Wikipedia:Automatic edit summaries
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[edit] What happened
An edit summary that links to this page via a left-pointing arrow (←) probably was left blank by the user and automatically filled in by the MediaWiki software. In other words, the user did not type the summary. (The manual insertion of such a link is possible but unlikely to occur.)
If the summary describes a redirect, this most likely means that an editor allowed the software to generate the summary out of convenience. If the listed target is reasonable, no further action is required.
A summary indicative of an inappropriate edit (such as the blanking or replacement of legitimate content) probably is not a deliberate description on the part of the user (who might not even have realized that he/she was harming Wikipedia).
Administrators can use a "rollback" button that reverts a page to the last revision not made by the most recent editor. The message can be seen here.
[edit] What to do
If vandalism (or a well-meaning test requiring reversion) is suspected, please examine the edit to determine its nature and respond accordingly. Remember to assume good faith in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Keep in mind that the edit summary was not typed by the user, so it should not be interpreted as such evidence.
From WP:BLP#Rationale: "If an anon IP address or a new account turns up to blank a page about a living person, or a section of it, it may well be the subject. Try not to act aggressively, but instead engage the person in dialogue, and check that the article in question does not contain any unsourced or poorly sourced criticism. If it does, remove that portion."
[edit] The different automatic edit summaries
| Action of the user | Auto-generated text | Page |
| Blanked entire page | ←Blanked the page | MediaWiki:Autosumm-blank |
| Replaced entire page with new text | ←Replaced page with 'new text' | MediaWiki:Autosumm-replace |
| Created a new page | ←Created page with 'new text' | MediaWiki:Autosumm-new |
| Created a redirect | ←Redirected page to target | MediaWiki:Autoredircomment |
[edit] See also
- Feature description at Meta-Wiki
