Zelda Wiki:User Accounts

Zelda Wiki.org requires that people to set up an account to be able to edit pages. There are numerous aspects to Zelda Wiki.org's user accounts. These are described below.

Account Rights
Depending on the user's actions, he or she may acquire further access to actions and rights on the wiki. The most that the average user can expect to obtain is auto-confirmed rights.

Activating and Deactivating Accounts
Accounts are activated simply by confirming an email sent to the email address that was entered during registration. Once activated, the account is open indefinitely.

Accounts cannot be deleted or removed from the wiki; due to the nature of the database, deleting an account would cause database errors. However, an account may be disabled from use upon request by the account holder. Administrators have the ability upon request to reset and randomize the password of a user's account, making it virtually inaccessible and effectively disabled.

Duplicate Accounts
There is no reason any one user will need more than one account to access, edit, or use the wiki's many features. Any user with more than one account will have the account of their choice deleted in correspondence with this policy. Users will not be banned for creating duplicate accounts, except in cases where the duplicate is used for illicit reasons given below.

Emails
Users must have legitimate, active email addresses tied to their accounts. This is crucial not only in account activation, but in the retrieval of forgotten passwords. In the User Preferences, an option exists that enables users to contact each other off-wiki through semi-anonymous emails. Once the preference is activated, an "Email this user" link appears in the Toolbox section of the left-hand sidebar whenever a userpage is visited. Zelda Wiki.org is not capable of spamming email addresses.

Renaming Accounts
In order to rename an account, inquire upon an active bureaucrat. It is recommended that this be done sparingly; changing a name presents the server with the largest possible load from a single action on the wiki. Renaming an account turns the existing user pages into redirects as it moves them to the new name; along with names and user page data, contributions and edit count will also be redirected to the new name.

User Gender
Users may assign a gender to their accounts; with this enabled, any reference to the user will be presented with the correct gender pronoun. It is highly encouraged that users set their gender on the user preferences so that the staff and other active users can address users on a personal level when conversing.

Banning Accounts
There are a number of reasons why an account will be banned. The amount of time of the ban is based upon the reason for banning. Common reasons for banning include:
 * Abusing multiple accounts
 * Registering under more than one account to evade a block, vandalize, or other illicit purposes.
 * Inserting false information
 * Deliberately inserting a large amount of information that is completely false.
 * Inserting nonsense/gibberish/profanity into pages
 * Inserting random content into pages for purposes of causing disruption. Profanity results first in a warning, but any subsequent offense warrants a ban.
 * Intimidating behavior/harassment
 * Harassing another user, defiance of the wiki's rules, unacceptable attitude.
 * Removing content from pages 
 * Removing a large amount of content from pages and/or blanking a page.
 * Spamming links to external sites
 * Inserting links to external sites for the purpose of advertisement.
 * Unacceptable username
 * A username may contain illicit/illegal characters, words, or phrases or may be too long. Users blocked under this reason will be asked to register under a different, more appropriate username.
 * Vandalism
 * Overall destructive behavior with obvious, malicious intent.