Metaweb:Dealing with vandalism

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

Here's how it works:

First you detect that someone has vandalised a page, for example replacing the entire page with a reference to homosexuality. So you revert the page. Congratulations, you have just successfully dealt with vandalism!

If you're feeling energetic, you can go through other edits made under the same IP address, and check whether those edits are also vandalous. If they are, revert them as well. The pages last touched by that account will be marked with (Top). Congratulations, you have just successfully dealt with repeated vandalism!

For persistent vandals who vandalise many entries, consider adding them to the vandalism in progress page. In the vast majority of cases this is unnecessary, and the vandals may be dealt with in the normal course of Metaweb events.

Adding someone to Vandalism in Progress

When you notice what you believe to be an act of vandalism at work, take note of that person's IP number or handle. Edit the Metaweb:Vandalism in progress page, adding the person's IP number, and sign it with four tildes (~~~~) to give the date and time.

Then put the person's IP or handle in the Summary field and hit save.

Vandalism appears on Recent Changes, along with the id of the alleged vandal, and other wikipedians can decide whether damage has actually occurred. If there is consensus that an attack was correctly identified, everyone will help repair the damage. When the attack is finished, come back and remove the information you added.

If no attack occurred (e.g. it was just a difference of opinion about what is appropriate content or style, not intentional defacement), then the line will be removed from the vandalism in progress page. We hope cases of mistaken listing will be rare.

Please only use this page for genuine malicious vandalism, and only for a sustained attack. If you make any changes to this page for other reasons, put something like "Not calling a vandalism alert" in the summary box, or mark it as a minor edit.

Blocking vandals

Admins have the ability, and the authorisation, to block the IPs of persistent vandals. These blocks should last for a maximum of one month, in the case of static IPs. In the case of dynamic IPs, the blocks should be as shortlived as possible, to avoid inconveniencing genuine contributors.

Tools for finding information on an IP number: * Google Watch (scroll down to "Who owns that IP number?") * network tools

If an ex-vandal evades an IP block by obtaining a new IP, and starts making genuine (non-vandalism) contributions to Metaweb, then they will not be blocked or reverted simply because they used to be a vandal. We do not block vandals to punish them, but to preserve the integrity of Metaweb. If an ex-vandal has reformed, then our aims are accomplished.