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Should I sign warning posts to vandal talk pages? It seems that this would be an invitation for vandals to vandalize my user/talk page. Asmeurer ( talk ♬ contribs) 01:58, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
The following sentence in the section "Unintentional Misinformation" is unclear: "Sometimes a user will add content to an article that is factually inaccurate, but in the belief that it is." In the belief that it is . . . misinformation?
The sentence should be rewritten thusly: "Sometimes a user will add to an article content that she believes to be factually accurate, but is not," or something along those lines. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 8.6.1.127 ( talk) 00:31, 24 February 2007 (UTC).
The "blanking section" reads:
This strikes me as inconsistent with
I suggest rewriting the blanking section by adding a clause so it reads "both constitute vandalism if their motive is malicious". semper fictilis 14:42, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
I have often found that people reverting vandalism will put what they removed in the edit summary. This can merely move the obscenities. Can we ask for people to not perpetuate the vandalism in the history? Goldfritha 01:42, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
Any reason for page protection or semi-protection not being discussed or at least linked from in this article? (That is, described as an anti-vandalism tool with links to WP:RFPP provided). If there is no objection, I will add something. -- Blainster 07:41, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
In the entry on "stubbornness" I added a pointer to 3RR. This change is meant to be useful and non-controversial, but am posting here in case anyone disagrees. Raymond Arritt 16:35, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
A page should be created to analyze the history of wikipedia vandalism, and more specifically, hoaxes. Notably, the Satchel Cohen hoaxer from about a year ago. This a real subculture and deserves attention in this encyclopedia.
I've seen cases of IP users who have a history of vandalism, including multiple warnings and possibly one or more blocks, returning to commit more vandalism. Of course, an IP user may be a different person, so going straight to block at the first offense after a period of inactivity doesn't make sense. But do warnings need to reset all the way back to {{ uw-vandalism1}} before escalating if the user continues to vandalize? I wonder about this especially in cases where an IP user stopped vandalizing after a {{ uw-vandalism4}} and returns after taking a break for a few weeks. I tend to give them a {{ uw-vandalism2}} or {{ uw-vandalism3}} in these cases, especially if I see several cases of blatant vandalism in the past hour and I'm the first to issue a warning -- a {{ uw-vandalism1}} in these cases just seems pointless. Rickterp 21:56, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
I find that I rarely issue {{uw-vandalism1}} even on first time editors, as choosing that template usually implies that you aren't assuming good faith to begin with (in the same way there isn't really a uw-test4 or uw-test4im.) Basically, you can treat it as a new user if there wasn't vandalism for a while as long as there isn't a long-term pattern of abuse. A good check list involves the following questions to help your decision:
This is a simple checklist, but it does help me gague which warning level to choose, whether it's a new or returning user. While this is meant for first-time editors, it applies equally well for those that return after a hiatus. -- Sigma 7 01:56, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
Should we add retalitory vandalism to the types of possible vandalism, or is this assumed under User page vandalism? -- Sigma 7 18:18, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
Perhaps this topic has been taken up before, I don't know. But I have come to wonder why it is that anonymous edits without registration is allowed at all on Wikipedia. One of the pages on my watch list is Alaska. Over that last two days (so far!), between several of us who have this page on our watch list, we've reverted or otherwise undid edits by eight separate vandals, all but one of whom were unregistered anonymous editors working from different IP addresses. This has been going on for a really really long time -- just see that article's history.
Although of course registered users have the ability to vandalize, it takes more effort for a casual vandal to register before vandalizing; and a registered vandal can at least be tracked. Is there some overriding policy concern that leads Wikipedia to retain a policy that makes it so easy for people to vandalize anonymously? I'm honestly asking. And if there is -- is there still some way that articles that are chronically vandalized -- & I'm sure Alaska isn't the only one -- can be given some kind of additional protection so that we can spend more time doing constructive editing in Wikipedia, instead of so much time correcting the destructive editing of the various disaffected souls who so badly a life? -- Yksin 22:40, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
I propose adding the following tool to the See also / Tools section. Comments? -- Jdlh | Talk 19:26, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
This page should be changed from saying removing warnings from your page is frowned upon to it's not allowed. Admins shouldn't have to dig through talk history to find this stuff on someone. Rlevse 23:41, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
I think that part of the policy needs to be re-worded. It's still de facto for admins to revert vandals who have removed warning or block notices on their user talk pages. It's just bizzare how it's in poor faith to be editing talk page comments, yet the policy allows a vandal to hide/delete unfavorable warnings or page blank his talk page with no recourse. That's a double standard that devalues the usefulness of a user talk page. -- Madchester 03:19, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
Large scale deletions may not be vandalism, if they are intended to improve.
It may be wise to add to this section that putting into the edit summary that the deletions were intentional may clarify it for other users. Goldfritha 00:38, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
What can I do if a vandal has deleted a page I've created? In some cases I can't even know who had done it, for example, who deleted Shumil. My previous deleted article was Mr Gluk Reset Service (acticle about BIOS for ZX Spectrum), deleted by User:NawlinWiki. He thought it was an article about person. He did not answer to my complain on his discussion page. His discussion page contains a lot of complains about deletions, from many people. Alone Coder 14:11, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
Where can I find information about Willy on Wheels and other famous Wikipedia vandals? There is no longer a page about WoW, and I don't know where to look for information about others.
Also, are there vandals of similar renown in other languages? -- Śiva 20:35, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
Am i meant to go there every time i revert a vandal and report it? Or do i only go there when the vandals are persistant or it looks like they have vandalised numerous other pages through heir talk page? Simply south 09:54, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
Meh, I don't think so. Either you're doing stuff like archiving or removing, which is fine by me. (and if you remove warnings, I count them as having been seen and read... caveat remover ;-) ). Editing other peoples comments to misrepresent what they said is *lying* which is possibly rather worse than mere vandalism ;-)
So listing (user) talk editing under vandalism is either too strong or too weak, respectively. -- Kim Bruning 12:22, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
A user goes onto Games Workshop articles and converts UK English "-our" spellings (eg "armour") to US "-or" spellings (eg "armor"), despite being asked more than once to discontinue this practise as the articles use UK English as they are about a UK product. The user than deletes the remarks from his/her talk page. I also noticed a prior message about similar type of revert about the difference in Canadian/US English. Is this vadalism, and if so, which is the approiate template to use? Darkson - BANG! 09:03, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
How about Wikipedia:Requests for comment#Request comment on users? - X201 21:44, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
The "hello" at the top of the article is not documented in the article's history, does anybody know how to get rid of it? See: Josemaria Escriva. -- AJ24 16:14, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
"Indeed, we are all affected by our beliefs to a greater or lesser extent."
POV in the NPOV summary? Ah, the irony. Groveller 09:34, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
I think that an IP vandal that has been blocked for vandalism before should not have to recieve three new warnings in order for a new block to be placed. An obvious vandal who has been blocked before knows what will happen if they continue to make such edits, and I think one new warning is more than generous. VanTucky 18:44, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
Is there some tool that could be used like a watchlist to monitor repeated vandals? Blocks do expire, and vandals normally go back to their old ways. I have reverted many, and have found many repeat vandals often months after the first violation. -- .ιΙ Inhuman14 Ιι.( talk | contrib) 21:46, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
Is it okay to edit my own comments? 75.7.10.206 16:23, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
Please see user:Colonel Chaos/study for information on how long it takes to revert vandalism to Wikipedia. Colonel Chaos 20:14, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
A vital question regarding vandalism is what proportion of editors have a dynamic as opposed to static IP address? Does any one have any idea? This is incredibly important because warning someone whose IP address changes before they read it is a somewhat pointless exercise - it would be nice to know how many of the warnings and blocks actually stuck. Richard001 04:06, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
I've just been looking at days of vandalism lingering on the apparently un watched hypothesis article. Vandalism that stays around for hours and even days is totally unacceptable, and from recent studies it seems to be a major concern. How about we punish people based on how long the vandalism remains - if nobody reverts it for days, they get blocked immediately. It will give vandals some incentive to very quickly remove their edits and behave if they don't want to instantly lose their editing privileges, and hopefully help improve the quality of the project. Not only does this lingering vandalism utterly destroy Wikipedia's credibility, it also makes it very hard to fix, especially when well meaning editors revert only the most recent vandalism and ignore all edits before it. Hopefully with some improvements to the system of dealing with and preventing vandalism and increased use of template:Maintained and watchlist information being clearer (e.g. allowing me to check whether hypothesis is indeed unwatched so I could add it to my watchlist) we can combat this sort of nonsense. Richard001 04:06, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
2Bdea 23:59, 8 May 2007 (UTC)Just a grammar correction under the section "How to Spot Vandalism" the statement should read "articles with edits that have [come]" not "have came."
