UESPWiki:Account Pseudonymization Requests

This page can be used to request a permanent pseudonymization of your account name and randomization of your password. If you merely want to rename your account, please post your request on the Administrator Noticeboard. Similarly, if you only want to disassociate your e-mail and/or real name from your account, you can do this yourself by going into your preferences and deleting the information there. Pseudonymization takes that a couple of steps further, but is still limited in scope. Please be aware that, by its nature, pseudonymization is permanent and will effectively bar you from the account. Once your account has been renamed, you will have no way of conclusively proving that the account ever belonged to you, so if you decide you want to edit the wiki as a named user after that, you will have to create a new account.

Pseudonymization is a discretionary service, not a right. The main purpose of the service is to disassociate your username from your contributions, but it does not guarantee anonymity. This service is only available for accounts in good standing and may not be used to circumvent a block/ban or to avoid scrutiny. It should also not be used as part of a clean start, as it's likely to draw attention to the fact that you're doing so.

If you have made no edits to the wiki, then this service is not necessarily for you. Unless your account name includes unique identifiers, it is improbable that someone could use your account here to find you. Keep in mind that unless your account name is fairly unique, it's not likely to identify you specifically (e.g., an account named JohnSmith doesn't imply that the account holder is a particular John Smith or even that their real name is actually John Smith). If you remove any personal information in your preferences, then the only remaining identifier would be any IPs used when logging in, which are only visible by accessing our servers and typically only kept for a few months. IPs also change over time and can be forcibly changed by any of several methods.

Account deletion simply isn't possible with MediaWiki software, nor is it possible under the licences that you agree to when making any contribution to this wiki. In regards to the right to erasure in the EU's General Data Protection Regulations, Article 89 of the GDPR allows for pseudonymization in cases of archival. You can see further discussion of both the technical and legal issues of the GDPR on MediaWiki.

Limitations
What Pseudonymization Will Do
Remove your e-mail and real name from your account. You may do this part yourself prior to making the request, if you wish.
Remove the record of who made the request.
Rename your account and password to randomly generated values. This will effectively remove access to the account. User name randomization uses a site designed for the purpose, so randomized user names don't significantly stand out from other user names.

What Pseudonymization ''Won't'' Do
Prevent administrators from linking your former account name to your current account name. Because MediaWiki logs all name changes, administrators can always access historical account names. This does not, however, enable them to track your real name or e-mail address. Once that information is gone, it's gone.
Remove any blocks or similar logged actions from the account history.
Remove any historical edits you have on the wiki. By extension, this means that any articles you have created will also not be removed. While unusual, you may request deletion of your user page and any subpages of it, if so desired. Removing your user talk page generally goes against our policy; however, if there are no conversations of any importance (particularly warnings or bans), administrators may consider allowing it. This is left to the discretion of the administrator.
:Note: If your edits include signed talk page contributions, users examining the contribution history may be able to link your pseudonym to your historical account name. There is no current workaround for this limitation.

Administrative Procedure
Remove the user's request, either by undoing it and then using revision-delete or by deleting this page and doing a selective restore. (Be sure to keep track of their name.)
If requested, delete the account's user page. Deleting the account's talk page is left to your discretion, but should usually only be done if their are no notable discussions on the page.
Rename the user.  The new user name should not stand out from other user names, so either make up a reasonable-sounding user name or use a user name generator to do so.
(Server administrators only) Randomize the user's password and remove/alter their e-mail address.
Option 1: Use the database to remove their e-mail address, then set their password to a strong, random password using changePassword.php.
Option 2: Use resetUserEmail.php to set the e-mail to a fake address, like  . This will automatically randomize the password. Note that this method also flags the e-mail address as verified, even if it's fake.

How To Make A Request
Post your request below as you would for any normal talk page. Requests will only be honored if your account is in good standing. If you would like your user or user talk page to be deleted (subject to the notes above), please mention that in your request. Note that deletion logs are currently public, so requesting user page deletion makes it more likely that someone will connect the old account to the pseudonymized one. DO NOT sign your request or use your account name in your request if your edit history is minimal prior to the request. This can help to unlink your previous account name from the randomized one. Note that only server administrators can complete the final step of pseudonymization, so it may take some time for requests to be completely fulfilled.

Requests
None.