[WikiEN-l] Anons banned from creating articles

Wed Dec 7 15:45:30 UTC 2005

The Cunctator wrote:

>Let me make a practical example: say I, a longtime user, want to
>create a new article but I'm not at my home computer. To do so I have
>to log in again; I have absolutely no memory of my password. Before
>Monday, I could still easily create the password. Now I have to have
>the system send me a new password, open up my email, enter the new
>password, and remember to change my settings at home with the new
>password. These are new hurdles that I may not want to go through, so
>no new article.
>  
>
Ah, now I see: This "experiment" is, truth be told, an Alzheimer
prevention program to make you remember your password! :-)

Seriously: While a scientific experiment is open in its outcome, it is
in some way designed along an expectation, namely that your working
hypothesis is correct. Only if the experiment shows that this hypothesis
is false, you will consider altering or abandoning it.

I think that's the case here as well. While the outcome is open, the
expectation is that it will help wikipedia and, thus, stay. If it turns
out that, *unexpectedly*, it does harm to wikipedia, I'm sure Jimbo will
be the first to get rid of it.

And for the situation you mentioned: Why not create a user account and
write, on the user page, "This is User:XYZ who forgot his password"?
That way, the new article can still be credited to you (through the user
page). If you, however, would create a new article as an IP, it would
not be credited to you.

Magnus