Normal multiwrite databases require the user to claim an element before changing it. This is known as a user claim. Depending on how the database is set up when it is created, user claims can be implicit or explicit, and in either case, when a new element is created, it will be claimed to the user who created it.

User claims can be explicitly released (unclaimed) by the user during a session, and elements are always unclaimed when the user changes or exits from a module.