator sin session es attribuite debe esser stabile. Non es un option crear un nove conto pro cata modification. Alteremente, il haberea un frequentia excessive de nove usatores. | Del momento que le conto temporari se crea, le session del usator se aperi. Le cookie ha un durata de vita limitate. Intra iste durata, si le usator face plus modificationes, tote illos se attribue al mesme conto temporari. Un nove se crea si le usator claude le session del conto temporari o usa un altere navigator. Le usator retene le mesme conto temporari si su adresse IP cambia durante le uso del mesme apparato/navigator. |
| Le software MediaWiki non debe cambiar troppo. Es necessari limitar le novitates pro permitter al functiones existente de functionar sin modification. | Un conto temporari non rumpe alcun cosa in le maniera de gestion del contos de usator. Foras de certe necessitates (p.ex. alcun functiones debe esser disactivate pro le contos temporari), le software continuara a functionar de maniera normal. |
Vide etiam:
Esserea un bon alternativa prohibir o limitar le modification anonyme?
Improbabile.
In le passato, on ha recercate, con le appoio del Fundation Wikimedia, le obligation de registration pro tote le redactores que modifica articulos de Wikipedia. Le effectos se monstrava generalmente nocive. Over time, the Wikipedia in Persian saw large declines in the amount of constructive contributions of content. There is also a 2024 study of Portuguese Wikipedia which has blocked logged-out editing in the main namespace since October 2020. The results of this change were mixed. One of the stated goals of turning off logged-out editing was to reduce moderator burden and reverted edits, and there is evidence that it achieved this goal. On the other hand, there is evidence that this came at the cost of a significant reduction in non-reverted edits, weakening the growth of content in the Portuguese Wikipedia, and potentially leading to other negative long-term effects.
Con le datos que nos possede in iste momento, nos non pote dicer que render le modification anonyme impossibile sur tote le projectos es un solution benefic.
Qual wikis habera contos temporari? Quando attingera iste cambiamentos mi wiki?
Le contos temporari es ja disponibile sur certe wikis que participa in un prova: [gerrit:plugins/gitiles/operations/mediawiki-config/+/refs/heads/master/dblists/tempaccounts_disabled.dblist Wikiversitate in checo], [$2 Wikipedia in igbo], [$3 Wikiquote in italiano], [$4 Wikipedia in swahili] e [$5 Wikipedia in serbocroate].
- Wikiversitate in checo, Wikipedia in danese, Wiktionario in persa, Wikipedia in igbo, Wikiquote in italiano, Wikilibros in japonese, Wikipedia in norvegiano bokmål, Wikipedia in romaniano, Wikipedia in serbo, Wikipedia in serbocroato, Wikipedia in swahili, Wikipedia in cantonese (/),
- Wikipedia in azeri, Wikipedia in arabe, Wikipedia in checo, Wikipedia in germano, Wikipedia in persa, Wikipedia in francese, Wikipedia in hebreo, Wikipedia in hindi, Wikipedia in indonesiano, Wikipedia in japonese, Wikipedia in coreano, Wikipedia in nederlandese, Wikipedia in polonese, Wikipedia in portugese, Wikipedia in turco, Wikipedia in ukrainiano, Wikipedia in vietnamese, Wikipedia in chinese, MediaWiki ().
- "Other Wikimedia projects" ().
- Most wikis. From this point on, the team defines a list of wikis with temporary accounts not enabled – T402181 ().
- All wikis except one. (/).
See also: T340001.
E si un communitate vole continuar a usar adresses IP?
Post que le contos temporari deveni disponibile, non essera plus permittite monstrar adresses IP pro le contributiones subsequente. Tote le communitates debe preparar se pro le cambio al contos temporari.
Survelia le Fundation Wikimedia le effecto del uso de contos temporari sur le communitates?
Si.
Existe un tabuliero public pro surveliar le statisticas pro le wikis de proba. Tote iste statisticas se actualisa multo frequentemente, per exemplo, in tempore real o cata die, pro dar a omnes un bon visibilitate del labor real sur le contos temporari sur le wikis.