If anyone has much experience with IP addresses I'd love to get an answer to my question above - it's a very important one that doesn't seem to have been addressed anywhere. Richard001 07:22, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Under the section "How to Spot Vandalism" the correct grammatical construction is had come rather than what is currently written: "to spot articles with edits that have came from IP adresses..." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 2Bdea ( talk • contribs) 12:05, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
I have made a suggestion on how to decrease vandalism at m:Anti-vandalism_ideas#Semi-protect_the_complete_database Alan Liefting 07:48, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Some things are often called vandalism by new folk, which is probably how they showed up here. This doesn't mean that they're actually vandalism.
Is covered by Wikipedia:Edit war
Isn't vandalism at all. There are many valid reasons to do this, including Wikipedia:Refactoring
Is possibly simply disruption, and/or is covered by *FD, *SD, *RV, which are byzantine enough as it is, thank you very much ;)
-- Kim Bruning 13:51, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I am seeing several warnings reading along the lines of "this will be your only warning before you are blocked." These are appearing after some first edits. What happened to requiring multiple warnings and not biting newbies? — Gaff ταλκ 19:21, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
A suggestion was made to lower the tolerance on vandalism by anons at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)#Lower_the_tolerance_on_vandalism_by_anons. Amongst those reposonding, it has unanimous approval, although I will not call the four of us an overwhelming consensus. The suggestion is to give IP vandals just one warning and then block them. The reason for this is to make Wikipedia alot less fun for vandals, and for those who go on a binge it means that they get stopped that much sooner.
This probably should be reserved for the most obvious forms of vandalism: Page blanking, inappropriate content/digital grafitti, etc. However, there is no lack of that. The thoughts of those of you who deal with this stuff regularly would very much be appreciated. -- EMS | Talk 02:35, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
What about vandals who repeat after blocking? Myself, I take a dim view of such practices, but I got overruled a while back and haven't been doing vandal patrol since. I make a distinction between anons with a mixed record, which could well be schools with multiple editors and we don't want to discourage the innocent, and ID where there is nothing but vandalism (sometimes going back for months with a dozen temporary blocks) where I don't see how it improves Wikipedia to give them yet another chance to reform. Gzuckier 17:30, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
Already do this. If the IP has vandalised in the past, they get {{ bv}} and then a block. If it's blatant enough or obvious it's the same vandal as in past days/weeks, I don't waste my time and just issue a block. If the IP talk page is blank, then they get {{ test2}} then {{ test3}} then a block. Sometimes it's clear that they really are testing, and I just let that go, sometimes just revert and no warnings are needed. -- Aude ( talk) 19:05, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
I am new here and don't know what I could have done wrong to get marked as having committed vandalism. I am a writer by trade and I always make a point to maintain a very professional attitude and behavior. I detest those who commit copyright infringement and I have no idea why I was flagged. When I logged in to check something, I saw a message that Mel someone or other blocked me from editing, but I received no message or note as to what I had done wrong. I have only tried to improve the article I added since the time I got here. And while learning is slow, I have to express, there are a ton of guidelines and rules here that I am struggling to absorb. I did not do anything intentionally to compromise the quality of my contributions. Someone please help me to understand this! Thank you so much for your time. Danceswithwords 20:23, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
I have started a discussion on this topic at Village Pump. — Gaff ταλκ 19:41, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
This user has vandalised my comments on Talk: Regina Neighbourhoods and Mumun 無文. Could you please stop this petty vandal.-- 207.81.56.49 22:37, 29 May 2007 (UTC)
In the course of an AfD discussion [1] , one editor went back and stripped out the style coding out of my sig and that of another editor with an edit summary of "My eyes!" I'm sure this is a relatively minor (if nonetheless obnoxious) offense, but where does this fall in policy terms re: vandalism? RGTraynor 12:43, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
Would it be possible/practical to create a system where users warned for vandalizing an article (any vandalism at all, assuming a little good faith in the case of test edits etc) are placed in a mode where their additions to articles are rigourously watched and checked for further vandalism, such that they do not even appear on a page until they have been approved by a registered user? This would limit a vandal to one edit, and would see them immediately banned for vandalizing while in 'watched' mode. If they were unblocked they would go back to being watched, such that further vandalism wouldn't appear either and would see them booted indefinitely. In this system vandals would need to show a significant improvement in their editing over time and number of edits (say a day or two and a minimum number of constructive edits) before they could be 'free' again. Editors would be made aware there were unapproved edits when editing a page and would be asked to approve them before proceeding. As for anon edits, I guess they would have to be hidden as well otherwise anons could approve edits. Approving an edit would approve all non-watched anon edits after it, but until then they would not be visible. Registered users could not of course approve their own edits, and approving a vandal edit would be likely to get that user watched as well.
Potential problems include policing the policy and programming it. Dynamic IP addresses are also a problem.
In my opinion vandals deserve to be treated how they act - like infants (I guess that is a little insulting to infants, actually). I realize this is unlikely to work out for one reason or other, but I would like to hear some feedback. Richard001 02:04, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
Perhaps this page should also advise users to deal with other users who don't revert or warn properly. By that I mean the page should advise editors to ensure fellow editors revert vandalism correctly, revert all vandalism and not just the latest instance, and warn the vandal properly. This wouldn't of course be a 'warning' of any sort, but just a system whereby editors could quickly learn how to efficiently deal with vandals rather than playing into their hands by say removing a whole block of text that the vandal simply messed around with. Richard001 02:04, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
In the Eurofighter article, you cant add any new sources if it include stories about it performing well vs. American fighter as F-15 and F-22. Such sources will simply be deleted in few seconds by Americans that will claim, national European newspapers are simply not good enough as sources. I see this deletion as vandalism by registred wiki users, its impossibe to report on, since it will be deleted and then you have to defend your case on the talkpage, after which it is put up to vote, where it then turns in to a popularity contest about whether 2+2=4 or 2+2=5. How do you deal with this kind of vandalism? You cant say it as it is, that its Americans patriots, even from US aerospace companys, deleting valid sources, just because it report eurofighter have performed well against their fighters. If you say it as it is they will just say its personal attacks, and you shouldnt even comment on this. It's soo much easier to just delete and censor material than to add. How does wiki deal with this kind of patriotic vandalism by registred wiki users?-- Financialmodel ( talk) 18:16, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
The user Mikey01 is persistently editing and removing valid information on the List of unreleased songs by Kylie Minogue page and however many times it is rectified he comes back to remove and edit stuff out again - for no apparently reasonable reason.
The information he is removing is almost like he randomly chooses bits to remove from his own preferences and it messes the page up as all the info on the page is gathered from reliable sources and the information included is of great use to people wanting to know more about Kylie's unreleased material and mixes.
This user Mikey01, however will not refrain from doing this and it's becoming increasingly frustrating trying to maintain this page with him randomly editing out whatever he choose.
Can someone please see to this matter?
Very much appreciated!! Ellectrika 02:28, 8 June 2007 (UTC)
We have a handy feature in the 'undo' button, and it's not hard to revert if needed, but couldn't make it still simpler and less time consuming to revert? Would it be technically possible to have a single 'revert to last edit (vandalism)' sort of button users could hit for obvious vandalism straight from their watchlist, recent changes or history? This would allow vandal fighters to check far more edits. Secondly, warning users can also be a pain; could we allow a user to have a bot do the warning on their behalf, explaining that it is a real warning and perhaps allowing the user to select the level of warning themselves (and/or let the bot base it on previous warnings on the talk page)?
