Wikipedia talk:Counter-Vandalism Unit/Archive 5

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Contents

Stupid Vandal

User FireHoney has repeatedly vandalized Wikipedia, and must be stopped! See here for more details. User_talk:FireHoney --Steve Latinner 17:13, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Repartee

This particular vandal must be stopped as soon as possible. User:repartee has given birth to a new form of Wikipedia vandalism. This user edits articles so eloquently it does not appear to be vandalism at all. Add comments for suggestions on how to aprehend this user.

If it doesn't appear to be vandalism then maybe it isn't? 84.160.247.104 03:55, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Hasn't edited in over a month...what more do you want? --InShaneee 19:57, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Anon, I've taken care of [[Repartee (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · block user · block log) and his sockpuppets. Consider this a non-issue for now. Yankees76 14:34, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Asking for Charity

I apologize for having to resort to this, I tried looking for Wiki help forums at Wikimedia... I run a small wiki for an MMO and I think I'm being vandalized by some sort of bot. I don't know how to find the attackers IP and block off the addies. I'd be very appreciative of any offer of help from someone "in the know." Here's my place: http://www.coffeespy.com/wiki Just hit recent changes and everything changed today is a wierd code add to the end of the page. Not sure what it's supposed to do. Neospooky 16:20, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Something? Anything? Please? Even if it's to tell me I'm in the wrong place and should be asking this question somewhere else, please. Neospooky 11:09, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
I don't see anything wrong. Epl18 16:18, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism Stats

Just curious.. has anyone ever tried to compile statistics related to vandalism on Wp? (like number of reverts per hour, or number of incidents of vandalism per hour.. if such things can be measured) ikh (talk) 18:59, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Tony Sidaway has; see http://tools.wikimedia.de/~tony_sidaway for his pages on the toolserver, which include statistical tools such as this. Rob Church (talk) 21:53, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
Thank you for that :) an interesting one: [1] semi protection rocks. See sharp drop in vandalism and continuing unreverted edits (aka non vandalism) --Cool CatTalk|@ 00:50, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I also have some stats located in the following two locations: User:Lightdarkness/Vandalism & User:Lightdarkness/Vandalism/Sandbox --lightdarkness 04:01, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Looks pretty cool.. esp. how there's an obvious cyclical pattern to when most vandalism occurs. How do you actually count the number of vandalisms? by the number of reverts or actually count the vandalisms? ikh (talk) 18:01, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
Rollback is to be used strictly to revert vandalism and spam etc (not every admin honors this (not that I am criticising or care) but vast majority does). I believe the script counts those. --Cool CatTalk|@ 17:32, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
IIRC, it looks for rollbackesque summaries, "rvv" and "rv vandalism" and similar edit summaries and assumes that for each revert, there's at least one bit of vandalism. Rob Church (talk) 21:19, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Cleaning up vandalism

I like that ;) --Cool CatTalk|@ 04:00, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

"ON JUNE 6 2006 WIKIPEDIA WILL MEET ITS MAKER" vandal

Who the heck is he? Is he using the same IP range? Can someone find a checkuser? --Cool CatTalk|@ 22:27, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

According to IRC convo he appears to be from AOL ips.  ALKIVAR™ 23:42, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I rangeblocked earlier, but the block caused too much collateral damage. For now, we just need to keep reverting and blocking as we see it. Essjay Talk • Contact 02:35, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Although it may be obvious, for those who are missing it: the date above is 6 6 2006. :) --Cool CatTalk|@ 17:33, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Who knows? It might be like an "end of Wikipedia" scenario. We might want to raise the WikiDefcon level to one on that day. Funnybunny 21:08, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Or maybe Jimbo is going to make an announcement. --Rory096 21:12, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
I'll bet mr treason is going to do something crazy.El benderson 04:53, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
He wouldn't dare betray us like that! --maru (talk) contribs 04:53, 3 June 2006 (UTC)


The worse I can immagine is a vandal bot with a bot flag, or dozens of vandal bots at the same time, none of wich is too much for us. —Argentino (talk/cont.) 14:00, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Help please, i would like to be in the Counter Vandalism Unit

How do i get in? Please contact me on my user page. Auburnfan4--Auburnfan4 00:43, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

You can associate with CVU by adding userbox {{user CVU1-en}} or userbox {{user CVU2-en}} to your user page. If you prefer not to use userboxes, you can add yourself to the Category Counter Vandalism Unit Member/wikipedia/en. Hbackman 04:46, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I object to this organisation!

