Editing Help:Logging in (section)

== Logging in ==
Creating a [[user account]] means that you supply a [[Wikipedia:Username|username]] (your real name or a [[nickname]]) and a [[password]]. The system will reject a username that is already in use. A user account is created only once. You are then "logged in". The next time you log in, you supply your username again and demonstrate with the password that you are the same person. (Do not share your password with other people; this can allow them to misuse your account, which could lead to it being blocked.)

Edits that you make are recorded under your username. If you are not logged in your edits are labelled in [[Help:Page history|page history]] with your [[IP address]].

User accounts created since May 2008 will be "unified" (that is, accessible from all [[Wikimedia]] projects). An older, non-unified account can be unified at [[Special:MergeAccount]]; unified users can use that page to check the status of their unified account. Preferences are currently set independently on each wiki. See [[m:Single login]].