Username Policy

Per this request for comment, this policy outlines what usernames are and are not acceptable on Miraheze. The following criteria denote what is considered unacceptable for usernames.

Usernames that are offensive, contain insulting material, harass a user or are in violation of any global Miraheze policy. Usernames that give the impression that the account in question has permissions which it does not have (e.g. "administrator", "bureaucrat", etc.). Usernames that are deliberately similar to other usernames in the possible scope of impersonation (i.e. user a is called "Example", user b is called "Examplee"). Usernames that contain phone numbers or email addresses. Usernames that contain the exact name of a wiki (e.g. a user named "Metawiki") or the name of Miraheze unless the account is ran by that wiki's staff. Usernames which could be easily misunderstood to refer to a "bot" or a "script" (which alludes to automated editing processes) or indicates it is part of the mediawiki software, unless the account is of that type. Usernames that seem intended to provoke a reaction ("trolling").

== Enforcement == If an account that does not respect this policy is created, they should be warned, linked to this policy and invited to change their username. If they make edits or logged actions on a wiki globally and ignore the warning from a Steward, they may be locked for violating the policy.

Warnings given should be posted on wikis where the user is active and will see them.

Clear cut cases of bad faith violation (ex. a clear impersonation of a complicated username, usernames with clear intentions to attack others, usernames that violate policies) don't have to be warned and can be locked on sight.

=== Leniency === When considering cases, Stewards should be more lenient towards accounts which do not appear to be created with malicious intent, especially when locking. Stewards have the right to apply discretion and not enforce the policy in good faith or borderline cases and/or apply an exemption to the account.

=== Appeals === For the time being, appeals for this policy should be directed to the locking Steward, or the Steward body as a whole. This does not include violations of the Code of Conduct or Terms of Use, which may only be appealed to the Code of Conduct Commission and Staff body respectively. When in doubt, a Steward will direct the request to the proper venue.

=== Existing accounts === Usernames which already exist and that do not respect this policy (after it is in effect) will be given a warning and invited to change their username immediately, if they are confirmed to be active globally after the warning and do not change their usernames in a period of 3 months, they will be globally locked.