PESWiki:Recent changes patrol
From PESWiki
- "PW:RCP" redirects here. You may be looking for PESWiki:Requesting copyright permission. NP Patrol is at PESWiki:New pages patrol.
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Recent changes patrol or RC patrol refers to the process of checking the recent changes to the wiki for harmful edits.
The patrol is entirely voluntary and carries no obligation. At its heart, it's really just a way to see that every edit gets checked in a timely manner and is given a boost on its way to becoming a "featured article", while similtaneously ensuring that the rest of PESWiki is not harmed.
| Regular RC patrollers may wish to put the RC patrol userbox on their user page by adding {{User PESWiki/RC Patrol}}: | |||
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What to do
RC Patrolling primarily consists of a four step process:
- Identifying "bad" or "needy" edits
- RC patrollers efficiently identify problematic edits. A bad edit is an edit that for one reason or another needs to be entirely removed. A needy edit requires maintenance in some manner.
- Removing or improving the edit
- Needy edits should be tagged according to their need (ie {{wikify}}), or boldly changed immediately. Bad edits should likewise be tagged or deleted. Because no PESWikins like their edits to be deleted, it is important to leave concise but clear justifications on the talk page or in the edit summary. When adding tags, please consider placing them on the article's talk page rather than in the article itself.
- Warn the editor
- In the cases of deliberate vandalism or an evident lack of knowledge on PESWiki procedure, offending editors should be warned on their talk pages. While this is an optional step, it should be a regular part of a patroller's duties, as it minimizes conflict, educates new editors and alerts admins of repeat offenders. For efficiency and consistency, standard warning templates can be found here.
- Check the user's other contributions
- You'll often find more edits with similar problems. Fix those as well.
Being nice
Throughout the entire process of RC patrol, it is important to remember not to bite the newbies. Far from being a monolithic horde of vandals, trolls, and spammers, the available evidence seems to indicate that newcomers write most of PESWiki's content.
If you see a new user, {{subst:welcome}} them if you're so inclined, and include a pointer or two of feedback about how they can make their contributions even better. Most will gladly welcome the support.
It is also important to assume good faith as much as possible, or, minimally to assume incompetence instead of malice. For example, remember not everyone is as computer literate as you; some people will accidentally blank or damage pages when attempting to cut and paste material from PESWiki. Others may not understand that, yes, their changes really are visible to the entire world.
Patrolling edits to existing pages
In general, one thing to keep in mind is not to focus only on patrolling articles in the main namespace. Image pages, for example, are freqently victims of nonsensical edits and vandalism. Such uncaught edits may be harmful due to malicious modification or collateral removal of copyright tags.
Newbie tests
Look for newbie tests (odd edits which are not vandalism), but don't bite the newcomers. Revert their experiments and leave one of the following messages on their user talk page. Be sure to timestamp (~~~~) the warning.
- {{subst:test}} ~~~~
- Thanks for experimenting with PESWiki. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks.
- {{subst:test1a}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking)
- Please be careful not to remove content from PESWikiwithout a valid reason, which you should specify in the edit summary or on the article's talk page. Thank you.
- {{subst:test2}} ~~~~
- Please stop adding nonsense to PESWiki. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you.
- {{subst:test2a}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking)
- Please do not remove content from PESWiki; it is considered vandalism. If you want to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you.
Further non-constructive edits can be viewed as vandalism, and dealt with as below.
Spam
- Look for spam. If it comes in the form of articles, nominate them for deletion with {{db-spam}}, place a Proposed Deletion tag on them with {{subst:prod|Your Reasons Here}}, or nominate them at PESWiki:Articles for deletion. If a user is posting multiple links to a particular website in several articles, revert the edits. In either case, again use warning templates.
Copyright violations
- Look for copyright violations and revert them. As per the instructions at PESWiki:Copyright problems, just revert pages to remove copyright violations. However, take care to indicate in the edit summary that this is what you are doing. If an entire article is a copyvio see the section on copyvios in the new pages section below.
Vandalism
Look out for vandalism, and revert it. It is often worthwhile to check the page history after reverting to make sure you have removed all the vandalism. Also, check the user contributions of the vandal - you will often find more malicious edits.
Additionally, leave warning messages on the vandal's talk pages using the following system.
