How should my students choose Wikipedia usernames?

answered 2016-08-16 11:32:13 -0500

Adam (Wiki Ed)

Your student's username will identify them on Wikipedia to other editors in edit summaries, on their talk page and when they sign comments left for other editors.

Students can choose to use their real names, as many editors on Wikipedia do, or they can use pseudonyms--Wikipedia does not require that students choose one or the other. Wikipedia's Username Policy has guidance on how to make that choice--the username policy is also linked from the signup page on Wikipedia.

Wiki Ed does not recommend students choose a username like BIO101-ABC which appears autogenerated or shared, since Wikipedians may assume the account is shared by many users which is against the site rules.