Having an account gives you a fixed Wikipedia identity that other users will recognize.

While we
welcome contributions from unregistered editors, logging in under a user name lets you build trust
and respect through a history of good edits, and makes it easier for veteran users to assume good
faith, communicate and collaborate. Having a good name (or a pseudonym to protect your identity)
promotes more responsible editing, and more civil discourse.
Sometimes new or unregistered users are prevented from editing pages that are common targets
of vandalism (just as this page is protected, and only users with an account can edit it).
Also, bots can mistake even good-faith IP address edits for vandalism. For these reasons, edits
under a user name tend to be more successful.
Your user name may also receive recognition for good work such as Barnstars, Project
Awards, Personal User Awards, or nomination for voted accolades like Editor of the Week. You need
a fixed account identity to accumulate these pats on the back; they are not awarded to IP addresses.
As your reputation builds, it is possible to earn privileges such as rollback, sysop/administrator,
and others. It is not possible for an unregistered editor to be granted these privileges.

User preferences
As a registered user, you can customize the way pages are displayed by altering your preferences.
There, in the Appearance tab, you can change the following display settings:

 Under Skin: various options as to the appearance of the website

 Under Math: how mathematical formulas are displayed
 Under Files: how large image thumbnails should be
And various editing preferences:

 How your username signature appears on talk pages

 How pages should be displayed in recent changes
 and many others
Open research
Wikipedia accounts can gain access to the vital reliable sources via The Wikipedia Library.

Blocked?
Shared IP addresses such as school and enterprise networks or proxy servers are frequently
blocked for vandalism which, unfortunately, may also affect innocent editors on the same network.
However, registered users in good standing can request existing blocks on their IP address be
modified to affect only unregistered editors so that they can continue contributing to Wikipedia. If you
are currently blocked from creating an account, we suggest you do one of the following:

 Try again after the block on your IP address expires. Go to my contributions and follow
the Block log link at the top of that page to find the length of the block. If no block appears go
to Special:BlockList and copy the IP address which appears at the top of Special:MyPage into
the box next to "IP address for username:".
 Request an account by following the instructions at Wikipedia:Request an account.
 If your IP address is globally blocked, request an account by following the instructions
at Wikipedia:Request an account and request global IP block exemption.
See the Blocking policy for details.
 Create an account now
To create an account, click on the "Create an account now" link and fill out the required fields. This
will be logged, and your account will be created.

See also
 Help desk
Related Wikipedia information pages

 Why not create an account? – Reasons to edit as an IP.

 Advice for parents – Brief introduction to Wikipedia for parents and legal guardians.
 Contributing to Wikipedia – How and where you can help Wikipedia.
 Deleting and merging accounts – Why it is not possible to delete user accounts and the
alternatives available.
 Personal security practices – How caution should be used when posting personally
identifiable information online.
 Privacy, confidentiality and discretion – How your rights to privacy may not extend as far as
you believe.
 Request an account – How any user may request an account be created for them.
 Wikipedia is in the real world – How activity here on Wikipedia has consequences in the real
world.
 Help:Logging in – Help to log in to an existing account
 Special:ListUsers – Search usernames currently in use on Wikipedia, or those in a specified
group.