Approving new users

Translatewiki.net does not use the regular sign-up form of MediaWiki. We use a custom process:

1. User selects the languages they know, user name, password and email
2. User is asked to do some example translations
3. Human checks the application and approves or declines

Alternatively, developers can sign-up by leaving a note what they develop.

The goals of this process are to keep out spam accounts and vandals.

The general guidelines for approving new users are:

• They provide translations which are not gibberish (assume good faith for languages you don't know)
• Approve requests for developer sign-ups
• Send a reminder if the user hasn't provided any translations within a couple of hours
• Send a second reminder if the the user hasn't provided any translations within a day

It is a known issue that the sign-up process can be confusing, so use your judgement. For example if you see a common name or email address from a known person you can still approve the account.

The new user approvers should coordinate with each other, for example if there are vandals that try to sign-up repeatedly. In some cases you might want to defer to a system administrator who can run a CheckUser.