Interestingly, you can change the language through which you read and interact with Wikipedia. If you change to something other than the normal setting (English), your Wikipedia experience is very different (Figure 20-2).

That means that if English isn’t your primary language, you can edit pages in English, while navigating Wikipedia (and seeing the introductory text for special pages) in a language you’re more comfortable with.

Figure 20-2. This page is the same as in Figure 21-1, but with the French language chosen. You’re still at the English Wikipedia, so the titles and content of regular pages are still in English, as are URLs. But all the top and side links are in your chosen language, as are all special pages, and the standard text at the bottom of all pages.

If you didn’t set up an email address when you registered, or want to change that address, you can always do so (Figure 20-3). Having email set up has one big advantage—if you forget your password, email’s the only way you can get a replacement. (If you forget your password and don’t have email turned on, plan on starting a new user account.)

Figure 20-3. To set up or change your email address at Wikipedia, enter the email address (new or changed) at the top of this tab. Unless you want email only in case you forget your password, turn on the “Enable e-mail from other users” box, and then click Save.

If you do turn on email for getting a temporary password, you may someday get an unsolicited email from Wikipedia with a new, temporary password. You get such an email if someone else tries to log in under your user name, fails, and then clicks the “E-mail my password” link (see Figure 20-4). Unfortunately, the software has no way of knowing when someone other than the real user clicks this button. If you do get a temporary password from Wikipedia, don’t worry. Your old password doesn’t get changed automatically. Your old password will continue to work, and you can safely ignore the email. Also, any would-be hacker can’t get into your account, because the temporary password goes to your email address.

Figure 20-4. The “Log in” screen has an “E-mail new password” button. When you click this button, Wikipedia sends you an email with a new, temporary password. You can then change the temporary password to something more memorable.

When you type four tildes at the end of a posting on a talk page (Identifying Yourself), Wikipedia adds your default signature. Until late 2007, this default signature included only a link to the user page. Many editors changed their default signature, using the options here, to add a second link in their signatures, a link to their user talk page.

Since late 2007, the default signature has included a user talk page link, so that reason to change the default is gone. But if you want to change your signature, follow these steps:

Wikipedia software doesn’t enforce any relationship between the displayed link for your signature and your actual user name. For example, in step 2 you could have entered [[User talk:Your Username|Totally different name]]. But according to Wikipedia:Signatures (shortcut: WP:SIG), your signature should accurately reflect your user name. If you create a signature that’s totally different from your user name, another editor will probably drop you a polite note about changing it. If you ignore the first note, a less polite note may follow. If you persist in your position, you’ll eventually get warning from an administrator that you’re being disruptive. In short, if you don’t like your user name, don’t change your signature, change your user name (Wikipedia:Changing username, shortcut WP:CHU). (For more detail on what’s appropriate in a signature, see the box below.)

The usual password advice applies at Wikipedia: Don’t use your user name or a variant of it as your password. Don’t use something obvious like “password,” “password 1,” “letmein,” or “123456.” Don’t use an obscenity (that may seem original and unique, but it’s not). Don’t use “qwerty,” “monkey,” or “myspace 1” (these are numbers 3, 6, and 7 respectively in a 2007 survey of the most commonly used passwords).

The good news is that your Wikipedia password probably isn’t that important to others Unless you’re an admin, you don’t need an industrial strength password, nor do you need to change it every month. Just avoid the obvious. Wikipedia suggests you read the article Password strength. (Just remember that that article, like every other article on Wikipedia, can be edited by anyone.)

If you don’t want to have to log in each time you visit or edit Wikipedia, you can turn on “Remember my login on this computer”. Once you’ve done so and saved this change, the software places a cookie in your browser’s cache, so Wikipedia recognizes you each time you visit the page. This checkbox is also available each time you manually log in, so you can turn it on any time you want.

As convenient as this feature is, don’t use it if you think anyone else in your household—or anyone with access to your computer—might edit using your account. If you’ve set up Windows so multiple people share a single user account, or if you have no password on your account, then leave the box unchecked. (And don’t tell your browser to remember your password, either.)

Even if you’re not worried about anyone using your account, Wikipedia is. Wikipedia doesn’t allow sharing of user account, not even by spouses, for legal (accountability) reasons. You don’t want to have your account blocked because your teenage son vandalized Wikipedia repeatedly using your login, or because someone with whom you used to have a special relationship decided to ruin your reputation at Wikipedia by doing some “special” editing. You won’t get much sympathy from Wikipedia’s administrators.