Not only would this make vandal fighting more efficient and less of a displeasure for users, it would also be a hit to the vandal's motivation. Getting warned by a bot on behalf of someone who simply hit a button to revert your edit and warn you in one step is pretty dissatisfying. Again, it's highly likely there are practical and technical issues with this, but I believe we can still do a lot more to tighten the screws on vandals, and improving our existing arsenal will no doubt be of use to almost everyone. Richard001 07:17, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure the section on Dealing with vandalism is very helpful to users in its organisation. Can I propose the following changes: AndrewRT( Talk) 14:14, 10 June 2007 (UTC)
If you see vandalism (as defined below), please do the following:
{{
db-nonsense}}
.{{
SharedIP|Name of owner}}
or {{
SharedIPEDU|Name of owner}}
to the talk pages.If you see another user handling vandalism poorly please leave a constructive message on their talk page. An examples of these messages is {{
uw-aiv}}
.
Warning templates
|
Note: Do not use these templates in content disputes; instead, write a clear message explaining your disagreement.
There are several templates used to warn vandals. They are listed at right in order of severity, but need not be used in succession. Though some people vandalizing are incorrigible returning vandals and may be blocked quickly, vandals can be stopped by a simple warning and go on to become productive contributors. If you are not certain that an edit is vandalism, always start with {{ uw-test1}}.
The owners of IP adresses can be founds using:
If an address is not in one registry, it will probably be in another.
Why not include an all in one IP address search like:
Thanks -- Sechzehn ( talk · contribs) 02:30, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
I know this is already partially covered in the Stubbornness section, but it may not be clear to people that a disagreement over policy interpretation is not vandalism. I propose the addition of the following to "What vandalism is not":
This is in response to a recent situation where 2 people were reverting back and forth, both claiming to have the fair use criteria policy on their side. It needs to be clear to parties of such behaviour that they are not reverting vandalism, and that their reverts are not exempt from WP:3RR.
What do people think? (H) 17:07, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
This page currently states what vandalism is and isn't, and how to spot and deal with it. Should it also summarize the some of the key statistics relating to vandalism in terms of research done on the subject? For example, should the page mention facts like what percentage of edits are vandalism, or what fraction of anon edits are? Is this the right page for that sort of information, in any level of detail, or should it be kept entirely within WP:WPVS? Richard001 10:13, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
There is a discussion about the redirection the uw-upv warning series to the {{ uw-vandalism}} series. Please join the conversation if you have a view.-- Kubigula ( talk) 02:29, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
66.123.166.42. Look into it. I already spent the time reverting his/her non-constructive edits. I don't have the time to read hundreds of k's of "help" (worst wiki-word ever) files to follow up (worthless, worthless, worthless). Your job now (or help me!).
.s
X ile 06:56, 21 June 2007 (UTC) - Talk
I find the amount of WP: shortcuts listed at the top of the article ridiculous. Could we possibly agree on 2 or 3 shortcuts, and leave the rest out? – Se bi ~ 22:22, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
Does WP:VAN have to be linked? Just wondering. Lord Sesshomaru 17:03, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
Vandalism is clearly a generic term for all the different 'in the way' edits but in many cases, the label 'graffiti' may be better. '...was here'; '...is gay' and the various references to bodily functions are more reminiscent of people with spray cans and marker pens than smashed bus stops and buildings. Perhaps a redefinition could be used - with random comments that are just trying to show off or leave a mark as 'graffiti' and more serious disruption as 'vandalism'? ck lostsword • T • C 23:43, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
What remedies are available for blatant POV warriors who delete large portions of text which does not meet their own POV? Is this vandalism? I have seen a small group of editors delete huge portions of referenced text on dozens of pages that they personally don't agree with. They cite policy for these deletions, but their policy reasons don't stand up to any scrutinty. It simply is a way to delete large portions of referenced text. What remedies are available, other than RfC and Arbcom?
I accept other peoples view points but destructive uncompromising deletions of large portions of text are terrible. One editor in particular, has been an editor for over a year and a half, and never actually adds anything to wikipedia, his only purpose is to actively get articles he doesnt like AfD'ed.
Any suggestions? User:travb 23:26, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
Message from village pump:
These editors are not simply deleting one or two references, sometimes they are dozens. I saw one of these editors delete 8 cited paragraphs that he personally disagreed with, making the article a stub. These deleted references are not to web sites but scholarly books and magazine articles.
Is there any policy or any guidelines in place to stop this? Is any group policing this behavior? There are the toothless WP:Edit war guidelines, which only apply to one article and one person. Travb ( talk) 09:12, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
Blanking is not always a vandalism FYI i blank some talk page when they are spam into it (and nothing has been discuted before the spam on the talk page) but stupid bot keep reverting wtf ???
74.58.2.90 09:48, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
Hi, forgive me if this was already proposed, but I have a possible solution as to stop vandalism. Why not only allow registered users the ability to edit? That already is the policy in page creation, why not just extend it to all editing? Most of the vandalism seems to becoming from annonymous IP addresses of people whom are not registered. By forcing them to register, wikipedia would be able to track exactly who was the guilty vandal involved and take appropriate action against him or her. Arnabdas 16:44, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
This may be a shocker to most editors but there is something really borked up with the "You have new messages" for IP addresses on Wikipedia. Most of the time, the warnings are never seen by the IP user because that orange bar does not show up. I run my own Wiki and I am using a older version of MediaWiki and the messaging system works there but not on Wikipedia. I "discovered" this as I was testing the messaging system. In fact you can see for yourself that many IP addresses have been unfairly blocked because of this. Post a message on your IP address and log out. Guess what? The orange bar doesn't show up. Unless this is fixed, the "this is your last warning" = nothing. They don't get no warning. Thank you for reading over this issue and have a nice day. 71.112.229.5 07:39, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
No new messages... Megan :) 02:40, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
an editor has vandalised the sandbox, please Wikipedia, tell them to stop this nonsense. 71.176.48.233 14:05, 5 August 2007 (UTC)Jalil, a starting editor.
If you do a little joke on April Fool's Day, does that count as vandalism? I mean, maybe your messing around on your friend's page(which can be reverted back), or messing around on any day.. But do you get in trouble if your friend's mad, or (s)he, reports vandalism, if they don't know who did it? It's not important.. but.. Megan :) 05:45, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Okay, thanks. I just wanted to know. I wouldn't think a friend would be mad... Megan :) 02:38, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Per a suggestion by Hdt83, I am requesting wider attention from the community on this talk page for a new taskforce of CVU, Operation: New Leaf. It is a proposed task force that will convert once vandals into valued contributors for the encyclopedia, through kindness, patience, and, ultimately, love. To discuss this idea further, go here. Cheers, Arky ¡Hablar! 01:43, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
I don't get it.... TheBlazikenMaster 11:57, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
This policy document should be expanded, to explicitly classify baseless slapping of OR, NPOV, TotallyDisputed and other similar tags onto articles without even attempting to discuss the asserted problems. A reasonable criterion has been offered by User:Sander Säde in User talk:Alexia Death/Accusations of collaboration: 3RR hurts Wikipedia#Hi_Alexia: adding such tags is considered baseless if there's no attempt to discuss on an article's talkpage within 30 minutes of the initial adding.
This clarification would discourage source-lacking POV-pushers from attempts to induce cheap unreasonable doubt regarding article content on WP:IDONTLIKEIT basis. Digwuren 23:03, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
I have a question: I'm an RCP, and I regularly post User Warnings. Say for instance that on a vandal's talk page, there is already 3 warnings for vandalism. But if he has just recently blanked a page, do I post a level 1 deletion warning, or a level 4 deletion warning, based on the reasoning that he has already been cautioned, albeit for seperate infringements? Does that make sense? I'd appreciate it if somebody could reply anyway. Cheers, Joelster 03:26, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Is the creation of edit histories on redirect pages (via multiple edits with the effect of preventing future non-admin assisted page moves to the redirect) vandalism? — AjaxSmack 04:19, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
Please make and advertise a Template:Van so all one needs to do is place a {{van}} inside a suspected vandalized sentence, which will mark it as suspected vandalism, and also alert the authorities.
Don't just say "revert the vandalism" as exactly when it occurred might be buried deep in the history, hard to find. And that might blow away latter changes too.
