Wiki Patterns

Patterns for successful wiki use

User Tools

Site Tools


registration_required

This is an old revision of the document!


Registration Required

This pattern refers to the common practice of requiring users to register to edit wiki pages, yet not tying the registration to any meaningful authenticator—just to a password. The result is a wiki that is vulnerable to vandalism and wiki spam, is vulnerable to identity spoofing and other things, yet requires users to create a password-protected identity for their first edit and to log on for subsequent edits.

How do I notice it?

  • You have trouble with wiki spammers, in spite of registration.
  • You have someone registering slight variants of some trusted user's account for edits (“Barton C Massey” vs “Bart Massey”).
  • You don't get many drive-by contributions.

How do I fix it?

One way is to adopt an Open-Edit policy, allowing anybody to edit the wiki without registering, and employing alternative effective measures to combat spam.

Another is to use a Clean Permissions scheme, such as Permission Granted or Community Write

Another is to provide an incentive for registering, such as a personal profile space, which gives a person space on the wiki to tell about her/himself, and allows them more flexibility in using the wiki than just contributing to the community space.

Further Reading

registration_required.1542740363.txt.gz · Last modified: 2018/11/20 19:59 by splitbrain