User:Noah Salzman/accguide

NOTE: the following is a proposed change to the ACC Guide help page. I'm only proposing changing the "Using the interface" section, the text above that would not be modified from its present state.

Using the interface
After logging in, you will see the main interface (see screenshot to right), which displays a list of open requests, requests needing account creator attention, and a list of the last five closed or requests. Each open request or request needing account creator attention has a string of links, like this:

Zoom (CMT) [ Address@website.com (0) | 127.0.0.1 ( 100 ) c b r w ] WikipediaAccount (Creation Contribs List) Create! | Done! - Similar - Taken - UPolicy - Invalid - Defer to account creators - Drop | Ban: IP - E-Mail - Name

Items in green
The green group contains a link to the comments a user left when requesting the account (if any was left, otherwise, CMT disappears and the link becomes simply "Zoom") as well as other information such as:
 * other requests from these addresses (see below),
 * the e-mail address of the requester,
 * the number of other requests made by the email address (in this case, 0),
 * the IP address of the requester and the number of other requests from the address (in this case, 100),
 * and four links.
 * c links to the IP's contributions,
 * b links to the IP's block log,
 * r checks for any applicable IP-range blocks,
 * and w runs a WHOIS on the IP.

The number of other requests turns red and bold if the number is not 0. It is strongly recommended that you check the comment associated with a request if there is one.

Items in blue
The blue group contains
 * the desired username (in this case, WikipediaAccount),
 * a link to check the creation logs of the requested account,
 * a link to check the contributions of the requested account,
 * and a link to create the requested account.

Items in orange
The orange group contains the possible resolutions that can be given to a request,
 * Done if you were able to create the account,
 * Similar' if it is too similar (see below for details),
 * Taken if the username was already taken,
 * UPolicy if the requested username violates the username policy,
 * Invalid if it contains bad characters (such as #),
 * Defer to account creators if a user with the "accountcreator" permission needs to handle the request, and
 * Drop if the request is a bad request, for example (usually, a ban accompanies a drop, see below).

Note that all resolutions except the Defer... and Drop resolutions send an e-mail to the requester indicating what has happened to their request.

Items in red
The red group contains the three ban links,
 * one for banning the IP address,
 * one to ban the E-Mail address,
 * and the last to ban the requested account name.

If the request was already closed or deferred to account creators, then the "Defer to account creators" link becomes "Defer to users," which returns it to the main queue.

The "Last 5 Closed requests" queue displays just that, the last five closed requests. Clicking 'Zoom' brings you to the username's interface log, the username brings you to that user's userpage, and 'Reset' defers the request to users.

Preferences
Clicking Preferences brings you to your SQLBot-Hello setup page. It is pretty self-explanatory, so won't be covered in-depth here. In short, turning it on tells User:SQLBot-Hello to welcome all the users you create. You can also change your password there.

Bans
Any interface user can ban/unban an IP address, an E-Mail address, or a Name from submitting requests. A ban should be placed in these circumstances (as an example, there are a few more conditions, which are also more rare):


 * 1) The IP is a recent vandal or spammer
 * 2) The IP has sent multiple requests in a short period of time
 * 3) The E-Mail address is invalid (bad domain,etc.)
 * 4) The E-Mail address is obviously made-up (strings of random letters/numbers, etc.)
 * 5) The Name has been the subject of multiple vandal requests

Bans can be commented (and should be commented) at the time of the ban, and have four length options: Forever, 24 hours, One week, or One month. Again, anyone can ban/unban an IP address or E-Mail address, but abusing bans will result in loss of access (see below). Remember WP:BLOCK here - IP addresses can frequently change, so extended blocking periods are not recommended. The maximum period to use in non-exceptional circumstances is 1 week for IP addresses. Fake email addresses can be banned indefinitely, whereas a user who appears to have a valid email address can be blocked for a period of time, to allow the user to reform. Users blocked on enwiki are automatically redirected to the unblock mailing list, so we shouldn't have to handle those.

Checking for multiple requests
You can check for multiple requests from an IP address or an E-Mail address. To do so, either click the "Zoom" or "Zoom (CMT)" button next to an open request or click the requested username in the list of last 5 closed requests, or go to the logs (see below) and click a request number. At the end of the request line (like you see normally for all open requests), you will see the UTC date/time the request was submitted, and, farther down the page, a list of other requests (if any) from that IP address or E-Mail address. If there are multiple requests, please ban the offender from sending requests to the list.

Other options
In the header of every page, there are four links: Home, Ban management, Message management, and Logs. Home returns you to the request queue, Ban management shows all active bans, Message management allows you to see interface messages (much like the MediaWiki namespace on-wiki), and Logs, which shows you recent activity.