Wikibooks:No offensive usernames

This page documents a rejected Wikibooks policy or guideline proposal that should not be followed.
It is documented here for historical reasons. If you would like to open up this proposal for reconsideration, do so on the discussion page.

User names which offend other people are thought by most to be needlessly discouraging to other contributors, and distracting from the core purpose - creating an instructional resource. This might include legitimate names and long-established Internet pseudonyms that can be misconstrued, however this has yet to occur in practice.

The primary purpose of user names is to identify and distinguish contributors. This facilitates communication and record-keeping. The user name is not a forum to be offensive or make a statement. No one has a right to any particular user name. While colorful, interesting, or expressive names may add to the pleasure of Wikibooks, they are not essential.

Fairly or unfairly, the line between acceptable and unacceptable user names is drawn by the people who are offended, not by the creator of the name. If someone complains about your user name, please consider changing it, in the spirit of Wikibooks. If enough people complain about your user name (through talk pages or the mailing lists or Meta-Wikimedia), the bureaucrats will change it. Neither complaints, nor name changes should be arbitrary, but user names that are offensive to a significant number of people will be changed, not without notice, but without appeal.

Users creating accounts with aggressive, vulgar, offensive words in username, will be blocked infinitely without any warning.

Some people on Wikibooks use their real names as usernames. This certainly isn't required, but if you are having difficulty thinking of a username, please consider using your real name.