Warning templates
Note that these templates need not be used sequentially. If the edit is clearly vandalism, consider using {{blatantvandal}} or starting with {{test2}}. For continuing severe vandalism, {{test3}} may be skipped and a {{test4}} given straight after a test2. If, however, you are not sure that the edit is vandalism, always start with {{test}} If a user made such an edit and reverted it himself, use a {{selftest}}. For extreme or extensive cases of vandalism committed by users who have received no prior warnings, {{test4im}} may be used. The ~~~~ in the templates below cause the time and your signature to be added to the warning.
- {{subst:selftest}} ~~~~ (use if an edit appears to be a reversion of a newbie test)
- Welcome, and thank you for experimenting with {{{{{subst|}}}#if:{{{1|}}}|the page [[:{{{1}}}]] on}} PESWiki! Your test worked, and thank you for reverting or removing it yourself. The best way to do tests in the future would be to use the sandbox. You can look at these pages as well: how to edit a page, the tutorial, and how to write a great article. All of these pages are good places to start. Again, welcome, and I hope that you will like PESWiki.
- {{subst:test}} ~~~~ (use if an edit appears to have possibly not been an intentional act of vandalism)
- Thank you for experimenting with PESWiki. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia.
- {{subst:blatantvandal}} ~~~~ (use if an edit is clearly vandalism)
- Welcome to PESWiki. We invite everyone to contribute constructively to our encyclopedia. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing. However, unconstructive edits are considered vandalism, and if you continue in this manner you may be blocked from editing without further warning. Please stop, and consider improving rather than damaging the hard work of others. Thank you.
- {{subst:test2}} ~~~~
- Please do not add nonsense to PESWiki. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you.
- {{subst:test2a}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for vandalism that consists of blanking text)
- Please do not remove content from PESWiki; it is considered vandalism. If you want to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you.
- {{subst:test3}} ~~~~
- Please stop. If you continue to vandalize pages, you will be blocked from editing PESWiki.
- {{subst:test4}} ~~~~
- This is your last warning. The next time you vandalize a page, you will be blocked from editing PESWiki.
- {{subst:test4im}} ~~~~ (used as a first warning for extreme cases of vandalism)
- This is your only warning. Your recent vandalism has shown you to be intent on doing harm to PESWiki. The next time you vandalize a page, you will be blocked from editing PESWiki.
Alternatively, you can use:
- {{subst:selftest-n|}} ~~~~
- {{subst:test-n|}} ~~~~
- {{subst:blatantvandal-n|}} ~~~~
- {{subst:test2-n|}} ~~~~
- {{subst:test2a-n|}} ~~~~
- {{subst:test3-n|}} ~~~~
- {{subst:test4-n|}} ~~~~
- {{subst:test4im-n|}} ~~~~
to explicitly state which articles were vandalized (suffix -n stands for named) and to add your signature. For example:
- {{subst:test-n|France}}
- Thanks for experimenting with the page France on PESWiki. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks.
The "subst" causes the template text to be pasted into the talk page as if you had typed it out, instead of leaving {{subst:test}} visible when editing the page. This makes the messages more personal to the user, and thus, more friendly. Also, if someone vandalizes the template, then the vandalism will not affect every page that uses the text from the template.
If the vandal strikes again, list them at PESWiki:Administrator intervention against vandalism. Ensure that the user has been warned thoroughly before posting a notice on PESWiki:Administrator intervention against vandalism. If a user has not been sufficiently warned, an administrator may simply remove the notice without action.
The blocking admin leaves this on the vandal's talk page:
- {{subst:blocked}} ~~~~
Remember to sign and timestamp your warnings by leaving four tildes (like this: ~~~~).
Tools
PESWiki:Cleaning up vandalism/Tools
See also
- PESWiki:The Motivation of a Vandal
- PESWiki:Administrator intervention against vandalism -- for quick action in clear cases
- PESWiki:Abuse reports -- for reporting abusive IP addresses to ISPs
- PESWiki:Requests for investigation -- for more complex abuse, or to request a watch on a user/page.
- Template:TestTemplates -- a grid of templates that may be used on user talk pages
- PESWiki:Dealing with AOL vandals
- PESWiki:Edit war
- PESWiki:Cleaning up vandalism
- MUSTARD, a project to promote several music guidelines, with a cleanup template that categorizes articles by their deficiencies
