Anonymous user
From Meta
Users who do not log in are said to be anonymous users, they are usually called anons. These users may edit pages which are not protected or semi-protected; their edits will appear in page histories alongside the IP address from which they were made.
On Wikimedia wikis, anonymous users were originally only at a minor disadvantage to registered users, but as time has gone on several features have become unavailable to anonymous editors. Anonymous editors cannot move pages, upload media, or maintain a watchlist. On the English and Farsi Wikipedias, they cannot create pages outside of the "talk" namespace. Because IP addresses are so often dynamic, an IP-based user page is generally impractical, and in fact disallowed on several wikis. Anonymous users are often prohibited from participation in processes such as deletion and permissions debates, or may only participate on a restricted basis (e.g. may leave comments, but may not vote).
They also are not able to select the option of minor edit as this could allow a bad-natured user to make undesirable changes and not be spotted for some time.
The public visibility of an anonymous user's IP address means that, in extreme legal cases, the computer from which the user contributes could be identified through contact with the ISP, which can eventually lead to identification of the user. In this sense, "anonymous" users are in fact less anonymous than registered users who do not reveal any personal information.
[edit] See also
- Privacy policy
- Anonymous users should not be allowed to edit articles
- Anonymous users should not be allowed to post external links
- Posting by newcomers should be limited, but not banned
