Recent changes patrol, or RC patrol, is a Wikipedia communal patrol whereby individual users check the recent changes of various articles for inappropriate edits.
The patrol is entirely voluntary and carries no obligation. At its heart, it is really just a way to try to ensure that every edited article gets checked in a timely manner and is given a boost on its way to becoming a "featured article", while simultaneously ensuring that Wikipedia is not harmed by unconstructive edits.
| Recent changes Patrol Userbox | ||
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Regular RC patrollers may wish to put the RC patrol userbox on their user page by adding {{User wikipedia/RC Patrol}} to their user pages. | ||
What to do[edit]
RC patrolling primarily consists of a four step process:
- Identify "bad" or "needy" edits
- RC patrollers efficiently identify problematic edits using the tools described below. A bad edit is an edit that, for one reason or another, may need to be entirely removed. A needy edit requires maintenance or improvement in some manner.
- Remove or improve the edit
- Needy edits should be tagged according to their need, or boldly changed immediately. A useful list of tags can be found at WP:TC. Bad edits should likewise be tagged or deleted. Because Wikipedians do not 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 discussing the issue on the article's talk page before adding them in the article itself.
- Warn the editor
- In the cases of deliberate vandalism or an evident lack of knowledge on Wikipedia procedure, offending editors should be warned on their talk pages. While this is an optional step, the Wikipedia:Guide to administrator intervention against vandalism says that a final warning should always be given before reporting a vandal, and warnings should be a regular part of a patroller's duties, as it minimizes conflict, educates new editors and alerts administrators of repeat offenders. For efficiency and consistency, standard warning templates can be used. However do feel free to simply write a warning if the available templates are not appropriate.
- Check the user's other contributions
- You will often find more edits with similar problems. As an RC patroller, you may want to fix those as well.
Being nice to others[edit]
Throughout the entire process of RC patrol, it is important to remember not to bite the newcomers. A 2006 essay indicated that newcomers, far from being a monolithic horde of vandals, trolls and spammers, wrote most of Wikipedia's content.[1] If you see a new user or IP address contributing, 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 welcome the support.
It is also important to assume good faith as much as possible, or, minimally to assume incompetence or lack of experience 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 Wikipedia. Others may not understand that, yes, their changes really are visible to the entire world immediately.
Patrolling edits to existing pages[edit]
One thing to keep in mind is to not only focus on patrolling articles in the main namespace but also to check other pages — such as, for example, image pages, which are frequently victims of nonsensical edits and vandalism. Such unchecked edits may be particularly harmful because the result might be removal of copyright tags.
Newcomer tests[edit]
Look for newcomer tests (odd edits which are not vandalism), but do not bite the newcomers. Revert their experiments and leave one of the following messages on their user talk page. Be sure to sign and timestamp (~~~~) the warning. You can use Twinkle to revert the page and issue the warning faster.
- {{subst:uw-test1}} ~~~~
Welcome and thank you for your contributions. This is a notice that your test has been reverted or removed. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you. ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-create1}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-delete1}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking)
- {{subst:uw-test2}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-delete2}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking)
Lack of sources[edit]
Addition of unsourced material without proper citations
- {{subst:uw-unsor1}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-unsor2}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-unsor3}} ~~~~
Please do not add unsourced or original content. Doing so violates Wikipedia's verifiability policy. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you.
Further non-constructive edits sometimes can be viewed as vandalism, and dealt with as below.
Spam[edit]
- 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 Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. If a user is posting multiple links to a particular website in several articles, revert the edits. In either case, again notify the user with {{subst:uw-spam1}}.
Copyright violations[edit]
- Look for copyright violations and revert them. As per the instructions at Wikipedia: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[edit]
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. Be sure to check discussion pages for possible explanations of edits.
Warning templates[edit]
Note that these templates need not be used sequentially. If the edit is clearly vandalism, use the template {{uw-vandalism1}} instead. For continuing severe vandalism, {{uw-vandalism2}} may be skipped and {{uw-vandalism3}} given straight after the first warning. If, however, you are not sure that the edit is vandalism, always start with {{uw-test1}}. If a user made such an edit and reverted it themselves, use a {{selftest}}. For extreme or extensive cases of vandalism committed by users who have received no prior warnings, {{uw-vandalism4im}} 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 newcomer test)
- Welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for reverting your recent experiment. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Thank you.
