Help:Logging in

You do not need to log in to use or even edit. However, logging in provides you with many additional features, and it is recommended that you log in before editing the wiki.

What does it mean to log in?
When you create an account, you supply a username and a password. You can use this later on to "log in" to your account, which means to gain access to it by supplying that username and password again in order to prove that you are the same person. Your username is public, but you should never share your password to anyone.

When you edit while logged in, the edits you make will be recorded under your username. If you edit while logged out, the edits you make will be recorded under your IP address instead.

Why should I log in?
Even though you don't need an account to read or edit, it's still a good idea to create an account and log into it, for several reasons:


 * Others will be able to recognize you by one username of your choosing when you edit pages. IP addresses are not a good way of identifying users as they are hard to remember, clumsy to use, and can change over time. IP addresses are also different in different locations, so if you edit from home and edit from school, your IP address will be different depending on where you edit. This can make it difficult for users to know who you are.
 * You can have a user page of your own where you can introduce yourself to the wiki community, and a set user talk page for others to leave you messages. These do not change, provided you use the same account, so you do not need to worry about messages going to the wrong user or missing messages because your IP address had changed.
 * You can add pages to a watchlist, which lets you monitor edits made to your favourite pages in one spot.
 * If you provide an email address with your account (optional), you can get email notifications, reset your password if you forget it, or send and receive emails from other users. Your email address is kept hidden and is not visible to anyone else.
 * You can rename pages.
 * You can configure your own user preferences, allowing you to customize how the site works for yourself.

How do I log in?
First, make sure your browser is set to accept cookies. If your browser is set to accept or reject cookies from specific sites, make sure that your browser is set to accept cookies from miraheze.org and .

Click on the 'Special:UserLogin' link at the top-right corner of the page. You will be asked to enter your username and your password in the following screen. If you do not have an account, you will need to create one first. Once finished, click on the '' button to finish logging in.

If you check the '' checkbox before logging in, you won't need to enter your username and password again when you visit using the same computer, for up to 180 days. You will remain logged in whenever you visit the wiki unless you clear your cookies for the site, or if you log out manually. If you do not check the box, you will be logged out automatically when you close the browser window. Note that you cannot use this option if your password was automatically generated by the software.

I am having trouble logging in
If you experience any issues with logging in, see the sections below.

I can't stay logged in
If you appear to be able to log in, but the website continues to display that you are still logged out, this is most likely a cookie problem. Please check your browser settings to make sure that the wiki is not in the list of sites for which cookies are always rejected. Also make sure that your computer's date and time are set correctly, as cookies may expire prematurely if they are not correct. You may also want to check with your firewall and anti-virus settings to make sure they are not blocking login cookies.

I can log in successfully, but I get logged out automatically after a period of time
This can sometimes happen when you're in a middle of an edit and suddenly find yourself no longer logged in when you try to save it. The easiest solution is to check the '' box before logging in. If you are using a public or shared computer, please log out and clear the browser's cookies after you are finished, to ensure that nobody else can access your account.

I can't click on the '' link
If you cannot click on the link, for instance because it is being obscured by other text, try visiting this link and bookmarking it for easy access in the future. This problem usually occurs in browsers that are using a large minimum font size.

My username and password are declined
Keep in mind that all characters of your username (except the very first character) and password are case sensitive, meaning that capitalization does matter. If your username was "John Doe", then "John doe" (with a lowercase "d") will not work.

I forgot my password
You will need to have a valid email address registered to your account in order to recover it. See Help:Reset password for details on how to recover your account.

Unified login
is part of the Miraheze family of wikis, and all wikis on Miraheze share the same account system. This means that you only need to register for one account (and remember only one username and one password) in order to have access to all wikis on Miraheze. If you visit another wiki on Miraheze while logged into your account, you will not need to reenter your username or password, nor will you have to create a new account, in order to start editing on that wiki.

Logging out
You can log out at any time by clicking on the '' button at the top-right corner of the page. When this is done, you will no longer be logged into your account, and any edits you make will be attributed to your IP address once again. If you are using a public or shared computer, you should also delete the browser's cache and cookies to make sure that nobody else can access your account. On Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, you can quickly access the tools needed to delete this data by pressing.

Security
You should always keep your account secure and follow good practices to keep others from using your account.


 * 1) Never give your password to anyone. Ever! Do not give it to people claiming to be administrators or staff; real administrators and real staff members have no reason to ask for your password.
 * 2) Only enter your password on a Miraheze site. Beware of fake sites that look and behave exactly like the real one, but are set up to actually steal your password! If you want to be sure, enter  manually into your address bar instead of following links or copy and pasting addresses before logging in.
 * 3) Keep your computer and your web browser up-to-date with any software updates and patches. Most modern web browsers, like Chrome and Firefox, should automatically update themselves by default in order to keep you secure.
 * 4) If you log in on someone else's computer, or a public or shared computer used by multiple people, remember to log out when you are done.
 * 5) Be careful when running user scripts on your account, as they can be programmed to steal your login information.
 * 6) Consider using two-factor authentication to further boost your security in the event that someone does steal your password, and consider setting up a committed identity to prove who you are in the event that all else fails.