Le sequente statisticas specific es publicamente disponibile:
Statisticas public in detalio
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In addition, le Fundation survelia alcun altere statisticas que, pro rationes de securitate o confidentialitate, non es public. Istes include datos como le numero de requestas del assistentia de CheckUsers. Nos publicara periodicamente reportos sur le statisticas non public.
Le statisticas non public (guardrail) in detalio
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Actiones administrative (sur tote le wikis)
Requestas al administratores
Sanitate del administratores
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Le adresses IP appare in le historia de multe paginas. Esque iste usos passate essera modificate?
No.
Le adresses IP historic que esseva publicate sur le wikis ante le cambio al contos temporari non essera modificate. Le Departimento juridic del Fundation Wikimedia ha approbate iste decision.
Does the introduction of temporary accounts reduce the motivation for users to create a registered account?
With temporary accounts users can be notified and thanked for their contribution. This can hopefully drive up their engagement. For example, a user who makes a drive-by edit being thanked with a message on their talk page may realize the opportunity to interact with the community. We want to periodically nudge them to create a registered account. We hope this can help retain them and push them to create accounts that they wouldn't have otherwise.
Will temporary accounts be affected by the global IP blocks? Will users still be assigned temp accounts if they're using a VPN, or will the block prevent that? How will this affect VPN users?
There is no change in this regard. If an IP address or IP range is globally blocked, the rules of the block will dictate whether unregistered users can edit or not. Temporary accounts will be treated the same as IP editors were treated prior to the introduction of temporary accounts. The same applies to VPN users.
Detalios juridic sur le contos temporari
Del qual requisitos, regulationes o riscos juridic vos preoccupa vos? Es le Fundation menaciate per un action juridic? Que evenirea si nos non introduceva le contos temporari?
Nos non debe fornir tote le information. Nos non debe publicar alcun detalios, e nos non debe revelar proque. Si nos discuteva publicamente le argumentos possibile, o qual riscos resultarea le plus probabilemente in litigation, nos poterea adjutar alcuno a damnificar le wikis e le communitates.
Iste responsa se basa sur le consilio de nostre advocatos, le qual nos elige de sequer.
Pote iste cambio esser applicate differentemente in cata sito?
No.
Nos protege le confidentialitate de tote le usatores secundo le mesme norma. Dunque, isto cambiara sur tote le projectos de Wikimedia.
Non suffice informar le gente que lor adresse IP essera publicate?
No.
Multe personas ha essite confundite vidente le publication de lor adresse IP. In ultra, mesmo si alcuno vide le advertimento, le Fundation debe gerer lor datos personal de maniera appropriate. Le publication de adresses IP de usatores sin session aperte non satisface le melior practicas actual de confidentialitate. In ultra, illo comporta riscos, includente riscos pro iste usatores.
Qual influentia ha le projecto sur le attribution del licentia CC?
Necun influentia.
Le licentia 3.0 pro le texto sur le projectos de Wikimedia ja declara que le attribution debe includer “le nomine del Autor Original (o su pseudonymo, si applicabile)” (vide le licentia al section 4c). Le uso de nomines de contos temporari functiona de maniera equal a illo de pseudonymos. Le adresses IP ja pote variar o esser assignate a altere personas con le tempore, dunque, usar illos pro identificar usatores non registrate non es differente de usar le nomines de contos temporari. Ambe manieras satisface le requisito de pseudonymo del licentia. In ultra, le section 7 de nostre conditiones de uso declara que, como parte de lor contribution a Wikipedia, le redactores accepta que le ligamines al articulos (le quales include lor historia) es un methodo sufficiente de attribution.
Detalios technic sur le contos temporari
Ubi pote io testar lo?
- Sur tote le wikis del racemo beta excepte en-rtl Wikipedia.
- test.wikipedia.org
- test2.wikipedia.org
Guarda in mente que se tracta de wikis de test. Le software sur illos pote non functionar como expectate.
In addition, le usatores con permissiones avantiate pote testar varie functiones sur Patch Demo, disponibile sur T369637.
Quante tempore dura un conto temporari?
Un conto temporari continua a functionar durante que le cookie persiste. Le cookie es actualmente definite pro expirar tres menses post le prime modification.
