Wikipedia:Welcome unregistered editing

This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

Shortcut WP:WAE

On Wikipedia, unregistered editing, also known as IP editing and incorrectly^[1] as "anonymous editing", is the editing of Wikipedia pages while not logged in. When such an edit is made, the IP address associated with the present connection will be permanently recorded in the edit history of the page that has just been edited.

While having an account has a lot of benefits, editing already existing pages without one is perfectly acceptable, and, in fact, it is very much welcomed by the Wikipedia community.

There are limited Wikipedia pages that can be edited without creating an account.

The source of edits concerns Wikipedia only in terms of how it affects their quality and their legal status; therefore, unregistered editing should be encouraged whether done by newcomers, or by even old hands wishing a return for the renewal of the prime unregistered editor experience.

Even those who have transgressed should be welcome to edit as an unregistered user, so long as they are able to do so civilly. The sanction of withdrawing such ability to contribute should only be enacted when the person has not responded to milder forms of rebuke and restriction of privileges. Even then it should always be limited in time.