I have been unduly accosted by a few members herein. You lack the professional approach of User:Mintguy, User:RickK and User:Hephaestos. Do not bother me again! 68.110.9.62 23:55, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

If you vandalize, we'll revert it. Period. --Rory096 00:10, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

You are not exercising your position appropriately. I have not vandalised. Prove that I did. 68.110.9.62 00:16, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Per WP:VAND, the removal of warnings from your user talk page is considered vandalism. I discussed this on your talk page but you removed it. (ESkog)(Talk) 00:18, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

This is not the place to discuss this; we are not an organization that acts as a whole, we are a group of people with similar interests. Please take issues with particular individuals to the talk pages associated with those individuals. Essjay Talk • Contact 00:29, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I love it when vandals object to our existance... :P --Cool CatTalk|@ 00:51, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
Has anyone noticed this guys (68.110.9.62) user page? I think he probably offended every possible religion, race or culture with it. What's the policy on removing this? Last I checked Wikipedia wasn't a soapbox for extremists. Yankees76 01:17, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

You hate me, so why not hate you in return? You call anybody "vandal" as any excuse to masturbate your "powers" over those with an IP addy. 68.110.9.62 10:17, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

You can create an account and log in, just the same as the rest of us. Nothing's stopping you. Waggers 10:06, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
Anons are fine, unless they start vandalising, then they are dealt with little sympathy. --Cool CatTalk|@ 12:20, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
Agreed. How hard is it to create a real profile? If you're a legitimate editor, you should have no problem creating a legit profile/username. Hiding behind an IP address while vandalizing is just weak. Yankees76 22:56, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Keep denying and casting aside random people who won't get with your program. That's trolling. 68.110.9.62 18:58, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Spotted a vandal

Guys watch out for 24.62.120.208 he's been messing around with articles like Podcasting. Zhanster 03:33, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

NPOV example?

Surely there is a better example of an NPOV addition than the one listed ([2]), which seems to be a lot closer to plain vandalism (plus original research), with its obscene phrasing and off-kilter theories about the Nazis. Would anyone like to suggest one? ProhibitOnions 22:23, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure there are better examples, but I decided to search through some of the non-NPOV edits I've had to revert. Here are a few: [3], [4], [5]. EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 22:43, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

defcon?

Where did the defcon go?

--Activision45 22:56, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

The Wikipedia:WikiDefcon page was deleted, due to a discussion at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:WikiDefcon. However, {{Wdefcon}} still exists. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 23:00, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
As the template survived the deletion debate, I jsut retranscluded it on the Project page. xaosflux Talk/CVU 02:37, 22 February 2006 (UTC)


Wikipedia:Requests for rollback privileges

For those of us who enjoy fighting vandalism, but are not admins, this proposed policy could make life easier. Let's go over and try to make it into something the community can accept. --Measure 00:05, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

This isn't good...

There's a group called the "Wikipedia Vandalism Unit" on MySpace. It only has three members right now, but I don't like the sound of it. Anyone got any extra bunker busters? --Ixfd64 09:04, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to drop a note to the foundation mailing list; the use of the copyrighted foundation logo without permission should prompt a nice firm notice to myspace. Essjay Talk • Contact 09:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
Bunker buster? Why can't we just use a MOAB? Titoxd(?!? - help us) 01:35, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

It's a parody. BlueGoose 00:50, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

If it's on MySpace, why should anyone care? ⇒ JarlaxleArtemis 03:45, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

I would like to join.

I would like to join the Counter Vandalism Unit here at Wikipedia. I would like to help track down vandals and put them out of business. I come on to Wikipedia every weekday and a thrilled to be a member of it now. Please let me join your group and tell me what to do. I aslo need to know how to revert an article to correct vandelism (Steve 16:21, 23 February 2006 (UTC))

Please see the above discussion Wikipedia talk:Counter Vandalism Unit#Help please, i would like to be in the Counter Vandalism Unit. —WAvegetarian•CONTRIBUTIONSTALK• EMAIL• 16:41, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Finding vandal edits

Is there some way to find all recent edits by a range of IPs? Gazpacho 19:13, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I know this comment is old, but I'll add something here just to make sure everyone knows this. Vandal Fighter and Vandal Proof both are programs that can be used to search recent changes, and both can be switched so that they only look for anonymous ips if needed. Vandal Proof you have to register for, but Vandal Fighter you can use right of the bat. You don't even really have to download or install anything, as it runs in Java (or Javascript, I forget). Hope that helps. Galactor213 19:39, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Request for a User Block

How do you recommned that a user IP be blocked? 166.109.0.45 has repeatedly vandalized pages including American Revolution, French Revolution, and Tapir. If you review the contrubtions made my this person you will notice a hold string of others. He has been warned, but has disregard the warnings. (Steve 19:32, 23 February 2006 (UTC))

WP:AIV --Measure 19:37, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Monsters of Rock and Chris Cornell

Monsters of Rock and Chris Cornell were vandalized. i fixed cornell, but not yet the other page. i'd like to see those guys banned! --Fireblues 13:53, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Types of RC patrolers

  • Active: Via RC feed
  • Pasive: Via "watched" pages
  • Both: Both via RC feed and watched pages.

