 | This help page needs to be updated. The reason given is: this manual may contain out of date images. Please help update this help page to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (February 2020) |
You can edit Wikipedia articles to your heart's content—for the rest of your life even—without ever registering with Wikipedia. But the sooner you register (that is, get a user name), the sooner you'll have the benefits of a user account—like being able to create entirely new articles and to monitor changes to articles. A user account costs nothing, and you don't even have to provide any personal information. In fact, having an account actually protects your privacy better than editing anonymously, since you don't give away an IP address any more.
In this chapter, you'll learn more about the perks of a user account, get some suggestions on picking a user name, and find out about the personal user pages you can set up after you register.