Ecce le scenario le plus commun in le quales un conto temporari essera irrecuperabilemente perdite:
- Le usator rade le cookies in le navigator.
- Le usator elimina le profilo de navigator usate al momento de creation del conto temporari.
- Le usator usava un fenestra ‘incognito’ (de navigation private) e ha claudite le fenestra.
- Le cookie ha expirate.
Si un conto temporari es perdite, alora un nove conto temporari, con un nove nomine de usator, essera automaticamente generate le proxime vice que le usator publica un modification. Si un usator vole un conto permanente, ille pote crear gratuitemente un conto registrate a omne momento.
What happens if the software can't set the temporary-account cookie?
If it's not possible to set a cookie, for example the browser is configured to block all cookies, the editor would have their edit saved successfully. However, the temporary account would be a single-use one, and it would be deleted immediately.
I support privacy protections, but why does this involve tracking cookies?
This cookie is not a tracking cookie.
Tracking cookies are used to track your browser history and activities, typically across multiple websites. We are adding a cookie to attribute your editing activities to the same username across multiple IP addresses and multiple websites (all SUL-connected wikis). It is a lot like a tracking cookie, but we’ve chosen not to call it that.
Does the temporary accounts system work the same way across different devices, or is it only reliable in desktop browsers?
Temporary accounts should work equally well on phones, tablets, and desktop devices. A temporary account is tied to both a browser and device. As long as those don't change, the temporary account will persist.
Es le nomine de usator temporari unic inter differente wikis?
Si.
Si User:~2024-1234567 appare sur plure wikis connectite per SUL, tu pote esser confidente que se tracta del mesme conto.
Why is the year included in the temporary account username?
We decided to include the year in the name so that it is easier to identify newer accounts from older ones. You will also notice expired usernames appear struck out for the same reason.
How many accounts do you expect will be generated? Is there a limit to how high that number can go?
We do not anticipate this to be a problem:
- Temporary account creation is rate limited. This means it's not possible to abuse account creation with automated scripts.
- Because the temporary account usernames are prefixed with the year, at the start of every year the username gets a "reset". This way the username cannot get very long.
Have you considered that the tilde character isn't simply available on keyboards?
Yes, accessing the tilde character (~) is not easy on mobile phone keyboards.
It is available through the symbols menu.
Unfortunately, this is the case for most symbols.
We wanted to minimize renaming existing accounts and avoid characters that could interfere with URLs or hold special meaning.
After assessing many prefix options (see T332805) we chose the tilde.
E si le contos temporari es activate solmente sur alcun wikis?
Alcun wikis (de proba) ha activate le contos temporari, alteres non.
Sur le wikis que ha le contos temporari activate, le redactores non registrate appare como contos temporari. Sur le wikis sin contos temporari, illes appare ancora como adresses IP. Quando le usator temporari passa de un wiki al altere, ille apparera como un conto temporari in un wiki e como un adresse IP in un altere.
Isto pote crear un problema con alcun functiones que depende de haber un identitate de usator persistente inter wikis. Si tu function(e) es toccate per iste cambio, per favor veni parlar a nos sur le pagina de discussion o per medio de Phabricator.
Accesso a adresses IP
Qui pote vider le adresses IP de contos temporari?
Stewards, CheckUsers, administratores global, administratores local, e altere membros del communitate qui satisface certe limines de qualification, assi como certe membros del personal del Fundation Wikimedia.
Il ha riscos de confidentialitate associate con adresses IP. Es pro isto que illos essera visibile solmente pro personas que ha besonio de iste information pro poter efficacemente investigar o impedir varie violationes del politica.
See also:
- Access to temporary account IP addresses legal policy
I have a qualified account. How can I see the IP addresses?
Please follow your community's guidelines to request this right from admins and/or bureaucrats and/or stewards (as defined by your community). Once you have been granted this right you may go to the page Special:Preferences, find the section Revelar adresses IP de contos temporari, check the checkbox, and hit Save. Please read the note:
Ante de activar iste parametro, tu debe leger e acceptar le “Politica concernente le accesso al adresses IP de contos temporari”. In particular:Tu non debe acceder a, usar o divulgar information sur le adresses IP de contos temporari excepte si es rationabilemente necessari pro le investigation o application de mesuras contra vandalismo, abuso, spam, molestia, comportamento disruptive e altere violationes del politicas del Fundation Wikimedia o del communitate. Si tu decide condivider le information con alteres, tu debe prestar attention a ubi e como tu lo face, e tu debe remover le information quando non es plus rationabilemente necessari que alteres lo vide.