- {{subst:uw-test1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit appears to have possibly not been an intentional act of vandalism)
- Welcome and thank you for your contributions. This is a notice that your test has been reverted or removed. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
- {{subst:uw-error1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit adds seemingly incorrect information to an article)
- Your recent edit appears to have added incorrect information and has been reverted or removed. All information in this encyclopedia must be verifiable in a reliable, published source. If you believe the information that you added was correct, please cite the references or sources or before making the changes, discuss them on the article's talk page. Please use the sandbox for any tests that you wish to make. Do take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
- {{subst:uw-vandalism1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit is clearly vandalism)
- Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute to Wikipedia, at least one of your recent edits did not appear to be constructive and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any test edits you would like to make, and read the welcome page to learn more about contributing constructively to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
- {{subst:uw-unsor1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit is unreferenced)
- Welcome to Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome to contribute to the encyclopedia, but when you add or change content please cite a reliable source for the content of your edit. This helps maintain our policy of verifiability. Take a look at Wikipedia:Citing sources for information about how to cite sources and the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
- {{subst:uw-test2}} ~~~~
- Please refrain from making test edits in Wikipedia pages, even if you intend to fix them later. Such edits appear to be vandalism and have been reverted. If you would like to experiment again, please use the sandbox. Thank you.
- {{subst:uw-error2}} ~~~~ (use if an edit adds factually incorrect information to an article)
- Please do not introduce incorrect information into articles. Your edits appear to be vandalism and have been reverted. If you believe the information you added was correct, please cite references or sources or discuss the changes on the article's talk page before making them again. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you.
- {{subst:uw-delete2}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for vandalism that consists of blanking text)
- Please do not remove content or templates from pages on Wikipedia without giving a valid reason for the removal in the edit summary. Your content removal does not appear constructive, and has been reverted. Please make use of the sandbox if you'd like to experiment with test edits. Thank you.
- {{subst:uw-test3}} ~~~~
- Please stop making test edits to Wikipedia. It is considered vandalism, which, under Wikipedia policy, can lead to a loss of editing privileges. If you would like to experiment again, please use the sandbox.
- {{subst:uw-error3}} ~~~~
- Please stop. If you continue to vandalize pages by deliberately introducing incorrect information, you may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
- {{subst:uw-vandalism4}} ~~~~ (not suitable as a first warning)
You may be blocked from editing without further warning the next time you vandalize Wikipedia.- {{subst:uw-vandalism4im}} ~~~~ (used as a first warning for extreme cases of vandalism)
- This is your only warning; if you vandalize Wikipedia again, you may be blocked from editing without further notice.
Alternatively, you can use:
- {{subst:selftest-n|PageName}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-test#|PageName}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-error#|PageName}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-vandalism#|PageName}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-delete#|PageName}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-vandalism4im|PageName}} ~~~~
- {{subst:uw-unsor#|PageName}} ~~~~
to explicitly state which articles were vandalized. Where appropriate, replace the "#" with the warning level number (1 to 4). Insert the title of the article being referenced. For example:
- {{subst:uw-test1|France}}
- Welcome and thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test on the page France worked, and it has been reverted or removed. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Thank you.
The "subst" causes the template text to be pasted into the talk page as if you had typed it out, instead of leaving {{subst:uw-test1}} 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 will not stop, list them at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism. Ensure that the user has been warned thoroughly before posting a notice on Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism and has had time (three or four minutes) to read the warnings and still ignore them. If a user has not been sufficiently warned, or has only vandalized a couple of times an administrator may simply remove the notice without action.
The blocking administrator will usually leave this or one of the other Block Templates on the vandal's talk page:
- {{subst:uw-block1}} ~~~~
- You have been blocked temporarily from editing for abuse of editing privileges. Once the block has expired, you are welcome to make useful contributions. If you would like to be unblocked, you may appeal this block by adding the text {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}} below this notice, but you should read the guide to appealing blocks first.