The Template:Van would be for the timid user, who thinks he might have spotted vandalism, but isn't sure, and just wants to go on his way after a quick toot of his wistle to alert those with more experience.
Jidanni 17:56, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
is there any pages i can find that keep track of memorable vandalism/known famous vandals?? i wanna read some funny stuff! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.82.78.103 ( talk) 05:11, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
I have what I strongly suspect is an unusual problem. On the articles The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger, I and one or two other people--the last two re-reverts bear a different IP number from the previous ones, but the edit summaries suggest the same hand--have been going back and forth on a piece of misinformation, that the Lone Ranger's son is named Andy instead of the factually accurate Dan (along with some links redundant in one way or another). The Andy/Dan thing happened previously, on The Green Hornet only, starting on 13 February 2007, and ending on 23 February with the granting of semi-protected status. These people make a Wiki-link out of Andy Reid, which leads to a real world football player/coach who was born in 1958, when the original Ranger/Hornet era was virtually over (although that fact is just gilding the lily). I eventually started saying "Reverting vandalism" in my Edit summaries, but then they started counter-charging ME with being the vandal there. On 6 September, I found a message on my Talk page, a "last warning" for vandalism on the Hornet article, apparently signed by Betacommand. However, I eventually found that the History listings for that page attributed it to the more recent of those two IPs. I then tried filing a vandalism report against both IPs yesterday (Friday, Sept. 7). When I tried to check for some progress on it today, I could not find it at all, but I did find the "Dealing with vandalism" rules, which imply that *I* should put a warning on their talk pages myself (don't know why I didn't see this when I posted that report; sorry). Obviously, these people won't pay any attention to a warning from ME, so just what should I do? Ted Watson 22:58, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
There should be a new section in the article: competition vandalism. I would add it but it's a protected page. RamHotBananasUp 15:09, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
75.53.221.232 12:03, 13 September 2007 (UTC)how to find out if traffic light at west rd. @45 caught the license plate of van. that stole my truck.camera at the store was unable to see the plate on the van. wondering if transtar cameras saw the van. coming from west rd. @45. HOW DO I FIND OUT IF TRANSTAR CAMERAS CAUGHT THE VAN PLATE NUMBER
A question posed by a vandal on his talk page suggests a way to reduce vandalism. He asked, "How can I be blocked if I don't even have an account???"
I suspect that most people who don't log on assume that they are anonymous, that nobody will know who they are, that nobody will be able to track the vandalism back to them, that they will not suffer any consequences from their vandalism.
What I suggest is on the first few contributions from an anonymous user, add an obvious warning that their identity is known (at least in terms of their IP address), that any vandalism can be tracked to the author, and that vandals can be blocked.
If we warn them BEFORE they vandalize (and if we point them to the Sandbox) we might save a lot of trouble later. Sbowers3 20:58, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
What I am suggesting could actually be more friendly to first-time users but also caution them against vandalism. My target is specifically anonymous first-time contributors because most of the vandalism I see on recent changes is from first-time contributors. (And yes, IPs do shuffle so what appears to be a first-time contributor might have contributed previously under a different IP.)
(unindenting) Here is what IP users see when they edit a page:
You are not currently logged in. While you are free to edit without logging in, your IP address (which can be used to determine the associated network/corporation name) will be recorded publicly, along with the time and date, in this page's edit history. It is sometimes possible for others to identify you with this information. Creating an account will conceal your IP address and provide you with many other benefits. Messages sent to your IP can be viewed on your talk page.
Please do not save test edits. If you want to experiment, please use the sandbox.
followed by the editing tool bar and the edit box
What I suggest is for the Wiki software to notice that the user has no previous contributions and put up something like this:
Welcome to Wikipedia. Because this is your first contribution we'd like to offer some advice. ...
Mention the current stuff about IP addresses and the benefits of creating an account.
We welcome constructive edits from all users even if you are not logged in, but please don't do disruptive edits. Continued disruptive edits can lead to your IP being blocked.
If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox.
If you would like help with editing ... etc.
followed not by the edit box but by some buttons:
(edit sandbox) (cancel) (proceed to edit)
Treating the anonymous first-time contributor differently from a repeat editor can let us give the user a gentle nudge in the right direction. Sbowers3 01:20, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
It would be a big help if we tied some automation to the Undo button:
I don't know if a bot could do the above, or if it would require some developer intervention to tie into the Undo button.
There is something else that would be a big help in identifying vandals. Each edit that is undone could be marked in the user's contribution log as an undone edit. When we scan a user's contributions and see that almost all contributions are marked as having been undone, then it is easy to identify that user as a vandal.
We could also calculate for each user a percentage of "undoneness". Productive editors would have a very low percentage of undoneness, but editors with a 100% or even 50% or even 20% rating are disruptive. Users with a high percentage of undoneness could be listed in something like the recent changes list, so that vandal fighters could give them extra attention.
Maybe someone could do this with a bot but my guess is that it would require developer support. I think it would be worthwhile. This kind of automation would implicitly make every other editor a vandal fighter merely by clicking the Undo button. Sbowers3 01:39, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
Among the types of vandalism (under "blanking") is "replacing entire established pages with one's own version without first gaining consensus". Well, if the "one's own version" of New York is "New York is a dirty polluted city ruled by Kim-Jong Il. Only losers live there." I'll agree, that is vandalism. But in many cases, replacing an established page with one's own version is simply being WP:BOLD. Perhaps the edit was ill-advised, but that doesn't mean it's vandalism. It is vandalism when one replaces a page with nonsense, it is not vandalism if you replace it with a version you think is better. (Repeatedly doing so after having been reverted is edit-warring, and may be POV pushing, which is still bad, but still not vandalism.) I propose rewording the introductory sentence under "blanking "to:
"Removing all or significant parts of pages without any reason, or replacing entire pages with nonsense."
Sjakkalle (Check!) 13:27, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
I did a mini-study of reverts, warnings, and vandals' contribution histories. Looking through Recent changes, I picked the first 10 reverts. Eight of those reverts were for vandalism (two reverted good faith edits). But of those eight reverts for vandalism, only two editors bothered to post a warning to the vandals' talk pages.
Of those two warnings, one was an additional warning after an "only" warning but the editor did not notify WP:AIV. A warning that "you will be blocked" is toothless if following editors don't post to AIV for vandalism after a "last" or "only" warning.
I looked at the eight vandals contributions. Among them were an additional 38 reverts of vandalism without any warnings. The first vandal I looked at had seven contributions this month, all were vandalism, all had been reverted, but none had been warned.
I looked at one article that had been vandalized. Its recent history was almost only vandalism and reverts for vandalism. One reverter tried to revert multiple edits to a clean version but could not find a clean version. The last entries in the history were for protection. Now that it is protected, perhaps somebody will be able to figure out how to clean up the vandalism. A good part of the vandalism was from one of the vandals that I tracked. If that vandal had been warned with escalations and been blocked, he would not have been around to vandalize that article.
Summary:
Examining just a few minutes of recent changes, I found 44 reverted vandalisms that were not warned. Extrapolating to a full day leads to tens of thousands of vandalism that are reverted but are not warned, and perhaps hundreds of vandals who could be blocked.
The simple fact is that most editors busy with improving articles don't take the time and/or don't know the proper procedures to post a warning, to raise the level of warning, to post to AIV.
I strongly recommend that we provide a very easy semi-automated way for an editor who reverts vandalism to post appropriate warnings and notices. It would take developer assistance but there should be a button that would let the reverting editor choose a standard warning message or compose a custom message, and have the name of the reverted article inserted into the message, and have it added to the vandal's talk page. If the talk page already has a final warning, the system should automatically post a notice to AIV.
If we make it easy for an editor to fight vandalism, more of them will do it, and we will block more vandals.
