Creating an account

The five ways to sign in, what each one gives us, and how to link them together on one account.

Browsing needs no account. Publishing, commenting, following, joining a party and using the API all do.

Ways to sign in

Method What it needs Notes
Email An address you can read A short code is emailed to you — there is no password to forget
Discord Your Discord account Returns an email only if it is verified and you grant the scope
GitHub Your GitHub account Same caveat on the email
Steam Your Steam account Returns no email at all — see below
Google Your Google account

Steam gives us no email address

Steam’s sign-in returns an identity and nothing else. An account created that way starts with no email on file, which is fine until you want notifications, or until you want to recover the account without Steam. You can add an address at any time under Account → Security.

Linking several sign-ins to one account

Signing in with a second provider whose email already belongs to an account does not create a second account, and it does not dead-end either.

We stop one step short of a session and ask “is this account yours?”. If neither side’s email was verified by its provider, you also have to read a code sent to the address before the link completes. Only then is the provider attached to the existing account.

The half-finished attempt is stored briefly and deleted the moment you accept or refuse it. Nothing about the pending provider is sent to your browser while it waits.

Manage the result under Account → Connections.

Your username and display name

Every account gets a username — the stable handle in URLs — and a display name, which is what people read. Both are case-insensitively unique, so Ashley and ashley cannot be two different people.

A brand-new account is given a generated username (modder_1a2b3c4d) so it is never in a state where it cannot be linked to. Change it under Account → Profile.

Roles

Role What it means
USER The default
SUPPORTER Backed the site — larger upload and API limits, faster scanning on their servers
CONTRIBUTOR Recognised for work on the platform
DEVELOPER, MODERATOR, STAFF, ADMIN Team roles, with progressively more of the moderation and admin surfaces

Roles change limits and access; they are not decoration. Where a limit differs by role, the page documenting it says so.

Deleting your account

Under Account → Security. Deletion cascades: your items, comments, reviews, media and sessions go with it. That is not reversible, and a sensitive action like this asks you to prove a second factor first even if you are already signed in — see Security.