Remember to sign and timestamp your warnings by leaving four tildes (like this: ~~~~).
Trace IP address[edit]
Also, consider tracing the IP address. Find owners by using:
- ARIN (North America)
- RIPE (Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia)
- APNIC (Asia Pacific)
- LACNIC (Latin American and Caribbean)
- AfriNIC (Africa)
If an address is not in one, it will probably be in another. Then add {{Shared IP}} to the talk pages of users who vandalise – for persons editing from an organization the realisation that they can be traced is often sufficient to make them stop. (See the template page for variations as to schools, libraries, government institutions, etc.)
Tools[edit]
The following is a list of tools and resources available for those who want to clean up with a more systematic approach.
Monitoring[edit]
The old school way is to load recent changes and check the (diff) links. It can be filtered according to featured articles, good articles, living people, new editors' contribs, IPs' contribs and mobile contribs (as these are more prone to vandalism, see Help:Recent changes). Searching for articles by their namespace and specific tags (e.g. VisualEditor, possible BLP issue or vandalism, etc) can also be done. If they contain harmful edits, you revert to the previous version. However, the high volume of edits that occur each second makes this difficult to accomplish most of the time, and several tools have been created to simplify the process:
- Vandal Fighter, the original anti-vandalism program, is a Java program that displays the Recent Changes feed from Wikipedia's IRC bots and allows filters to focus on certain types of changes (e.g. unregistered users). It also maintains a personal list of trusted users, watched articles, etc.
- Lupin's Anti-Vandal Tool monitors the RSS feed and flags edits with common vandalism terms. It also has a live spellcheck feature. This tool works in monobook skin only.
- WikiMonitor is a Windows program that enables users to monitor recent changes, their watchlist, users' contributions, and other feeds in real time as well as providing multiple tools to aid in semi-automated editing and reversion. It is compatible with all Wikimedia wikis.
- WikiGuard is a Mac OS X program that monitors the IRC feed and attempts to approximate each edit's risk.
- RC birds is a Java program that emits different bird sounds for the RC feed depending on the user.
- The IRC Bot, pgkbot, by Pgk, runs on the IRC channels below.
- IRC Bots reporting at the #cvn-wp-en connect channel on the freenode network list suspected vandalism edits (for example: blankings, edits made by blacklisted users, etc.) (Use this link to open the IRC channel on a web browser.)
- WikiAlerter, a Windows program for patrolling new pages, and deleting/tagging them. Designed primarily for CSD, but supports AfD and ProD. Currently in beta, but there is a release.
- Wikipedia Vandalism Watch is a Windows program that monitors specified users' contributions pages for top edits.
- Huggle is a fast diff browser which parses edits from users and sorts them by predicted level of vandalism. Once identified, malicious edits can be reverted in the click of a button. Due to the fast-paced nature of the program, users on the English Wikipedia must have the rollback permission to use it; however, this is not a requirement on other wikis.
- WatchlistBot is an XMPP bot that sends messages in realtime when articles are modified. Users with a Jabber account can subscribe to the bot and watch both articles and users.
- WikipediaVision is a web-based world map visualization of unregistered edits to the English (and the German, French, Spanish, Swedish) Wikipedia, almost the same time as they happen.
- STiki is a Java program that consists of (1) a server-side component that listens to the RC feed and scores edits in a machine-learning fashion (using 12+ features, many of which are not language-based) -- and (2) A client-side Java GUI application that presents likely vandalism found on the server-side to human users for inspection/reversion. Using STiki without rollback requires either approval from the developer or 1000 article-space edits. It can revert WP:AGF edits while leaving a friendly message on the talkpage of the editing user.
- Igloo is an RC patrol tool that is currently in alpha. It works with either Firefox or Google Chrome.
- RCMap - Geolocates anonymous edits from the IRC live feed and displays them on a world map, with links to diffs. Supports multiple languages in a unified interface.
- WikiPatroller is an Android app for monitoring the recent changes feed.
- Snuggle is a browser-based newcomer observation and support system, introduced in 2013. It gives a compact visual display of edits and talk page entries for accounts whose first edit was made within the past 30 days. It can be used equally to welcome well-intentioned new editors or to monitor problematic ones.
