User:R6MaY89/Anonymous editing

This is an article I wrote on 2006-01-30. You may comment on my talk page, please do not create a discussion page for this article.

Anonymous editing makes up about 35% of Wikipedia edits (I remember reading this, although I can't find it now) and therefore makes up a large part of the encyclopedia. While anonymous users do seem more likely to vandalize (why create an account just to vandalize and get yelled at?), their contributions cannot be discounted and they should by no means be banned from editing. But the ways that WP differentiates unregistered users from the rest of us lead us to look upon them suspiciously. Maybe it's just that red link that makes us cautious. Or perhaps it's the experience of seeing red link users spam AfD pages just because they don't want their friends' articles to dissappear. Regardless, that red link makes Wikipedians suspicious and perhaps for good reason. When I work on Recent Change patrol, I use a certain set of specifications to maximize the chance of finding vandals.

I'll write some more when I have time.