Altere usatores con accesso al adresses IP de contos temporari potera vider que tu ha activate iste option.
Will I need to sign any non-disclosure agreement?
You do not have to sign any separate document; you just opt-in, and thereby confirm that you will follow the relevant policies and legal guidelines.
There is the access to nonpublic personal data policy (ANPDP). It is a legal policy from the Wikimedia Foundation about how checkusers and people with certain other roles must protect non-public personal data that they obtain in the course of their duties. Volunteer admins and patrollers do not need to sign it. However, you will need to opt-in to access to IP addresses through Special:Preferences at your local wiki.
How will editors apply for this new user right?
This is automatically assigned to users who have permissions related to anti-abuse tasks, as defined in the policy. The only step they need to take is to opt-in when it becomes available at their wiki.
Other users need to apply for the right, and administrators or stewards can grant these rights.
The Wikimedia Foundation is not requiring a process equivalent to becoming an admin in the largest communities. Communities may choose to handle these requests via their existing processes, or to set up new pages. For example, the English Wikipedia may choose to take requests at w:en:Wikipedia:Requests for permissions, and the German-language Wikipedia may choose to handle requests at w:de:Wikipedia:Rechtevergabe, and the Ukrainian Wikipedia may choose to handle requests at w:uk:Вікіпедія:Заявки на права патрульного. Very small communities often take similar requests on their village pump.
For "other users" (as they are categorized in the policy), is it possible to bundle this right with an existing group, like patrollers?
No, at least not currently. This is what we announced in May 2025:
- Separation of the new right (
checkuser-temporary-account) out to a new group (Temporary account IP viewers), as opposed to technically attaching it to any existing group (like patroller). We have decided to do this for a few reasons:- Having access to IP addresses carries risk. This right is similar to checkuser. IP addresses are considered personally identifiable information (a kind of personal data). Outside actors who want to access IP addresses will now need to interact with users who have this right. Users with this right should be aware of this, and alert to the possibility of suspicious access requests.
- Good practices for privacy protection. Giving access to users who are trusted but do not need access to carry on their work is not in line with good practices for processing personal data.
- Removal of right. Access to IPs will be logged (example). If any misuse of this right is detected, it can be taken away separately from any other permissions the user may hold. It would be difficult and sometimes also unreasonable to remove the rights unrelated to access to IP addresses.
- You may grant the new right to all users belonging to a certain existing group individually. These users must meet the criteria for Temporary account IP viewers, though.
- For clarity – all this does not affect administrators, bureaucrats, checkusers, stewards, and other groups mentioned in the global policy.
We have also documented this decision in Limits to configuration changes.
My community wants to set higher requirements. How do we do that?
Each wiki can set its own process with standards higher than the minimum. Make sure that consensus of your community does not contradict the global policy, and instead, adds requirements of your choice to the global ones.
When will the user right become available? When can we start assigning it?
The user right has already been added to the MediaWiki software. Communities can start giving the right at any time.
The minimum requirements for non-admins are too high
This may occasionally be true, such as when a wiki is newly created. In such cases, contact the stewards.
I'm an admin, but I don't want this user right
You won't be able to see any of this information unless you enable the preference.
I believe that someone is misusing this information
Please report privacy-related concerns to the ombuds commission. To ensure accountability, logs are kept of tool usage and of which users have access to the tool.
Other concerns about potential misuse may be brought to a steward by placing a request on m:Steward requests/Permissions#Removal of access. Stewards are authorized to block a user’s access to IP addresses if they determine that misuse occurred. This will prevent access even if the user would be automatically eligible or has been granted access through a community process.
If someone is blocked, are they able to use this right?
If a user is blocked sitewide, the software won't let them reveal IP addresses. If they have a partial block, they are able to use this right.
