Welcome to the request an account page

This page is for requesting a Wikipedia account be created for you if you are unable to create one yourself.

This is typically due to:

  • Being unable to see or complete the required CAPTCHA image verification step.
  • Choosing a username that is too similar to an existing username (in these cases, an account creator can approve the creation of similar usernames if certain criteria are met).
  • Using a shared IP address or network connection (such as a public, school, or enterprise network) that has been blocked from editing Wikipedia, restricting you from creating an account yourself.
  • Matching certain blacklisted criteria.

To prevent the automated creation of Wikipedia accounts using bots or scripts, Wikipedia uses an image verification method (called a CAPTCHA) to assure that new accounts are being created by a real person. To further combat account creation abuse, Wikipedia also prevents the creation of new accounts with usernames that are too similar to other existing Wikipedia accounts.

If you have attempted to create an account but are having trouble with the CAPTCHA image verification step (perhaps because you are using a screen reader or a browser that does not support images), or if you have chosen a username that is too similar to an existing username, you can request an account be created for you.

Your username must represent you as an individual person

Usernames are not allowed on Wikipedia if they:

  • only contain the names of companies, organizations, websites, musical groups or bands, teams, clubs, creative groups, or organized events
  • only describe a particular role, title, position, department, or a group or team of people within a parent organization or group that can be represented or held by multiple people or by different people
  • are promotional in nature, or appear intended to advertise, promote, sell, gain support, or increase the attention or user-base audience of any person, company, market, product, channel, website, or other good or service
  • imply that your user account will be shared between more than one person
Your username must be truthful, appropriate, and not foster a negative editing environment

Usernames are not allowed on Wikipedia and will be immediately blocked upon discovery if they:

  • are offensive, profane, violent, threatening, sexually explicit, or disruptive, or that advocate or encourage any such behavior (including criminal or illegal acts)
  • contain statements that are libelous, contentious, or disparaging, or that disclose any private or non-public information about somebody else (either another editor, or a notable living person)
  • are deliberately deceptive, confusing, misleading, unnecessarily long, similar to the username of other accounts, or attempt to impersonate or falsely represent somebody else (another editor, a notable living person, an "official" Wikimedia Foundation account, etc.) in bad faith
  • imply that the account has explicit ownership of any articles, content, or topic areas, or any kind of "power" or "authority" over other editors, a different application of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines (such as implying that certain policies do not apply to them), or that the account has any administrative or "moderator" access levels or user rights
  • imply the intent to troll, vandalize, disrupt, advertise on, or spam Wikipedia
  • imply the intent to personally attack, harass, or threaten other Wikipedia users
  • imply that you are not here to build an encyclopedia or will use Wikipedia for purposes that it was not created for

Instructions

To request an account using the 'Request an Account' process, please read and follow all of the instructions below:

Before you begin

Below is a list of important items that you need to review, understand, complete, and have available to use before you proceed with requesting an account using this process:

  • You need to review and fully understand Wikipedia's Username Policy before proceeding, as any Account Request Applications that are received with a username that violates or does not comply with this policy will not be approved.
  • Take note that, in most cases, you should only use one account to make edits and contributions to Wikipedia.[note 1]
  • Understand that this is not the place to request assistance with any existing accounts. This process will not be able to assist you with changing your account's username, appealing any blocks, bans, or other sanctions that are applied to your account, removing your account using the vanishing process, or recovering your account in the event that you lose access to it.[note 2] You can always ask for help on this page if you don't know where you need to go in order to receive assistance with your account.
  • You will be required to provide a valid email address in order to submit your Account Request Application. If you do not have an email address, you will need to register one and have the ability to access it before proceeding. After completing and submitting your account request using the Account Request Application Form, you will receive a verification email with instructions within the next 5-10 minutes. You must follow the instructions provided in the message and verify your email address in order for your Account Request Application to be reviewed.[note 3]

When you are ready to begin

  1. Click on the blue "Request an account" button located below.
    • You will be navigated to the Request an Account wizard that will assist you by identifying what is causing you to be unable to create a Wikipedia account yourself, providing some common resolutions that might fix what is causing the problem, and allow you to try creating your account again using the normal Wikipedia account creation page.
    • If the wizard does not resolve the issue, or if you're directed to complete and submit an Account Request Application in order to request an account, you must fill out all fields.
    • You are required to disclose all of your alternate or existing Wikipedia accounts that you own or control, including any accounts that you've previously used, by providing the information of each one using the comments field.[note 4]
      • Account Request Applications that are received and do not disclose this information will not be approved if evidence is found that show indication that you have ownership or control of any alternate or existing accounts, past or present.
      • In addition, Account Request Applications will not be approved if evidence is found that shows that the account will be used as an alternate account for illegitimate purposes that violate Wikipedia's sockpuppetry policy (such as to hide recent or past edits or conduct, evade or circumvent blocks or sanctions, or cause disruption to the project). Additionally, your account creation request attempt(s) will be reported to other internal projects and noticeboards related to sockpuppetry and project disruption, and may result in additional sanctions being applied to you.
  2. Check your email address or mailbox for updates and further instructions regarding your Account Request Application submission.
    • If your request is approved and your account has been created successfully, you will receive an automated email from wiki wikimedia.org with your username and a randomly generated password to use in order to access it. When you log in to your account for the very first time, you will be prompted and required to create a new password before continuing. After this is done, you can begin editing and contributing to Wikipedia using your account immediately.
    • If there are issues or concerns with your Account Request Application, you will receive an email with either a request for information or with an explanation and the reason your account request could not be approved. You are welcome to use this process to try again; just use the wizard like you did before. Fill and submit a new Account Request Application with the updated or changed information.