Actually, we might block fewer vandals if we warned them more often. If every single instance of vandalism were warned, with quick escalations to level 4, and a block if warranted, then vandals will learn that there are consequences and that it is sure and swift. If vandals learn that they won't get away with it, there will be much less vandalism and less need for blocking. Sbowers3 18:51, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | ← | Archive 4 | Archive 5 | Archive 6 | Archive 7 | Archive 8 | Archive 9 |
Should I sign warning posts to vandal talk pages? It seems that this would be an invitation for vandals to vandalize my user/talk page. Asmeurer ( talk ♬ contribs) 01:58, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
The following sentence in the section "Unintentional Misinformation" is unclear: "Sometimes a user will add content to an article that is factually inaccurate, but in the belief that it is." In the belief that it is . . . misinformation?
The sentence should be rewritten thusly: "Sometimes a user will add to an article content that she believes to be factually accurate, but is not," or something along those lines. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 8.6.1.127 ( talk) 00:31, 24 February 2007 (UTC).
The "blanking section" reads:
This strikes me as inconsistent with
I suggest rewriting the blanking section by adding a clause so it reads "both constitute vandalism if their motive is malicious". semper fictilis 14:42, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
I have often found that people reverting vandalism will put what they removed in the edit summary. This can merely move the obscenities. Can we ask for people to not perpetuate the vandalism in the history? Goldfritha 01:42, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
Any reason for page protection or semi-protection not being discussed or at least linked from in this article? (That is, described as an anti-vandalism tool with links to WP:RFPP provided). If there is no objection, I will add something. -- Blainster 07:41, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
In the entry on "stubbornness" I added a pointer to 3RR. This change is meant to be useful and non-controversial, but am posting here in case anyone disagrees. Raymond Arritt 16:35, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
A page should be created to analyze the history of wikipedia vandalism, and more specifically, hoaxes. Notably, the Satchel Cohen hoaxer from about a year ago. This a real subculture and deserves attention in this encyclopedia.
I've seen cases of IP users who have a history of vandalism, including multiple warnings and possibly one or more blocks, returning to commit more vandalism. Of course, an IP user may be a different person, so going straight to block at the first offense after a period of inactivity doesn't make sense. But do warnings need to reset all the way back to {{ uw-vandalism1}} before escalating if the user continues to vandalize? I wonder about this especially in cases where an IP user stopped vandalizing after a {{ uw-vandalism4}} and returns after taking a break for a few weeks. I tend to give them a {{ uw-vandalism2}} or {{ uw-vandalism3}} in these cases, especially if I see several cases of blatant vandalism in the past hour and I'm the first to issue a warning -- a {{ uw-vandalism1}} in these cases just seems pointless. Rickterp 21:56, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
I find that I rarely issue {{uw-vandalism1}} even on first time editors, as choosing that template usually implies that you aren't assuming good faith to begin with (in the same way there isn't really a uw-test4 or uw-test4im.) Basically, you can treat it as a new user if there wasn't vandalism for a while as long as there isn't a long-term pattern of abuse. A good check list involves the following questions to help your decision:
This is a simple checklist, but it does help me gague which warning level to choose, whether it's a new or returning user. While this is meant for first-time editors, it applies equally well for those that return after a hiatus. -- Sigma 7 01:56, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
Should we add retalitory vandalism to the types of possible vandalism, or is this assumed under User page vandalism? -- Sigma 7 18:18, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
Perhaps this topic has been taken up before, I don't know. But I have come to wonder why it is that anonymous edits without registration is allowed at all on Wikipedia. One of the pages on my watch list is Alaska. Over that last two days (so far!), between several of us who have this page on our watch list, we've reverted or otherwise undid edits by eight separate vandals, all but one of whom were unregistered anonymous editors working from different IP addresses. This has been going on for a really really long time -- just see that article's history.
Although of course registered users have the ability to vandalize, it takes more effort for a casual vandal to register before vandalizing; and a registered vandal can at least be tracked. Is there some overriding policy concern that leads Wikipedia to retain a policy that makes it so easy for people to vandalize anonymously? I'm honestly asking. And if there is -- is there still some way that articles that are chronically vandalized -- & I'm sure Alaska isn't the only one -- can be given some kind of additional protection so that we can spend more time doing constructive editing in Wikipedia, instead of so much time correcting the destructive editing of the various disaffected souls who so badly a life? -- Yksin 22:40, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
I propose adding the following tool to the See also / Tools section. Comments? -- Jdlh | Talk 19:26, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
This page should be changed from saying removing warnings from your page is frowned upon to it's not allowed. Admins shouldn't have to dig through talk history to find this stuff on someone. Rlevse 23:41, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
I think that part of the policy needs to be re-worded. It's still de facto for admins to revert vandals who have removed warning or block notices on their user talk pages. It's just bizzare how it's in poor faith to be editing talk page comments, yet the policy allows a vandal to hide/delete unfavorable warnings or page blank his talk page with no recourse. That's a double standard that devalues the usefulness of a user talk page. -- Madchester 03:19, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
Large scale deletions may not be vandalism, if they are intended to improve.
It may be wise to add to this section that putting into the edit summary that the deletions were intentional may clarify it for other users. Goldfritha 00:38, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
What can I do if a vandal has deleted a page I've created? In some cases I can't even know who had done it, for example, who deleted Shumil. My previous deleted article was Mr Gluk Reset Service (acticle about BIOS for ZX Spectrum), deleted by User:NawlinWiki. He thought it was an article about person. He did not answer to my complain on his discussion page. His discussion page contains a lot of complains about deletions, from many people. Alone Coder 14:11, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
Where can I find information about Willy on Wheels and other famous Wikipedia vandals? There is no longer a page about WoW, and I don't know where to look for information about others.
Also, are there vandals of similar renown in other languages? -- Śiva 20:35, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
Am i meant to go there every time i revert a vandal and report it? Or do i only go there when the vandals are persistant or it looks like they have vandalised numerous other pages through heir talk page? Simply south 09:54, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
Meh, I don't think so. Either you're doing stuff like archiving or removing, which is fine by me. (and if you remove warnings, I count them as having been seen and read... caveat remover ;-) ). Editing other peoples comments to misrepresent what they said is *lying* which is possibly rather worse than mere vandalism ;-)
So listing (user) talk editing under vandalism is either too strong or too weak, respectively. -- Kim Bruning 12:22, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
A user goes onto Games Workshop articles and converts UK English "-our" spellings (eg "armour") to US "-or" spellings (eg "armor"), despite being asked more than once to discontinue this practise as the articles use UK English as they are about a UK product. The user than deletes the remarks from his/her talk page. I also noticed a prior message about similar type of revert about the difference in Canadian/US English. Is this vadalism, and if so, which is the approiate template to use? Darkson - BANG! 09:03, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
How about Wikipedia:Requests for comment#Request comment on users? - X201 21:44, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
The "hello" at the top of the article is not documented in the article's history, does anybody know how to get rid of it? See: Josemaria Escriva. -- AJ24 16:14, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
"Indeed, we are all affected by our beliefs to a greater or lesser extent."
POV in the NPOV summary? Ah, the irony. Groveller 09:34, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
I think that an IP vandal that has been blocked for vandalism before should not have to recieve three new warnings in order for a new block to be placed. An obvious vandal who has been blocked before knows what will happen if they continue to make such edits, and I think one new warning is more than generous. VanTucky 18:44, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
Is there some tool that could be used like a watchlist to monitor repeated vandals? Blocks do expire, and vandals normally go back to their old ways. I have reverted many, and have found many repeat vandals often months after the first violation. -- .ιΙ Inhuman14 Ιι.( talk | contrib) 21:46, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
Is it okay to edit my own comments? 75.7.10.206 16:23, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
Please see user:Colonel Chaos/study for information on how long it takes to revert vandalism to Wikipedia. Colonel Chaos 20:14, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
A vital question regarding vandalism is what proportion of editors have a dynamic as opposed to static IP address? Does any one have any idea? This is incredibly important because warning someone whose IP address changes before they read it is a somewhat pointless exercise - it would be nice to know how many of the warnings and blocks actually stuck. Richard001 04:06, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
I've just been looking at days of vandalism lingering on the apparently un watched hypothesis article. Vandalism that stays around for hours and even days is totally unacceptable, and from recent studies it seems to be a major concern. How about we punish people based on how long the vandalism remains - if nobody reverts it for days, they get blocked immediately. It will give vandals some incentive to very quickly remove their edits and behave if they don't want to instantly lose their editing privileges, and hopefully help improve the quality of the project. Not only does this lingering vandalism utterly destroy Wikipedia's credibility, it also makes it very hard to fix, especially when well meaning editors revert only the most recent vandalism and ignore all edits before it. Hopefully with some improvements to the system of dealing with and preventing vandalism and increased use of template:Maintained and watchlist information being clearer (e.g. allowing me to check whether hypothesis is indeed unwatched so I could add it to my watchlist) we can combat this sort of nonsense. Richard001 04:06, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
2Bdea 23:59, 8 May 2007 (UTC)Just a grammar correction under the section "How to Spot Vandalism" the statement should read "articles with edits that have [come]" not "have came."
