7 Components: the Function Pages - Developers

ing that computer; otherwise, someone else could log in under your
name and submit articles to the wiki. To cancel the permanent login
option, simply log out explicitly using the “Log out” link.
The MediaWiki permissions system is relatively straightforward.
If you give yourself a user name, you only have “user” permissions.
You can now upload files and move pages. Yet there are two higher
levels with more rights. These are “sysop” and “bureaucrat.” Here,
you can protect and delete pages before editing. Furthermore, you
have access to a few special pages that deal with the maintenance of
the wiki (see Chapter 7.5). The only difference between the two is
that only bureaucrats can make other users sysops. Of course, the
“WikiSysop” account that we have generated during the installation
of the wiki retains bureaucrat rights.
The page Make a uner into a sysop is used to grant other users
administrator privileges. Here, just enter the respective user name,
select whether he or she is to receive “bureaucrat” privileges like
your own, and click on the confirm button. That's it. If anonymous
users are not allowed to create a new account, you'll have to also arrange
this as an administrator (see Chapter 8.1).
Once you have logged in, you will see a series of further links in
the top bar that enable you to access your personal pages. There is of
course your user page. On it, you can add information about yourself,
for example. As a complement to this page, you'll also find a
Talk page that serves as a means of communication with other users.
In step with the spirit of simplicity, both pages are nothing more
than normal wiki pages that are used for a specified purpose. However,
this does not prevent you from placing articles on your Talk
page or conducting discussions on your user page.
Every registered user has his or her own user page. On it, you'll
find two new entries in the toolbox on the lower left. “User contributions”
lists the edits the user has performed in the wiki. Should it no
longer be up to date, you will see a rollback link with which you can
restore the last version of the user. For your own contributions, you
will find the link “my contributions” in your user toolbar.
If you have placed one or more pages in your watchlist via the
watch tab, you can monitor recent changes to that page. You will receive
lists on a daily basis. Per line, you will find the name of the
watched page, a link to the “differences” from the last version, as
well as a list of the complete history, the participant that made the
modifications and, if you have sysop rights, the opportunity to block
that participant (see Chapter 7.5). Thus, you have all important administrative
functions for a particular page at your fingertips. You
could place your own page on your watchlist, in order to observe the
reaction of the rest of the wiki community to it. If the list becomes
Permissions
System
Make a user an
administrator
User toolbar
User page
Watchlist
7.3 User Administration �
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