Access to IP addresses – moderation workflows and blocking
What happens if a temporary account is associated with multiple IP addresses?
When a user reveals the IP address of a temporary account from a history/log page, in most cases the IP revealed is the one responsible for that specific action. To view a temporary account's editing history, one can use the page Special:IPInfo which is linked from the temporary account's contributions page.
What if a temporary account holder needs to be blocked?
Temporary accounts' IPs will be stored for a period of 90 days. IP addresses can still be blocked. Temporary accounts can also be independently blocked, including global blocks and autoblocks.
Can't an abuser just clear cookies?
Yes, they can. Temporary accounts are not intended to solve any anti-abuse problems.
We know the problem of abusers making edits through a pool of changing IPs while masking browser agent data. This cannot be solved through temporary accounts. This is not a design goal for this project either. Otherwise, we would need to use trusted tokens, disabling anonymous edits, or fingerprinting, all of which are very involved, complicated measures that have significant community and technical considerations.
We have adapted tools to ensure that trusted functionaries can safely and efficiently navigate the bidirectional mappings between temporary accounts within the last 90 days and IPs. However, abuse from a user who clears cookies may become difficult or impossible to detect and mitigate for users without advanced permissions, or if some of the edits involved are more than 90 days old.
If a user clears their browser cookies but continues using the same IP address, will there be any way to connect them back to their previous temporary account?
Especially in shared environments like universities and schools, where multiple unrelated users might be using the same IP, how will the system handle that?
If a user clears their cookies and edits again, they will be granted a new temporary account. This can only happen a maximum of six times per day after which the account creation limit will be reached. Users who have access to view temporary account IP addresses will be able to make the connection between IPs and temporary accounts through the page Special:IPContributions.
Will temporary accounts be covered by the autoblock mechanism?
Autoblocks stop vandals and other high-risk users from continuing to disrupt the projects by immediately creating a new account. Autoblocks for temporary accounts are the same as autoblocks for registered users. (IP addresses are not available to the public.)
More information is available in phab:T332231. Temporary accounts can also be blocked via global autoblocks.
How to do moderation work without exposing other users' private data?
We have a few tips, both for community members who can't block other users, and for admins:
- We recommend focusing on asking admins to block temporary accounts instead of asking to block both temporary accounts and IPs. This is because often, it suffices to only block temporary accounts.
- If a temporary account is blocked with autoblocking enabled, the IP they were using will be blocked for 24 hours. If a temporary account user doesn't switch IPs, there isn't a need to block their IP unless the block needs to be longer than 24 hours.
- If a user is using many temporary accounts over multiple IPs, we recommend to also ask to block the IPs. We discourage from writing down the IP addresses themselves as part of the request, though.
- We discourage from linking registered accounts and temporary accounts publicly. It would allow non-CheckUsers establish the registered account IP.
- Some connections may be traced by analyzing public logs. This is a trade-off. We limit access to different logs, but it's not always the best solution.
The current configuration of temporary accounts will make retro-patrolling impossible
Currently, the 90-day period after which the IP address of a temporary account becomes inaccessible seems reasonably long. We have consulted the Stewards on this. If you can demonstrate a need for a longer period, contact us. We are open to extending this period.
In any case, the 90-day limit doesn't apply to behavioral evidence or patterns of editing – these will continue to be visible. The number itself may be changed, and we will be paying attention to your thoughts and evidence of more difficult investigation. It is important to note that for instances of proven long-term abuse behaviors, we can publicly document the IP address for patrolling needs.
Access to IP addresses – documentation
Some communities currently have public pages for documenting the activities of some bad actors, including their IP addresses (e.g., Long-term abuse). Will this documentation still be permitted?
Yes.
The communities should treat the IPs of logged in users and temporary account holders the same on the Long-term abuse list. They may list the IP addresses when necessary, but they should refer to the abusers by their temporary account usernames.
See also:
Can we publicly document the IP addresses used by suspected (but not confirmed) bad actors who are using temporary accounts?
In general, no, but sometimes yes, temporarily.