If anyone has much experience with IP addresses I'd love to get an answer to my question above - it's a very important one that doesn't seem to have been addressed anywhere. Richard001 07:22, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Under the section "How to Spot Vandalism" the correct grammatical construction is had come rather than what is currently written: "to spot articles with edits that have came from IP adresses..." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 2Bdea ( talk • contribs) 12:05, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
I have made a suggestion on how to decrease vandalism at m:Anti-vandalism_ideas#Semi-protect_the_complete_database Alan Liefting 07:48, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Some things are often called vandalism by new folk, which is probably how they showed up here. This doesn't mean that they're actually vandalism.
Is covered by Wikipedia:Edit war
Isn't vandalism at all. There are many valid reasons to do this, including Wikipedia:Refactoring
Is possibly simply disruption, and/or is covered by *FD, *SD, *RV, which are byzantine enough as it is, thank you very much ;)
-- Kim Bruning 13:51, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
I am seeing several warnings reading along the lines of "this will be your only warning before you are blocked." These are appearing after some first edits. What happened to requiring multiple warnings and not biting newbies? — Gaff ταλκ 19:21, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
A suggestion was made to lower the tolerance on vandalism by anons at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)#Lower_the_tolerance_on_vandalism_by_anons. Amongst those reposonding, it has unanimous approval, although I will not call the four of us an overwhelming consensus. The suggestion is to give IP vandals just one warning and then block them. The reason for this is to make Wikipedia alot less fun for vandals, and for those who go on a binge it means that they get stopped that much sooner.
This probably should be reserved for the most obvious forms of vandalism: Page blanking, inappropriate content/digital grafitti, etc. However, there is no lack of that. The thoughts of those of you who deal with this stuff regularly would very much be appreciated. -- EMS | Talk 02:35, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
What about vandals who repeat after blocking? Myself, I take a dim view of such practices, but I got overruled a while back and haven't been doing vandal patrol since. I make a distinction between anons with a mixed record, which could well be schools with multiple editors and we don't want to discourage the innocent, and ID where there is nothing but vandalism (sometimes going back for months with a dozen temporary blocks) where I don't see how it improves Wikipedia to give them yet another chance to reform. Gzuckier 17:30, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
Already do this. If the IP has vandalised in the past, they get {{ bv}} and then a block. If it's blatant enough or obvious it's the same vandal as in past days/weeks, I don't waste my time and just issue a block. If the IP talk page is blank, then they get {{ test2}} then {{ test3}} then a block. Sometimes it's clear that they really are testing, and I just let that go, sometimes just revert and no warnings are needed. -- Aude ( talk) 19:05, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
I am new here and don't know what I could have done wrong to get marked as having committed vandalism. I am a writer by trade and I always make a point to maintain a very professional attitude and behavior. I detest those who commit copyright infringement and I have no idea why I was flagged. When I logged in to check something, I saw a message that Mel someone or other blocked me from editing, but I received no message or note as to what I had done wrong. I have only tried to improve the article I added since the time I got here. And while learning is slow, I have to express, there are a ton of guidelines and rules here that I am struggling to absorb. I did not do anything intentionally to compromise the quality of my contributions. Someone please help me to understand this! Thank you so much for your time. Danceswithwords 20:23, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
I have started a discussion on this topic at Village Pump. — Gaff ταλκ 19:41, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
This user has vandalised my comments on Talk: Regina Neighbourhoods and Mumun 無文. Could you please stop this petty vandal.-- 207.81.56.49 22:37, 29 May 2007 (UTC)
In the course of an AfD discussion [1] , one editor went back and stripped out the style coding out of my sig and that of another editor with an edit summary of "My eyes!" I'm sure this is a relatively minor (if nonetheless obnoxious) offense, but where does this fall in policy terms re: vandalism? RGTraynor 12:43, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
Would it be possible/practical to create a system where users warned for vandalizing an article (any vandalism at all, assuming a little good faith in the case of test edits etc) are placed in a mode where their additions to articles are rigourously watched and checked for further vandalism, such that they do not even appear on a page until they have been approved by a registered user? This would limit a vandal to one edit, and would see them immediately banned for vandalizing while in 'watched' mode. If they were unblocked they would go back to being watched, such that further vandalism wouldn't appear either and would see them booted indefinitely. In this system vandals would need to show a significant improvement in their editing over time and number of edits (say a day or two and a minimum number of constructive edits) before they could be 'free' again. Editors would be made aware there were unapproved edits when editing a page and would be asked to approve them before proceeding. As for anon edits, I guess they would have to be hidden as well otherwise anons could approve edits. Approving an edit would approve all non-watched anon edits after it, but until then they would not be visible. Registered users could not of course approve their own edits, and approving a vandal edit would be likely to get that user watched as well.
Potential problems include policing the policy and programming it. Dynamic IP addresses are also a problem.
In my opinion vandals deserve to be treated how they act - like infants (I guess that is a little insulting to infants, actually). I realize this is unlikely to work out for one reason or other, but I would like to hear some feedback. Richard001 02:04, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
Perhaps this page should also advise users to deal with other users who don't revert or warn properly. By that I mean the page should advise editors to ensure fellow editors revert vandalism correctly, revert all vandalism and not just the latest instance, and warn the vandal properly. This wouldn't of course be a 'warning' of any sort, but just a system whereby editors could quickly learn how to efficiently deal with vandals rather than playing into their hands by say removing a whole block of text that the vandal simply messed around with. Richard001 02:04, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
In the Eurofighter article, you cant add any new sources if it include stories about it performing well vs. American fighter as F-15 and F-22. Such sources will simply be deleted in few seconds by Americans that will claim, national European newspapers are simply not good enough as sources. I see this deletion as vandalism by registred wiki users, its impossibe to report on, since it will be deleted and then you have to defend your case on the talkpage, after which it is put up to vote, where it then turns in to a popularity contest about whether 2+2=4 or 2+2=5. How do you deal with this kind of vandalism? You cant say it as it is, that its Americans patriots, even from US aerospace companys, deleting valid sources, just because it report eurofighter have performed well against their fighters. If you say it as it is they will just say its personal attacks, and you shouldnt even comment on this. It's soo much easier to just delete and censor material than to add. How does wiki deal with this kind of patriotic vandalism by registred wiki users?-- Financialmodel ( talk) 18:16, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
The user Mikey01 is persistently editing and removing valid information on the List of unreleased songs by Kylie Minogue page and however many times it is rectified he comes back to remove and edit stuff out again - for no apparently reasonable reason.
The information he is removing is almost like he randomly chooses bits to remove from his own preferences and it messes the page up as all the info on the page is gathered from reliable sources and the information included is of great use to people wanting to know more about Kylie's unreleased material and mixes.
This user Mikey01, however will not refrain from doing this and it's becoming increasingly frustrating trying to maintain this page with him randomly editing out whatever he choose.
Can someone please see to this matter?
Very much appreciated!! Ellectrika 02:28, 8 June 2007 (UTC)
We have a handy feature in the 'undo' button, and it's not hard to revert if needed, but couldn't make it still simpler and less time consuming to revert? Would it be technically possible to have a single 'revert to last edit (vandalism)' sort of button users could hit for obvious vandalism straight from their watchlist, recent changes or history? This would allow vandal fighters to check far more edits. Secondly, warning users can also be a pain; could we allow a user to have a bot do the warning on their behalf, explaining that it is a real warning and perhaps allowing the user to select the level of warning themselves (and/or let the bot base it on previous warnings on the talk page)?
