OpenWetWare:Username policy

We are considering a proposal to move all usernames to use a person's full real name. Usernames should be the same as the name you use to publish, e.g. "User:Foo Q. Bar, Jr."

Overview

Traditionally, researchers use their real, full name when giving talks, presenting posters or publishing papers. Thus, there is a strong precedent for "signing your work" in biology and biological engineering. OpenWetWare can be considered another venue for making research information available. Although OpenWetWare tends to provide a place for in progress work like protocols and status of research projects, it is still a medium for communication of research. Hence, to align OpenWetWare more closely with the norms of the research community, we are considering a proposal to encourage OpenWetWare users to use their real, full name (under which they publish) as their OpenWetWare username. This new policy may also help to ensure the uniqueness of all OWW accounts and email addresses and provide consistency in the username format. Under the proposed implementation, login will be via your email address.

Implementation

Currently, we are piloting the renaming of OpenWetWare user accounts on a trial basis. Details on volunteering for this trial are below.

We'd welcome your thoughts and comments on this proposal. Please check out the discussion on the talk page.

Mechanism

• Special:Renameuser: moves existing users, reassigns all edits and also moves all user pages to the new name
  • you need to have bureaucrat permissions to do this
  • to change your username, please add your current username and desired new username to OpenWetWare talk:Username policy. Please also make a note if you have accounts on any subwiki's.