Didn't receive your account update email?

The goal of this process is to evaluate, review, and respond to your Account Request Application within 24 hours of receiving your submission and after the email address you provided when filling out the form is verified. However, requests can commonly take to take up to 2-3 days depending on the volume of requests currently pending review and the number of ACC Tool Users that are available to process and evaluate them. In rare cases (such as server downtime or the sudden submission of an extremely high amount of legitimate Account Request Applications), responding to your submission may take longer. Please be patient; if you followed all of the directions provided to you on this page, the Account Request Application Form page, and sent to your email address to verify that it is valid, your request has been received and will be processed as soon as possible.

Before submitting another Account Application Request or inquiring about the progress of your submission, perform each step listed below:

  • Try recovering the account that you requested. If your request was approved and you just didn't receive the email containing your temporary password, you can have a new password generated and emailed to you by filling out Wikipedia's password reset form.
  • Check your email account's Spam or Junk Mail folders for the message. Most email address and mailbox services automatically include and provide a level of spam-reduction features to your mailbox account in order to prevent spam, junk, or other automated or unwanted messages from being delivered directly to your inbox. Use your email account interface's navigation pane or list of folders, locate your Spam or Junk Mail folder, and verify that the email was not automatically routed and delivered there instead of to your inbox.
  • Check through any category tabs or category folders that are automatically created and enabled by your mailbox provider. Some mailbox providers, such as Gmail, automatically create and provide folders that will automatically categorize, sort, and route your incoming email messages depending on the topic that they are about. Most of these categorization folders include names such as "Primary", "Social", "Promotions", "Updates", or "Forums". This automatic categorization of incoming messages can cause messages to skip your inbox and instead be routed and placed inside one of them.
  • Verify that the Wikimedia message wasn't accidentally or automatically moved into another folder within your mailbox. The email message containing your Wikimedia account information may have been accidentally caught, re-routed, and delivered into a mailbox folder by an email filter or rule that you've set up in order to automatically perform actions to incoming messages that meet certain conditions that you've set. Check through all of your mailbox folders to verify that this didn't happen, and that the message wasn't delivered to any of these locations instead of to your inbox.
  • Use your mailbox's search function to have it locate the message for you. If you still cannot locate the email message containing your Wikimedia account information despite following all of the steps listed above, try using your mailbox's search function to find it. Enter wiki wikimedia.org into the search field, and if the message was delivered to your mailbox somewhere, the search tool will locate and display the message in its results. You can also try searching for the email message using the words Wikipedia, Wikimedia, or password.


Are you ready to begin?

Further information

  • If you need any further information, please ask on this page.
  • To become an internal ACC Tool User who handles, evaluates, and processes open Account Request Applications that are awaiting review, please refer to the ACC guide for information.

Notes

  1. ^ There are exceptions that allow for the legitimate creation and use of multiple accounts, which are listed and detailed on this section of Wikipedia's sock puppetry policy.
  2. ^ If you cannot remember the password to your existing Wikipedia account and did not register or associate your account with a valid e-mail address, then your Wikipedia account cannot be recovered using any Wikipedia feature pages (such as the Password Reset Form). Your only option is to create a new Wikipedia account and request a usurpation of your old username.
  3. ^ In addition, your Wikipedia account must also have your email address associated to it in order for you to recover it using any Wikipedia feature pages (such as the Password Reset Form) in the event that you lose the ability to access it (such as forgetting your password). This will be automatically done for you if your Account Application request is approved and an account is created for you using this process.
  4. ^ This is usually done by listing either the username or a link to the contributions page of each account. The ACC Tool User evaluating your Account Request Application just needs to be able to find each account you disclose using this page; as long as the information you provide allows us to do this, the information you disclose will likely be accepted. Even if you know that you've used one or more accounts in the past and cannot remember their usernames or any information about them, just state so. When it comes to this requirement, any information that you can provide in good faith is better than providing no information at all.