Help:Registering with Ballotpedia
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Contents |
If you want to contribute material (text, images, etc.) to Ballotpedia, the first step is to register with a user name.
Registration is simple!!
Choosing a user name
When you are logged in under a registration name, you will be identified on Ballotpedia by your user name. This may be your real name if you so choose, or you may choose to publish under a pseudonym, which is whatever user name you selected when you created your account.
When using a Username, your IP address will not be available to the public except in cases of abuse, including vandalism of a wiki page by you or by another user with the same IP address.
Providing an email address when you register
One of the options available when you register is to provide your email address. It's just an option, but one you may wish to consider, because if you provide your email address, Ballotpedia can arrange to send you email notices about Ballotpedia from time-to-time, including special projects or significant developments.
Your "user page"
Once you've become a registered user, Ballotpedia automatically generates a user page and an associated user talk page for you.
- Here's an example of a user page.
- Here's an example of a "talk page".
As soon as you have completed your registration process, if you look in the upper right of your screen, your user name will appear in red. Immediately to the left of your user name, you'll see "my talk" in blue. That's your user "talk" page.
You can put as much or as little (or no) information as you like on your user page. You can use it to link to articles you've written, or projects you're starting or working on. You can use it to add hyperlinks to articles that don't currently exist on Ballotpedia but which you'd eventually like to write. That kind of list on your user page is a nice way to remind yourself of projects you're working on.
Normally, you are the only person who will edit your user page. Similarly, you would not expect to edit the user pages of other users. The way that editors/users/contributors connect to talk about articles, editing and projects is through their respective user "talk" pages, article talk/discussion pages, or project pages.
For example, you might visit the user talk page of another editor, say hello, ask a question, or congratulate them on an especially good article, and so on.
User data
If you register and become an editor, each article you edit will contain a history of your edits to it. If you'd like to see what this looks like, go to the top of this page and click on "history". There, you will see a list in reverse chronological order of the registered user names of everyone who has ever made any changes to this page.
Passwords
Ballotpedia's value will depend on the reputation and respect that is built up through a history of valued contributions, useful articles and information about ballot propositions and measures, and reliable information. User passwords are the only guarantee of the integrity of a user's edit history. All users are encouraged to select strong passwords and to never share them. No one shall knowingly expose the password of another user to public release either directly or indirectly.
Cookies
The wiki will set a temporary session cookie whenever you visit the site. If you do not intend to ever log in, you may deny this cookie, but you cannot log in without it. It will be deleted when you close your browser session.
More cookies may be set when you log in, to avoid typing in your user name (or optionally password) on your next visit. These last up to 30 days. You may clear these cookies after use if you are using a public machine and don't wish to expose your username to future users of the machine. (If so, clear the browser cache as well.)
