Related: T289799: [REQUEST] Investigate decrease in New Registered Users

Growth-Team this might be of interest to you?

Related: T280133: Add an extra description block to the registration form on Special:CreateAccount, T282494: Create field for username assistance at the Special:CreateAccount page

In T290376#7332820, @Majavah wrote:

Related: T289799: [REQUEST] Investigate decrease in New Registered Users

Growth-Team this might be of interest to you?

Thanks, we will discuss how and if it could fit into our work.

If I were a wiki admin, I'd just change "Username" (MediaWiki:userlogin-yourname) to "Public username" and remove the top text which is mostly just stating the obvious.

@Tgr that would be an insufficient response. It may be stating the obvious to you, but to the *many* editors who have come to functionaries in very tough situations (harassment or even legal trouble) after using a publicly identifiable username who registered prior to this message, it certainly was not. This was what prompted us to post this message in the first place.

Do you think this is because users didn't understand that their username would be public, or because they didn't sufficiently consider the potential implications? Did the extra warning reduce the incidence of username-related harassment?

How does this work on other websites that host user-generated content? All that I can think of make the username public, but I can't think of one with a similar warning. Facebook even has a realname policy (granted they aren't exactly a role model in how to handle harassment risks responsibly).

In T290376#7335240, @Tgr wrote:

Do you think this is because users didn't understand that their username would be public, or because they didn't sufficiently consider the potential implications? Did the extra warning reduce the incidence of username-related harassment?

How does this work on other websites that host user-generated content? All that I can think of make the username public, but I can't think of one with a similar warning. Facebook even has a realname policy (granted they aren't exactly a role model in how to handle harassment risks responsibly).

One difference with other sites that host user-generated content is that on Wikipedia it's very difficult to permanently delete content you've made in the past. The username probably wouldn't be such a big deal if you could edit your own edit history, if needed.

As I requested at T282494, I think the best solution is to move the advice about usernames to just below the username field, just as the advice on choosing a password is just below the password field.