- SWViewer enables you to monitor the recent changes of a wiki's in real-time. In order to use the application, local or global rollback permission is needed.
Rollback tools[edit]
These tools extend the rollback feature by allowing you to specify a summary when using rollback. They may also offer additional features:
- Huggle
- User:Gracenotes/rollback.js
- User:Mr.Z-man/rollbackSummary.js
- User:Ilmari Karonen/rollbacksummary.js
- STiki
- SWViewer
Rollback-like scripts[edit]
These tools can be used to achieve the same effect as rollback if you do not have it.
- RC patrol script gives non-administrators revert, filter, and popup tools while using the monobook skin.
- RC review script for today's featured article gives all editors access to see recent changes in the featured article appearing on the Main page
- Godmode-light is a JavaScript program to give non-administrators a rollback button.
- Navigation popups are a set of utilities that appear when hovering over wikilinks. Particularly, hovering over links of old versions provides a "revert" link.
- Twinkle gives both non-administrators and administrators three types of rollback functions. Other functions include a full library of speedy deletion functions, user warnings, pseudo-automatic reporting of vandals, and more.
- mobileUndo a script which allows you to revert when using the mobile interface.
Special pages[edit]
- See the list of Wikipedia's most vandalized pages. The related changes link will display recent changes to all pages listed on Wikipedia:Most vandalized pages, for those who wish to follow vandalism on Wikipedia but who are unable or do not desire to use IRC bot tools.
- User:Adam1213/warn is a page that simplifies the process of warning vandals by allowing warnings to be submitted to specific users directly from the page.
Task Forces[edit]
- Wikipedia:Counter-Vandalism Unit A voluntary Group who will provide assistance at times of high levels of vandalism and advice on counter vandalism methods. (inactive)
- Wikipedia:Recent changes patrol Another voluntary group who will check recent changes for recently edited pages and intervene if necessary.
IRC channels[edit]
Note that these are not operated by or affiliated with Wikipedia.
- #cvn-wp-en connect Primary RC bot listing (Activity feed only, discussion takes place in #wikipedia-en connect)
- For a list of bot commands, see CVNBot Documentation. To use these commands, you must be voiced, which requires NickServ registration and an invitation from local operators or #countervandalism connect.
- #cvn-unifications connect Account creations
- #cvn-commons-uploads connect File uploads
- #cvn-wp-en-cluenet connect Channel that reroutes information from ClueNet. (Read-only, only staff and bots can speak)
Other[edit]
- Template:Vandalism information, a tool used as an indication of the current overall level of vandalism that is taking place on Wikipedia. On the page, click the edit button below the vandalism meter to change its level from 5 to 1 and/or add a short comment; 5 indicates very low levels of vandalism, and 1 indicates extremely high. You can add the vandalism information template to your userpage to stay up to date. See Template talk:Vandalism information for different styles.
- Am I Needed To Counter Vandalism? [dead link] Displays a full screen bearing the single word "Yes" or "No" to show if extra patrollers are needed. Updated every minute. Developed by User:A930913.
- Countervandalism Network, volunteer group that operates the "#cvn-" channels. This group is not owned by or affiliated with Wikimedia Foundation.
- Wikilink scripts enable you to double click on [[wikilinks]] within IRC clients. Useful if doing patrol on the IRC channels.
- There are other scripts that may be handy while doing cleanup (not necessarily vandalism cleanup). Check them at WikiProject User scripts/Scripts (WP:JS)
- Template:Toolbar experiments, a tool to help with finding test edits in articles.
- Vada, an online cloud based framework.
- AddBad, some thoughts on a new generation of recent changes patrol applications.
See also[edit]
- Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism – for quick action in clear cases
- Wikipedia:Articles written by a single editor
- Wikipedia:Cleaning up vandalism
- Wikipedia:Edit war
- Wikipedia:IPs are human too – on assumption of vandalism/disruption
- Wikipedia:Page Curation
- Wikipedia:Patrols
- Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace – a grid of templates that may be used on user talk pages
- Wikipedia:The Motivation of a Vandal
- WikiProject New page
References[edit]
- ^ Aaron Swartz. "Who Writes Wikipedia?".