Schoolforge-UK:Why create an account?
From Schoolforge-UK
You don't have to log in to read Schoolforge-UK, but you will need to register to edit articles on Schoolforge-UK—anyone can edit almost any article. Registering is quick, free and non-intrusive, and it's a good idea to do so, for many reasons.
You can find a introduction to using and editing this wiki on The Wiki Way.
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User name
When you register, all the edits you make while you are logged in will be assigned to your Username. We suggest your Username should be your real name without spaces (e.g JaneBloggs). This means you get full credit for your contributions in the page history (when not logged in, the edits are just assigned to your system's IP address). You can also view all your contributions by clicking the "My contributions" link, which is only visible when you are logged in.
You will have your own user page where you can write a bit about yourself. You could use this to display a picture, and write about your background and interests, etc.
You will also have a permanent user talk page that you can use to communicate with other users. You will be notified whenever someone writes a message on your talk page.
Giving your e-mail address enables other users to contact you by e-mail. This feature is anonymous—the user who emails you will not know your e-mail address. We recommend that you do not write your email address on wiki pages, or if it's necessary, that you disguise it by using (at) instead of the @ symbol.
After you've registered, we recommend you set your browser to remember your password so that you can login quickly whenever you access this site.
Member icon
Members of Schoolforge-UK (including organisations that support us) may use this icon on their web pages 
.
To place the icon with a link on your web page, right-click on the image above and copy it into your "images" directory. Then copy and paste this HTML to the appropriate place on your web page:
<a href="http://www.schoolforge.org.uk" target="_blank"><img src="images/Sf-uk-member.png" width="165" height="40" border="0" alt="Schoolforge-UK Member"></a>
Editing options
There are many features of the MediaWiki software (which powers Schoolforge-UK) that are only available to registered users. For example, registered users can mark edits as "minor". Minor edits can be filtered FROM the list of "Recent changes". We do not give the privilege to mark edits as minor to anonymous users because we do not know who is behind a given IP address at any time, so we cannot build a basis of trust. (Please don't mark edits as minor if they are not!)
One very important feature which active contributors will likely use a lot are watchlists. You will get a new link "Watch this page" on every page you view. If you click that link, a page will be added to your watchlist. This list is basically a filtered view of the "Recent changes" page which only shows changes recently made to items in your watchlist. This way you can keep track of pages you work on without HAVING to follow all changes.
Only registered users are allowed to rename pages, a feature that is very important to maintain structure and consistency on Schoolforge-UK.
Also, you must be logged in if you want to upload images.
Some people like it, others don't: Section editing allows you to edit only the part of a page below a header (in this section, the header is the text "New editing options"). This makes it much easier to find the parts you want to edit in the wiki source.
User preferences
Aside from these features, you can customize the way MediaWiki behaves in great detail. You can change the entire appearance of the website by picking, for example, the previous "Standard" skin over the new default "MonoBook" skin, you can choose how you want mathematical formulas to be displayed, how large the editing box should be, how many pages should be displayed in "Recent changes" and much more.
Sysop status
Administrators (or sysops) can DELETE and undelete pages, protect them FROM being edited, edit protected pages, and block users for violation of our policies. They generally carry out the will of the wiki on pages such as Schoolforge-UK:Votes for deletion. For obvious reasons, only signed in users can become administrators. Usually it is sufficient to have done some semi-regular work on Wikipedia without clashing too much with others. If you are a signed in user and want to be a sysop, see Schoolforge-UK:Requests for adminship.
Voting, polls, elections, and reps
While in most Schoolforge-UK polls, anyone can express their opinion, whether logged in or not, your opinion may be given more weight if it is attributed to a fixed identity with a record of sensible commentary and informed edits.
Rules on more formal Schoolforge-UK votes and elections vary, but it is common to restrict formal voting to logged in users.