Not only would this make vandal fighting more efficient and less of a displeasure for users, it would also be a hit to the vandal's motivation. Getting warned by a bot on behalf of someone who simply hit a button to revert your edit and warn you in one step is pretty dissatisfying. Again, it's highly likely there are practical and technical issues with this, but I believe we can still do a lot more to tighten the screws on vandals, and improving our existing arsenal will no doubt be of use to almost everyone. Richard001 07:17, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure the section on Dealing with vandalism is very helpful to users in its organisation. Can I propose the following changes: AndrewRT( Talk) 14:14, 10 June 2007 (UTC)
If you see vandalism (as defined below), please do the following:
{{
db-nonsense}}
.{{
SharedIP|Name of owner}}
or {{
SharedIPEDU|Name of owner}}
to the talk pages.If you see another user handling vandalism poorly please leave a constructive message on their talk page. An examples of these messages is {{
uw-aiv}}
.
Warning templates
|
Note: Do not use these templates in content disputes; instead, write a clear message explaining your disagreement.
There are several templates used to warn vandals. They are listed at right in order of severity, but need not be used in succession. Though some people vandalizing are incorrigible returning vandals and may be blocked quickly, vandals can be stopped by a simple warning and go on to become productive contributors. If you are not certain that an edit is vandalism, always start with {{ uw-test1}}.
The owners of IP adresses can be founds using:
If an address is not in one registry, it will probably be in another.
Why not include an all in one IP address search like:
Thanks -- Sechzehn ( talk · contribs) 02:30, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
I know this is already partially covered in the Stubbornness section, but it may not be clear to people that a disagreement over policy interpretation is not vandalism. I propose the addition of the following to "What vandalism is not":
This is in response to a recent situation where 2 people were reverting back and forth, both claiming to have the fair use criteria policy on their side. It needs to be clear to parties of such behaviour that they are not reverting vandalism, and that their reverts are not exempt from WP:3RR.
What do people think? (H) 17:07, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
This page currently states what vandalism is and isn't, and how to spot and deal with it. Should it also summarize the some of the key statistics relating to vandalism in terms of research done on the subject? For example, should the page mention facts like what percentage of edits are vandalism, or what fraction of anon edits are? Is this the right page for that sort of information, in any level of detail, or should it be kept entirely within WP:WPVS? Richard001 10:13, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
There is a discussion about the redirection the uw-upv warning series to the {{ uw-vandalism}} series. Please join the conversation if you have a view.-- Kubigula ( talk) 02:29, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
66.123.166.42. Look into it. I already spent the time reverting his/her non-constructive edits. I don't have the time to read hundreds of k's of "help" (worst wiki-word ever) files to follow up (worthless, worthless, worthless). Your job now (or help me!).
.s
X ile 06:56, 21 June 2007 (UTC) - Talk
I find the amount of WP: shortcuts listed at the top of the article ridiculous. Could we possibly agree on 2 or 3 shortcuts, and leave the rest out? – Se bi ~ 22:22, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
Does WP:VAN have to be linked? Just wondering. Lord Sesshomaru 17:03, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
Vandalism is clearly a generic term for all the different 'in the way' edits but in many cases, the label 'graffiti' may be better. '...was here'; '...is gay' and the various references to bodily functions are more reminiscent of people with spray cans and marker pens than smashed bus stops and buildings. Perhaps a redefinition could be used - with random comments that are just trying to show off or leave a mark as 'graffiti' and more serious disruption as 'vandalism'? ck lostsword • T • C 23:43, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
What remedies are available for blatant POV warriors who delete large portions of text which does not meet their own POV? Is this vandalism? I have seen a small group of editors delete huge portions of referenced text on dozens of pages that they personally don't agree with. They cite policy for these deletions, but their policy reasons don't stand up to any scrutinty. It simply is a way to delete large portions of referenced text. What remedies are available, other than RfC and Arbcom?
I accept other peoples view points but destructive uncompromising deletions of large portions of text are terrible. One editor in particular, has been an editor for over a year and a half, and never actually adds anything to wikipedia, his only purpose is to actively get articles he doesnt like AfD'ed.
Any suggestions? User:travb 23:26, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
Message from village pump:
These editors are not simply deleting one or two references, sometimes they are dozens. I saw one of these editors delete 8 cited paragraphs that he personally disagreed with, making the article a stub. These deleted references are not to web sites but scholarly books and magazine articles.
Is there any policy or any guidelines in place to stop this? Is any group policing this behavior? There are the toothless WP:Edit war guidelines, which only apply to one article and one person. Travb ( talk) 09:12, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
Blanking is not always a vandalism FYI i blank some talk page when they are spam into it (and nothing has been discuted before the spam on the talk page) but stupid bot keep reverting wtf ???
74.58.2.90 09:48, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
Hi, forgive me if this was already proposed, but I have a possible solution as to stop vandalism. Why not only allow registered users the ability to edit? That already is the policy in page creation, why not just extend it to all editing? Most of the vandalism seems to becoming from annonymous IP addresses of people whom are not registered. By forcing them to register, wikipedia would be able to track exactly who was the guilty vandal involved and take appropriate action against him or her. Arnabdas 16:44, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
This may be a shocker to most editors but there is something really borked up with the "You have new messages" for IP addresses on Wikipedia. Most of the time, the warnings are never seen by the IP user because that orange bar does not show up. I run my own Wiki and I am using a older version of MediaWiki and the messaging system works there but not on Wikipedia. I "discovered" this as I was testing the messaging system. In fact you can see for yourself that many IP addresses have been unfairly blocked because of this. Post a message on your IP address and log out. Guess what? The orange bar doesn't show up. Unless this is fixed, the "this is your last warning" = nothing. They don't get no warning. Thank you for reading over this issue and have a nice day. 71.112.229.5 07:39, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
No new messages... Megan :) 02:40, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
an editor has vandalised the sandbox, please Wikipedia, tell them to stop this nonsense. 71.176.48.233 14:05, 5 August 2007 (UTC)Jalil, a starting editor.
If you do a little joke on April Fool's Day, does that count as vandalism? I mean, maybe your messing around on your friend's page(which can be reverted back), or messing around on any day.. But do you get in trouble if your friend's mad, or (s)he, reports vandalism, if they don't know who did it? It's not important.. but.. Megan :) 05:45, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Okay, thanks. I just wanted to know. I wouldn't think a friend would be mad... Megan :) 02:38, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Per a suggestion by Hdt83, I am requesting wider attention from the community on this talk page for a new taskforce of CVU, Operation: New Leaf. It is a proposed task force that will convert once vandals into valued contributors for the encyclopedia, through kindness, patience, and, ultimately, love. To discuss this idea further, go here. Cheers, Arky ¡Hablar! 01:43, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
I don't get it.... TheBlazikenMaster 11:57, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
This policy document should be expanded, to explicitly classify baseless slapping of OR, NPOV, TotallyDisputed and other similar tags onto articles without even attempting to discuss the asserted problems. A reasonable criterion has been offered by User:Sander Säde in User talk:Alexia Death/Accusations of collaboration: 3RR hurts Wikipedia#Hi_Alexia: adding such tags is considered baseless if there's no attempt to discuss on an article's talkpage within 30 minutes of the initial adding.
This clarification would discourage source-lacking POV-pushers from attempts to induce cheap unreasonable doubt regarding article content on WP:IDONTLIKEIT basis. Digwuren 23:03, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
I have a question: I'm an RCP, and I regularly post User Warnings. Say for instance that on a vandal's talk page, there is already 3 warnings for vandalism. But if he has just recently blanked a page, do I post a level 1 deletion warning, or a level 4 deletion warning, based on the reasoning that he has already been cautioned, albeit for seperate infringements? Does that make sense? I'd appreciate it if somebody could reply anyway. Cheers, Joelster 03:26, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Is the creation of edit histories on redirect pages (via multiple edits with the effect of preventing future non-admin assisted page moves to the redirect) vandalism? — AjaxSmack 04:19, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
Please make and advertise a Template:Van so all one needs to do is place a {{van}} inside a suspected vandalized sentence, which will mark it as suspected vandalism, and also alert the authorities.