I think this should be stated in the article although I am not sure what the best way is. --Cool CatTalk|@ 00:46, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

My bot

I am almost done with version 2.0 (complete rewrite of basiacly everything), while I am at it what new functions would you guys want. Bot can only read the rc feed :) --Cool CatTalk|@ 22:15, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

I guess no one cares... damn you pgk, I wont admit defeat! :) --Cool CatTalk|@ 01:23, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps add a variable to express links in expanded (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php links) or Wikilink format? That would be useful. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 01:32, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
You mean diff links?
Ex Diff: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wexford_GAA&diff=next&oldid=39353234
--Cool CatTalk|@ 04:57, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
A switch between diff links and wiki links, I mean. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 03:07, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Thats easy to code but wikipedia does not have a way to make [[ ]] links link to diffs. --Cool CatTalk|@ 17:18, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

IHEU long-term and complex vandalism

Hi,

Please read the IHEU talk page, in particular Talk:International Humanist and Ethical Union#Verifiability.

Though I have struggled to maintain a friendly tone with him, I have acted in good faith, and done my best to accomodate Rohirok's preferences, but he continuously attacks my credibility and honesty, and repeatedly vandalises pages relating:

and more.

I can forward a copy of the email response to any email address that you ask. You can also verify its authenticity with the website administrator at the IHEU. I feel that Rohirok should be warned off, or blocked, from further editing of these articles. --Couttsie 04:34, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Can somebody please help me? Rohirok is continuing to vandalise these pages. He also seems very confused by the fact that the American Humanist Association (which claims religious status) is both secular [6] and Humanist. --Couttsie 21:47, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if anyone did something, but the situation has improved considerably. --Couttsie 03:04, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Anyone see this user page?

Roxanne Harman (talk · contribs) claims that she is Willy on Wheels. Anyone want to check out her user page?

  • She was blocked several weeks ago as a sockpuppet. --InShaneee 05:15, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Intro and Suggestion

I've been reverting spam and vandalism since I became a Wikipedian (I also like to fix redirect links...and occasionally add content!) Today I noticed something interesting. (I'm not sure the best way to link in article history, so I'll fake it). A couple days ago the page Canopic jar was vandalized [diff]. Earlier today some of the changes were fixed [diff]. However, many were missed. I fixed it (but it took me a couple tries) [my restoration] and [compared with pre-vandalism]. Had I not looked closer--I like to see if there were other "contributions" that haven't yet been fixed--I wouldn't have noticed this. At first glance I saw that vandalism had been fixed. A sophisticated vandal using two identities (different IP addresses, or one or two accounts) could easily mask their changes. So I think that besides looking for other changes made by a vandal (or spammer), checking to see that all the damage has been corrected would be a good idea. I'm a good guy, but very human, so while my fixes are in good faith, I'd always feel better if I knew other people are double-checking me. --Straif 17:00, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Cam

This page has been vandalized, and is proving strangely resistant to further editing (at least by me.) Should probably be watched.Bjones 14:18, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

How about a wdefcon userbox?

Would it be possible to make a userbox that shows the current wdefcon level for interested Wikipedians? I obviously don't know how to do this. I like the idea of the present wdefcon box, but it does take up a lot of space. -- Tachikoma 15:48, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if it is possible, but I see two potential issues. Wikidefcon itself is controversial, and the climate concerning user boxes is volatile at the moment. In other words, I wouldn't want to be the one to create it. —Wayward Talk 16:12, 14 March 2006 (UTC)
Ah. I knew about the userbox controversy (if you see my userpage, I obviously don't mind non-inflammatory userboxes), but I didn't know that Wikidefcon itself was controversial. --Tachikoma 16:54, 14 March 2006 (UTC)
It already has been done... just look at my user page for the code. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 06:06, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the userbox code! --Tachikoma 15:38, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism on the rise on March 14th

There has been a storm of vandalism on a few user pages. Something needs to be done about it. Every time a page is reverted, it is vandalized again.

