User:2NumForIce/CVUA/Main/Start

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Gadgets & Tools

There are some very useful tools for monitoring and reverting vandalism, and more. Here's some that I recommend. Throughout this course, I will recommend more tools only available to more experienced users.

Twinkle

Twinkle is a very useful tool that can not only monitor vandalism, but also report users to admins, tag pages, request deletion/protection, and much more. To install, go to Preferences → Gadgets → Browsing → Twinkle.

RedWarn

RedWarn is another popular tool for vandalism. It is a bit more user-friendly and easy to use. Install RedWarn

Note: RedWarn is being rewritten as Ultraviolet, but may be unstable. For now, I recommend using RedWarn.

Recent Changes

Recent Changes is the first anti-vandalism tool. It's built into MediaWiki (the software that powers Wikipedia), and is very customizable through filters and highlighting. I would like to share my custom filters: BigBadWolf

Diff

Diffs are how every anti-vandalism tool work. It looks like this: (based on Help:Diff's example diff (this revision)

Revision as of 22:32, 3 August 2003 (edit) Example (talk | contribs) (add reference) ← Previous edit		Revision as of 00:10, 18 August 2003 (edit) (undo) (thank) 192.0.2.16 (talk)    [rollback: 1 edit] (haha)
Line 8:		Line 8:
	This line is unchanged.		This line is unchanged.
−	Something is changed here.	+	Something is POOP.
	This line is unchanged.		This line is unchanged.

Diffs let you identify content added/removed/changed. Without diffs, it would just be a scramble of wikitext.

Policy Introduction

Wikipedia has policies regarding what is considered vandalism. Please read Wikipedia:Vandalism in addition to this section, to learn what's vandalism.

What is vandalism?

The term "vandalism" on Wikipedia is deliberately preventing Wikipedia's purpose, which is creating a free encyclopedia. However, even if misguided, good faith edits are never vandalism.

Make sure to look into the edit more, and not reverting an rvv. Incorrect warnings could "bite" newcomers, and that isn't good. And please don't rv an rvv, I could have lost rollback. Some edits look like vandalism, when they are really test edits, which is good-faith. Or reverting good-faith removal of content from BLPs that violate the BLP policy, even without an edit summary. Also the terms say "For your own protection you should exercise caution and avoid taking any actions that may result in criminal or civil liability under any applicable laws." a.k.a. the moment you click Publish Changes, you're legally responsible for it. [An alternative is to not revert, but add an edit summary warning.]^{[not included for now]}

How do I deal with vandalism?

Use one of the tools that you just enabled. Click on the link of the tool in the #Gadgets & Tools section.

1. Assess whether it's a bad or good faith edit. Use cleanup tags for some good faith edits.
2. Revert the edit using the correct button within a tool, or manually using the undo button. If reverting manually, leave an edit summary such as "rvv" (revert vandalism).
3. Warn the user using the tool, or manually.

   Notice (level 1): Assumes good faith; usually for first edit.

   Example: Welcome to Wikipedia. Your unhelpful edit has been reverted. To test, use the Sandbox.

   Caution (level 2): No faith assumption.

   Example: Please do not make unhelpful edits. Your edit has been reverted.

   Warning (level 3): Assume bad faith, cease and desist.

   Example: Please stop. If you continue, you may be blocked.

   Last warning (level 4): Strong cease and desist. Reported after next edit.

   Example: You may be blocked without further warning if you continue.

   Only warning (level 4im): Like level 4, but even stronger and used for very serious cases.

4. Watch for future vandalism by the same user. Usually, you would increment the level of warning for each edit.
5. Report the user to AIV if the user continues after level 4 or 4im.

How do I warn a user manually?

Unfortunately, tools often don't have every template available (such as full blanking). To warn a user manually, first find a template at WP:WARN, then copy/paste the template on a new section of the user's talk page, and add ~~~~ to sign your name. Name the section "(current month) (current year)". If there is already a section named that, add the template at the bottom of the section. You can also add a parameter to indicate the name of the page (such as {{subst:uw-vandalism1|Wikipedia:Sandbox}} ~~~~) to achieve:

Hello, I'm 2NumForIce. I wanted to let you know that one or more of your recent contributions to Wikipedia:Sandbox have been undone because they did not appear constructive. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. If you have any questions, you can ask for assistance at the Teahouse or the Help desk. Thanks. 2NumForIce (^speak|_edits)

Complete

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