Don't just say "revert the vandalism" as exactly when it occurred might be buried deep in the history, hard to find. And that might blow away latter changes too.
The Template:Van would be for the timid user, who thinks he might have spotted vandalism, but isn't sure, and just wants to go on his way after a quick toot of his wistle to alert those with more experience.
Jidanni 17:56, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
is there any pages i can find that keep track of memorable vandalism/known famous vandals?? i wanna read some funny stuff! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.82.78.103 ( talk) 05:11, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
I have what I strongly suspect is an unusual problem. On the articles The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger, I and one or two other people--the last two re-reverts bear a different IP number from the previous ones, but the edit summaries suggest the same hand--have been going back and forth on a piece of misinformation, that the Lone Ranger's son is named Andy instead of the factually accurate Dan (along with some links redundant in one way or another). The Andy/Dan thing happened previously, on The Green Hornet only, starting on 13 February 2007, and ending on 23 February with the granting of semi-protected status. These people make a Wiki-link out of Andy Reid, which leads to a real world football player/coach who was born in 1958, when the original Ranger/Hornet era was virtually over (although that fact is just gilding the lily). I eventually started saying "Reverting vandalism" in my Edit summaries, but then they started counter-charging ME with being the vandal there. On 6 September, I found a message on my Talk page, a "last warning" for vandalism on the Hornet article, apparently signed by Betacommand. However, I eventually found that the History listings for that page attributed it to the more recent of those two IPs. I then tried filing a vandalism report against both IPs yesterday (Friday, Sept. 7). When I tried to check for some progress on it today, I could not find it at all, but I did find the "Dealing with vandalism" rules, which imply that *I* should put a warning on their talk pages myself (don't know why I didn't see this when I posted that report; sorry). Obviously, these people won't pay any attention to a warning from ME, so just what should I do? Ted Watson 22:58, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
There should be a new section in the article: competition vandalism. I would add it but it's a protected page. RamHotBananasUp 15:09, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
75.53.221.232 12:03, 13 September 2007 (UTC)how to find out if traffic light at west rd. @45 caught the license plate of van. that stole my truck.camera at the store was unable to see the plate on the van. wondering if transtar cameras saw the van. coming from west rd. @45. HOW DO I FIND OUT IF TRANSTAR CAMERAS CAUGHT THE VAN PLATE NUMBER
A question posed by a vandal on his talk page suggests a way to reduce vandalism. He asked, "How can I be blocked if I don't even have an account???"
I suspect that most people who don't log on assume that they are anonymous, that nobody will know who they are, that nobody will be able to track the vandalism back to them, that they will not suffer any consequences from their vandalism.
What I suggest is on the first few contributions from an anonymous user, add an obvious warning that their identity is known (at least in terms of their IP address), that any vandalism can be tracked to the author, and that vandals can be blocked.
If we warn them BEFORE they vandalize (and if we point them to the Sandbox) we might save a lot of trouble later. Sbowers3 20:58, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
What I am suggesting could actually be more friendly to first-time users but also caution them against vandalism. My target is specifically anonymous first-time contributors because most of the vandalism I see on recent changes is from first-time contributors. (And yes, IPs do shuffle so what appears to be a first-time contributor might have contributed previously under a different IP.)
(unindenting) Here is what IP users see when they edit a page:
You are not currently logged in. While you are free to edit without logging in, your IP address (which can be used to determine the associated network/corporation name) will be recorded publicly, along with the time and date, in this page's edit history. It is sometimes possible for others to identify you with this information. Creating an account will conceal your IP address and provide you with many other benefits. Messages sent to your IP can be viewed on your talk page.
Please do not save test edits. If you want to experiment, please use the sandbox.
followed by the editing tool bar and the edit box
What I suggest is for the Wiki software to notice that the user has no previous contributions and put up something like this:
Welcome to Wikipedia. Because this is your first contribution we'd like to offer some advice. ...
Mention the current stuff about IP addresses and the benefits of creating an account.
We welcome constructive edits from all users even if you are not logged in, but please don't do disruptive edits. Continued disruptive edits can lead to your IP being blocked.
If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox.
If you would like help with editing ... etc.
followed not by the edit box but by some buttons:
(edit sandbox) (cancel) (proceed to edit)
Treating the anonymous first-time contributor differently from a repeat editor can let us give the user a gentle nudge in the right direction. Sbowers3 01:20, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
It would be a big help if we tied some automation to the Undo button:
I don't know if a bot could do the above, or if it would require some developer intervention to tie into the Undo button.
There is something else that would be a big help in identifying vandals. Each edit that is undone could be marked in the user's contribution log as an undone edit. When we scan a user's contributions and see that almost all contributions are marked as having been undone, then it is easy to identify that user as a vandal.
We could also calculate for each user a percentage of "undoneness". Productive editors would have a very low percentage of undoneness, but editors with a 100% or even 50% or even 20% rating are disruptive. Users with a high percentage of undoneness could be listed in something like the recent changes list, so that vandal fighters could give them extra attention.
Maybe someone could do this with a bot but my guess is that it would require developer support. I think it would be worthwhile. This kind of automation would implicitly make every other editor a vandal fighter merely by clicking the Undo button. Sbowers3 01:39, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
Among the types of vandalism (under "blanking") is "replacing entire established pages with one's own version without first gaining consensus". Well, if the "one's own version" of New York is "New York is a dirty polluted city ruled by Kim-Jong Il. Only losers live there." I'll agree, that is vandalism. But in many cases, replacing an established page with one's own version is simply being WP:BOLD. Perhaps the edit was ill-advised, but that doesn't mean it's vandalism. It is vandalism when one replaces a page with nonsense, it is not vandalism if you replace it with a version you think is better. (Repeatedly doing so after having been reverted is edit-warring, and may be POV pushing, which is still bad, but still not vandalism.) I propose rewording the introductory sentence under "blanking "to:
"Removing all or significant parts of pages without any reason, or replacing entire pages with nonsense."
Sjakkalle (Check!) 13:27, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
I did a mini-study of reverts, warnings, and vandals' contribution histories. Looking through Recent changes, I picked the first 10 reverts. Eight of those reverts were for vandalism (two reverted good faith edits). But of those eight reverts for vandalism, only two editors bothered to post a warning to the vandals' talk pages.
Of those two warnings, one was an additional warning after an "only" warning but the editor did not notify WP:AIV. A warning that "you will be blocked" is toothless if following editors don't post to AIV for vandalism after a "last" or "only" warning.
I looked at the eight vandals contributions. Among them were an additional 38 reverts of vandalism without any warnings. The first vandal I looked at had seven contributions this month, all were vandalism, all had been reverted, but none had been warned.
I looked at one article that had been vandalized. Its recent history was almost only vandalism and reverts for vandalism. One reverter tried to revert multiple edits to a clean version but could not find a clean version. The last entries in the history were for protection. Now that it is protected, perhaps somebody will be able to figure out how to clean up the vandalism. A good part of the vandalism was from one of the vandals that I tracked. If that vandal had been warned with escalations and been blocked, he would not have been around to vandalize that article.
Summary:
Examining just a few minutes of recent changes, I found 44 reverted vandalisms that were not warned. Extrapolating to a full day leads to tens of thousands of vandalism that are reverted but are not warned, and perhaps hundreds of vandals who could be blocked.
The simple fact is that most editors busy with improving articles don't take the time and/or don't know the proper procedures to post a warning, to raise the level of warning, to post to AIV.
I strongly recommend that we provide a very easy semi-automated way for an editor who reverts vandalism to post appropriate warnings and notices. It would take developer assistance but there should be a button that would let the reverting editor choose a standard warning message or compose a custom message, and have the name of the reverted article inserted into the message, and have it added to the vandal's talk page. If the talk page already has a final warning, the system should automatically post a notice to AIV.
If we make it easy for an editor to fight vandalism, more of them will do it, and we will block more vandals.
Actually, we might block fewer vandals if we warned them more often. If every single instance of vandalism were warned, with quick escalations to level 4, and a block if warranted, then vandals will learn that there are consequences and that it is sure and swift. If vandals learn that they won't get away with it, there will be much less vandalism and less need for blocking. Sbowers3 18:51, 21 September 2007 (UTC)