Inkipedia:Policy/Username

Inkipedia has restrictions on what is admissible as a username. These requirements are covered by this policy.

This policy does not describe user signatures.

Summary requirements

• Usernames must be in-keeping with other existing policies:
  • Usernames must not be inappropriate.
  • Usernames must not contain personal information or advertisements, such as your, or someone else's, name, address, emails, phone etc.
  • Usernames must not be written to troll or vandalize.
• Usernames must not be misleading or be an impersonation.
• Usernames must not be disruptive.

Requirements

The username must represent you

• The username must not imply that it will be used by more than one person, for example TheSmithFamily.
• The username must not imply to be a part of, represent, or impersonate, a company, business, website, organization, event, etc., for example NintendoAmericr.
• The username must not imply a protected role, position, or title within the real-world, for example POTUS or UN Leader.
• The username must not be promotional in nature.

The username must not be misleading

• The username must not resemble system-like messages.
• The username must not contain user permission names or staff roles, such as 'admin'.
• The username must not imply it is a bot account when it is not.
• The username may be Splatoon related, including representing fictitious people and titles. For example the username Grizzco Employee may be admitted.
  • However, the username should not directly overlap with material that Inkipedia covers. For example User:Splatoon 3 will likely be disruptive to the search functionality of Inkipedia.
  • Administrators may find usernames disruptive, trolling, or impersonating in breach at their own discretion.
• If the username is too similar to that of another user, especially active users, it may be found in breach.
• If the username was registered to a user, who has been recently renamed, it may be found in breach.

The username must be appropriate and sensible

• The username must not be offensive, profane, inflammatory, threatening, or generally inappropriate.
• The username must not promote hate speech, violence, or illegal activities.
• The username must not be disruptive:
  • Usernames must not solely be punctuation.
  • Usernames must not contain non-language symbols (for example ♥ ✀ ✔︎ 🃏) or emojis.
  • Usernames must not be more than 32 characters long. There is no prescribed minimum.
  • Use of decorators and emoticons around the "actual" username is highly discouraged and in breach if disruptive.
• The username must not contain personal information or advertisements, such as your, or someone else's, name, address, emails, phone etc.
  • The username must not resemble a telephone number, address, or IP.
• The username must not contain leaked or non-public information.

The username must be in comprehensible script

• Usernames must be written with comprehensible language script.
• Usernames do not have to be English.

We encourage editors to use Latin characters only as a username, however this is not required. Usernames in non-Latin script writing systems are welcome, providing that the registered name follows the rules on this page. There is no requirement that usernames must be in English or Latin-characters only.

This is because Inkipedia is an inclusive community and also written in languages other than English (French, Spanish), in which users are encouraged to use the same username. In future, Inkipedia may expand the wiki family into other languages.

Please note that usernames in non-Latin script may appear illegible or may not display correctly to other contributors, and not every user's keyboard or input device may have immediate access to non-Latin characters. As a courtesy and to avoid confusion or mistaken identity, we encourage users with such usernames to provide a Latin-character transliteration of their username on their userpage, and/or as their signature.

Copyrights and trademark enforcement

Due to a large amount of username sign-ups and manual checking of these legal registrations, Inkipedia cannot technically and actively block usernames from being infringing.

We humbly request trademark and copyright holders get in touch with a bureaucrat by email, talkpage, or Discord to resolve any disputes.

Grandfather clause

This policy has come into effect long after the establishment of Inkipedia. As such, usernames created before 15 January 2024 are exempt, with exceptions:

• The username violates another previously-established policy
• The username is copyright or trademark infringing, and Inkipedia has received a take-down request
• For any reason at the discretion of a bureaucrat

Dealing with violations

Accounts with minimal to no edits will be blocked. For longer-standing accounts, a rename request should be submitted citing this policy (and the waiting period will be waived).

If you see a potential violation, please write on the user's talk page first to discuss. For blatant violations, please inform an administrator.

Unacceptable examples

Name	Reasoning
zack-and-codys-account	Implies more than one person.
BestPCDeals	Promotional in nature.
RealDonaldTrump	Impersonation.
King of the Britons	Impersonation; protected real-life role.
UserAccountOwner	Misleading role.
MediaWiki	Misleading system username; impersonation of company.
BotManager	Implies a bot account or a privileged role.
555EvergreenTerrace	Resembles an address.
Inkipedia-Admin	Impersonating a user permission role; impersonates Inkipedia.
Screw-people	Promotes hate speech; inappropriate
JoDoe1995	Contains personal information (name and birth year).
FBISpecialAgent	Misleading, resembling a real-world role.
Happy☺️😎🍕	Emoji are not permitted.
[email protected]	Contains personal information (email address).
CocaColaHR	Represents a company.
Nin10do	Impersonation of company.
127.0.0.1	IP addresses are not permitted.
♡~Agent 8~♡	Heart not permitted; decorator may be disruptive.
:3c	Emoticon-only not permitted.
Marina ;)	Disruptive due to the wiki covering Marina; has an emoticon.

A note on the permanence of usernames and accounts

It is not currently possible to merge user accounts and is not possible to ever fully-delete user accounts, as all contributions must be assigned to a username.

Editors that wish to be forgotten can apply for a rename and we will rename the account to something like User:FormerUser1. As always, editors may mark their userpages for deletion, and should remove their email from Preferences.

Other user-related policies

Summary	Policy
One account per user	Inkipedia:Policy/Multiple accounts
Changing a username	Inkipedia:Policy/Rename
Requesting rights for an account	Inkipedia:Policy/Rights
User sandboxes	Inkipedia:Policy/Sandbox
Users signing messages	Inkipedia:Policy/Signatures