If you have decided that you no longer want to participate on wikiHow, you can simply log out of your account and never use it again. There's no obligation to close your account. However, if you're concerned about your identity being tied to your contributions and want to tie up some loose ends, there are some ways to completely dissociate from the wikiHow account that you created. Though an account's contributions cannot be deleted, the account can be totally anonymized. The edits made from that account will never be linked to you again.

Method 1
Method 1 of 3:

  1. 1
    Go to the "Request to Change wikiHow Username" form here .
  2. 2
    Select the account closure option. It reads, "Close my wikiHow Account".
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  3. 3
    Submit your username. For "What do you want your username changed to", you can write "N/A".
  4. 4
    Wait for your account to be closed. Most requests are handled within a day or two. If, after several days, you have reason to believe your account wasn't closed, you can email jayne@wikihow.com to confirm.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 3:

If you don’t want to permanently close your account, you can follow the steps below instead. If you already followed the above steps, you don’t need to complete these steps.

  1. Remember that you are a volunteer. At wikiHow, you are never obligated to contribute. If you are no longer happy at wikiHow, and you want to quit, for any reason, all you have to do is to stop signing in. You can then choose to sign in again in the future or not; it's up to you.
    • Optionally, add {{retired}} to your talk page to let people know that you are no longer on the site.
  2. Go to your preferences. Click on Notifications and remove any e-mail address associated with your account. Just leave the email address area blank.
    • You can also click "disable" next to your "Receive emails from wikiHow" option in order to turn off email notifications. Do this if you do not want to disassociate your email altogether.
    • Click on the "My Profile" dropdown from the top of any wikiHow page. Click on "My User Page"
    • Click "Remove Profile" to remove your profile box information, and confirm when the dialog box pops up.
    • Click on the Edit tab. Highlight everything there, and delete it.
    • Click "Publish". This will make your user page blank.
    • People will still be able to see the historical user page edits, by viewing the page history. If you would like to have the history erased as well, consider full account closure.
  3. Go to the "Talk" tab on your user page, and on the talk page, press "Edit" and erase all the content. You do not need to nominate the page for deletion, however. It is unlikely that you have put any identifying information on your talk page.
    • An easy way is to press Ctrl + A ( Cmd + A on Mac) and press the delete key. Then press the "Publish" button at the bottom of the page.
    • People will still be able to see the historical talk page edits, by viewing the page history. If you would like to have the history erased as well, consider full account closure.
  4. Go to preferences and change your real name and nickname. If you leave these fields blank, your username (shown in the URL of your profile page) will be used to attribute your work.
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Method 3
Method 3 of 3:

Removing Your Data from wikiHow

  1. 1
    Email privacy@wikihow.com from the email address associated with the account.

Community Q&A

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  • Question
    Why would someone want to delete their account?
    Ruby
    Top Answerer
    They might not want to contribute to wikiHow anymore. Deleting your account is a permanent decision, unlike retiring. There are other reasons for deleting an account. For example, a user might have been using a test account that they don't need anymore, or they might have been underage and not signed the COPPA form, in which case their account gets deleted in three days to protect their privacy.
  • Question
    Can I add Retire to my user page to show I'm taking a break and then come back later?
    Guinea Piggles
    Community Answer
    Taking a break from wikiHow then coming back later is called taking a wikiBreak. Add {{wikiBreak}} to your user page to let everyone know that you're taking one.
  • Question
    Let's say I am going to not be on wikiHow for a few weeks but I'm going to keep editing after that, do I have to go on a wikiBreak or can I just not log in?
    Community Answer
    You can do either! If you want, you can let people know that you're taking a wikiBreak before you do it, but you don't have to.
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      Tips

      • You may need to clear cookies and any remembered login info related to wikiHow on your browser.
      • Leave the articles you started intact. wikiHow is a collaborative site and articles you have started can be further developed over time (unless it becomes necessary to have them deleted for other reasons provided at our Deletion Policy page).
      • It might be that you just need a wikiHow vacation. Feel free to take a break at any time.
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      Warnings

      • If you think you may want to return to wikiHow someday, don't do a full account closure. It is not reversible. If you want to leave the option for return open, do not erase your e-mail address in your preferences. Having an e-mail address there will allow you to reset your password if you forget it.
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