Wikipedia:AntiSpoof
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AntiSpoof is a software feature that prevents impersonation by blocking the creation of accounts with mixed-script, confusing, and similar usernames. It also blocks the registration of previously used usernames.
For example, if user John Doe is already registered, AntiSpoof will not allow the following usernames to be registered:
- joHn dOE (capital letters in different places)
- Jοhn Doe ("ο" in Jοhn is Greek small letter omicron)
- John Dоe ("о" in Dоe is Cyrillic small letter O)
- Јohn Doe ("Ј" in Јohn is Cyrillic capital letter Je)
- John Đoe ("Đ" in Đoe is Latin capital letter D with stroke)
- Jóhn Doe ("ó" in Jóhn is Latin small letter O with acute)
- John Doe (there is a Zero-width space before Doe)
- Jøhn Doe ("ø" in Jøhn is Scandinavian oe)
- J0hn Doe ("0" is the number zero)
Checking for AntiSpoof conflicts
[edit]AntiSpoof conflicts will be shown when attempting to create an account using Special:CreateAccount. Conflicts will not be shown if your account has the ability to override AntiSpoof (see § Overriding AntiSpoof). If you need to check if a username conflicts with AntiSpoof, consider viewing Special:CreateAccount using an incognito window, so that you are logged out.
Overriding AntiSpoof
[edit]Administrators, bureaucrats, account creators, stewards, global sysops, and Wikimedia staff are able to bypass AntiSpoof checks when creating a new account. Additionally, global renamers and stewards can rename an existing account to a name that is normally blocked by AntiSpoof.
See also
[edit]- Extension:AntiSpoof on MediaWiki.org