* IP-editing-only is about the same as AccountlessUserIdentification.

Accountless user identification is actually a MisNomer since it is not the user who gets identified, but the IP-number which is in use at that very moment. As we all know, IPs are not personal for the most part. You can 'buy' a DomainName but not an IP. Therefore no user gets identified by the used IP. Not even the terminal or WorkStation gets verified by an IP. Any given DSL-Provider may assign the same IP to just any customer from within a city, whoever goes online next or even shares one IP amongst several customers for parallel use of it.

* Cookies also do not identify or verify users, they identify browsers.

* Users are identified by a UserName unique in a given NameSpace, combined with a PassWord. Those details are the basics of account. Where neither exists on account of lack of concept of account, the user could identify themselves voluntarily by adding their RealName in a given text field, if any. If the activity desired by the user does not include writing and adding to an article, than there is no identification of this kind possible. And in systems with more than 700 users, an unambiguous identification by use of only a two Initials (see explanation at RealName) is practically impossible. With increasing numbers of users in the 10th of thousands even fully written RealNames fail as a practical method. Not everybody has such an unique name like ManorainjanHolzapfel. There is a reason why in the USA the giving and using of two first- or given-names is a common phenomenon: It is a big developed nation with a high population and a developed communication infrastructure in the sense of GlobalVillage. Around 1995 when telephone(book)CDs where introduced in Germany I had reason to check the number of publicly available records of telephone "owners" with the name Michael Holzapfel (which is not my name) and found 70 entries in Germany out of a population of 80 million people. The use of several "Vornamen" as we say there is increasing since and about combined family names I don't even want to start here.

'''IP-editing only''' simply means, You do not get a chance to create any kind of account. The system does not provide account functionality for the majority of its users. Maybe your IP gets recorded when you save your edit, maybe others could look it up, maybe not. Certainly the SuperUser''''''s got an account! Control has its limits to both ends.
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CategoryWikiConcept