When possible, patrollers with access to IP addresses should document the temporary account name(s) instead of the IP addresses. The exception is when the IP addresses are necessary for the purpose of protecting the wiki from abusive actions. Necessity should be determined on a case-by-case basis. If a disclosure later becomes unnecessary, then the IP address should be promptly removed.
For example, if a suspected vandal is exonerated during an investigation, then the report showing the user's IP address can be removed through oversight. That way, the IP address is only revealed while it is needed, and then is suppressed later, after it has been shown to not be needed any longer. See the related policy for more information.
When it comes to documenting connections between logged-in and temporary users, non-CheckUser-level evidence, like editing patterns may be documented publicly. Documenting publicly that a temporary account and a regular account are connected based on evidence restricted for CheckUsers would be against the policy, even if IP addresses wouldn't be documented.
If other information about non-logged-in contributors is revealed (such as location, or ISP), then it doesn't matter if the IP address is also published, right?
No. The IP address should not be published.
With temporary accounts, the public information will not be linked to an individual person or device. For example, it will be a city-level location, or a note that an edit was made by someone at a particular university. While this is still information about the user, it's less specific and individual than an IP address. So even though we are making some information available to assist with abuse prevention, we are protecting the privacy of that specific contributor better.
Experienced contributor questions
Where can I test how my advanced permissions work with temporary accounts?
Users with advanced permissions may test different features on Patch Demo available on T369637.
Is there a limitation for creating many temporary accounts from the same IP address?
Yes.
There are limits preventing from creating too many accounts from the same IP address too quickly.
- The current threshold for regular accounts is six per IP address per day (
$wgAccountCreationThrottle). - In addition to that, there is a similar limitation for temporary accounts, which is also six per IP address per day (
$wgTempAccountCreationThrottle). - We have also introduced a limit of one temporary account creation every 10 minutes. (T405565)
These thresholds can be changed if necessary.
We have investigated the ideal thresholds of the limit (T357771). We will check nuanced responses to tripping thresholds, including CAPTCHAs, temporary blocks, calls to create an account, etc. During the entire rollout, we will analyze rate limit trips (T357763). To learn more, see T357776.
With temporary accounts, can we now communicate with unregistered users through their talk pages, and will those messages remain available for 90 days?
Messages on talk pages will not disappear after 90 days. Any conversation and messages left on their talk pages will remain.
Will the issue of warnings being sent out to the wrong person, due to shared IP addresses, be resolved with temporary accounts?
Temporary account holders can receive notifications like mentions, talk page messages or thanks just like any registered account. Since temporary accounts do not change when IPs change, the likelihood that the intended user will see the notification is significantly higher.
What are the functional differences between using a Special:CheckUser on a temporary account, and revealing the IP address?
Unlike Special:CheckUser, using the IP reveal feature only shows you IP address information. This includes the IP address used for a particular edit by a particular temporary account, the last IP address used by a temporary account, all the IP addresses used by a temporary account, or all the temporary accounts edits on a given IP address or IP address range.
Why are there so many temporary accounts with zero edits?
Temporary accounts can exist with zero edits in a few situations. The first is if a temporary account is created on one wiki and then opens a different wiki in the same wiki-farm. Opening another wiki autocreates an account for them on that wiki.
Additionally, temporary accounts are not created at the moment of a successful edit save, but at the moment of any save attempt. AbuseFilter may prevent the edit from being saved. These attempts need to be logged, and in the log, each attempt needs to be assigned to a performer. This is why an account needs to be created.
What does 'Legacy IP edits' mean, visible in Special:Contributions and related pages?
This refers to edits by anonymous users before temporary accounts were enabled, whose IP addresses are visible in their usernames.
Do temporary accounts see Sitenotice or Anonnotice banners?
Temporary accounts get to see messages from MediaWiki:Sitenotice, and not MediaWiki:Anonnotice.
Are temporary accounts welcomed by Extension:NewUserMessage?
No. Temporary accounts are not registered accounts, and they are not welcomed by NewUserMessage.
See also
- Adjuta: Contos temporari – a help page for temporary account holders (temporary users)
- Wikimedia Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy
- Documentation for developers
- Help:Extension:CheckUser
- Manual:$wgAutoCreateTempUser – to enable this for your own wiki