Description:

This project focuses on a comprehensive review and redesign of the account creation experience on Wikimedia wikis.

Account creation is the first interaction many potential contributors have with Wikipedia, and the current flow is outdated, cluttered, and can create confusion.

For logged-out users, dense text, multiple warnings, pop-ups, and a complex interface can discourage registration. For logged-in users, Special:CreateAccount serves dual purposes—creating accounts for oneself versus creating accounts for others—which can lead to confusion, unintentional duplicates, and a user experience that diverges from common web conventions.

The goal of this project is to modernize the interface, clarify workflows, reduce friction, and ensure that account creation behaves as expected for all user types while maintaining necessary functionality for trusted users.

Strategic Alignment:

This project supports the Contributor Strategy by improving the earliest interactions in the contribution funnel. A clearer, modernized account creation experience strengthens clarity, engagement, and motivation for new contributors.

This work sits under the WMF FY25-26 Annual Plan Wiki Experiences 1 Objective:

• Contributions increase because volunteers are offered compelling opportunities and understand their impact.

Account Creation experiments are tracked under Wiki Experiences 1.8 Key Result:

• By the end of Q4, achieve a 5 percent relative increase in the mobile web account creation completion rate, supported by at least three controlled experiments that each deliver a minimum 2 percent relative improvement within their target audience.
• Details: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Contributors/Account_Creation_Experiments

User Stories:

As a newcomer,

• I want a clear, simple, and welcoming account creation process so that I can register easily and start editing without confusion.
• I want to understand the benefits of creating an account (e.g., tracking edits, receiving notifications, connecting with mentors) so that I feel motivated to complete registration.
• I want appropriately timed prompts to appear when I try to edit while logged out so that I can create an account without interrupting my workflow.
• I want a streamlined interface with minimal warnings and pop-ups so that I don’t feel overwhelmed or discouraged from completing registration.

As an experienced editor,

• I want to be able to create accounts for other users (e.g., for editathons or rate limited IPs) so that I can support contributors efficiently.
• I want the system to make clear when I am creating a new account for someone else versus modifying my own account so that I avoid accidental duplicate accounts.

As a temporary account holder,

• I want guidance and encouragement to convert my temporary account into a full account so that I can access a personal Homepage and continue contributing without losing my progress

Opportunities to explore:

• Modernize and clarify the account creation experience
• Simplify the interface for logged-out and logged-in users
• Make the design mobile-friendly and visually clear
• Reduce cognitive overload by removing unnecessary text, warnings, and pop-ups
• Explain benefits of account creation, such as edit tracking, notifications, and mentorship
• Audit logged-in user flows on Special:CreateAccount
• Identify pain points and confusion for users creating accounts for themselves or others
• Explore design solutions that prevent accidental duplicate account creation while preserving functionality for trusted users (e.g., event organizers)
• Align the experience with standard web UX patterns
• Experiment with engagement strategies for new users
• Streamline the “create an account” entry point from the logged-out editing view
• [In consideration]Test in-context prompts when users attempt to edit while logged out
• [In consideration] Surface account creation on mobile.
• [In consideration] Encourage Temporary Accounts to convert to regular accounts
• [In consideration] Investigate ways to reduce the negative impact of IP blocks on good-faith newcomers
• [In consideration] Experiment further with surfacing editing opportunities to engaged readers.

Measurement

This is an early draft of early ideas, a measurement plan will be drafted for specific experiments.

Primary Metric

• Increase the percentage of users who successfully create an account (measured via controlled experiments).

Guardrail Metrics

• Edit completion rate for temporary accounts and newly registered regular accounts
• Drop-off rate at each step of the account creation flow (e.g., landing on form → submitting → email verification)
• Error rate or form validation failures (to detect UX friction or confusion)
• Incidents of accidental duplicate accounts created by logged-in users

Leading Indicators

• Number of account creation form impressions
• Form submission success rate
• Time to complete the account creation process (average for logged-out vs. logged-in users)
• Bounce rate from account creation landing page
• User-reported clarity or satisfaction (via QuickSurvey or other feedback tools)

Longer-Term Vision:

This project is the first step in creating a more intentional and supportive contributor journey. By modernizing and improving the account creation experience, we can more smoothly transform initial curiosity into sustained engagement.

Related Community Discussions:

• enwiki discussion about Growth features / Mentorship for Temp accounts. "There are IP editors who are very reliable, senior, and experienced, and have been on the project for many years, and even help out very effectively at the en:WP:Teahouse, en:WP:Help desk, and other forums with good advice for new editors, registered or not."