Thanks, CharlesM 01:48, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

From a very brief perusal, the vandalism looks like it's pretty much the same thing from different IPs. I suspect a single anon using a dynamic IP. Any chance we could prevail on an admin to block similar vandalism to the same page from a new IP on sight until this settles down? Hbackman 01:50, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
Well, so far every IP he uses has been blocked. But he keeps coming back with more. If they block a range of ip addresses, it could cause chaos. CharlesM 01:53, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
Maybe we just have to keep watching and reverting, then. Hbackman 01:55, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
I think that the wave of vandalism is over for now. CharlesM 02:10, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
In my opinion, it's always better when a vandal is busy vandalising userpages instead of articles. - Akamad 06:32, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
How about when someone changes your watchlist? I don't even know how that was done. All I know is that someone else had added a non-existent article to my watchlist.--Tachikoma 01:55, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
You probably added it to your watchlist while it existed, and then it was later deleted. ⇒ JarlaxleArtemis 03:51, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Terminatorius bot blanks warnings

On March 15, 2006, the User:Terminatorius bot created by User:Audriusa began blanking warnings from hundreds of user talk pages, specifically IP talk pages with a vandal warning where no edit had been made within the last 48 hours. User:Audriusa's explanation of why he created the bot can be found here: User:Terminatorius. Is this type of bot action allowed? Has this been discussed anywhere? As of 22:54, 15 March 2006 (UTC), the bot had been stopped.Wuzzy 22:54, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to repost here what I wrote on Andriusa's talk page:
I really don't think that this bot is a good idea. Some IPs are chronic vandals, and when I'm dealing with them it's very useful for me to be able to see that. When I'm going to an IP talk page to add a vandalism warning and I see that that IP has 20 previous warnings stretching back over six months, I handle it differently than if the IP has received one or no warnings.
Anyone else feel the same way? Anyone else feel differently? :Hbackman 23:21, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Stopped, the activity fully reverted

The bot is stopped, and I have already manually reverted all changes it made, returning to the previous versions (you can check mine history). The bot was not running at 22:54, I have stopped it immediately after I received the first message from Wuzzy. Sorry. Audriusa 08:04, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Name of this page

Isn't "counter" one of those adjectives usually hyphenated to the noun it modifies, as "anti-" and "semi-" are, and counter-productive and the like? And when they aren't hyphenated, they are usually one word. (countercyclical is sometimes that way, sometimes with a hyphen, etc.[7]). It is almost never used with a space between it and the noun it modifies, is it?

Shouldn't this be "Counter-vandalism Unit". Or maybe "Countervandalism unit"? Gene Nygaard 13:13, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

grammar

sorry to seem like a grammar stickler, but

it should be Counter-Vandalism Unit, with a hyphen

Counter-Vandalism is a compound adjective describing unit.

just a suggestion. —This unsigned comment was added by FTIII (talk • contribs) .

Thank you for pointing that out. I will correct this. - Conrad Devonshire 03:07, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Moderator of this Unit

Isnt there some moderator for this Unit who can guide other members and make groups which can counter vandalism in different sections. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Suyash (talk • contribs)

Why? if you've got a specific area of interest, monitor it on your own. If not, use CDVF and IRC to counter it across the board. ⇒ SWATJester Ready Aim Fire! 07:05, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Looking for a Veteran Opinion

I apologize if this isn't perhaps the most appropriate place to post this, but I'm currently having a dispute with a user over an edit I reverted as vandalism and was wondering if someone might be willing to offer an opinion as to whether or not the edit is indeed vandalism. Jlhc (talk • contribs • count) made this edit on 18 March which I immediately reverted as vandalism, assuming that his reference to "Strongbadiophage" was meant as a joke. As the user had already received one warning (test1), I tagged his talk page with the test2 warning and went about my business.

A week later, he posted the following remark on my talk page: "Yeah hi, this is Jlhc, you said I vandalized an article. Well, according to hrwiki.org this is completly true, but I do have ADD so I did go a little off topic while trying to explain." My first impulse was to think that his remark was also meant as a joke, but I instead responded that if he could supply his source or better explain what he was trying to say, I would reconsider my decision. Today he responded with the following source: link. Apparently the "Strongbadiophage" is some miscellaneous joke by the character Strong Bad, which was more or less my reason for reverting the edit in the first place.

The only question that still remains is whether Jlhc posted the joke on the page in good faith or bad faith, as that clearly is the definition of vandalism. Typically, the second a user claims I wrongfully reverted one of his/her edits, I give him/her the benefit of the doubt, immediately remove my warning, and restore the page to his/her version; however, in this case, I have a very hard time believing that this edit was made with the intent of improving the article. I by no means wish to insult Jlhc if his/her edit was indeed made in good faith, but at the same time, I don't want to encourage any user to continue posting jokes and other random nonsense on serious articles. As such I was wondering if someone might give me some insight into whether or not they believe the edit was vandalism or an honest attempt to improve the article (or give me some advice in how to best handle the dispute). You can either answer here or on my talk page, or you can direct to me to some better place to ask this question. Thanks. AmiDaniel (Talk) 05:35, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Looks like a joke/nonsense to me. I would've warned the user with {{test2}} or with {{behave}}. I think you're in the right here. The information that the user added is irrelevant to the topic of the article. I wouldn't call it bad faith editing per se, but I would definitely say that it's worth a warning, just so the user is aware that it's not appropriate to make joke edits. Hbackman 21:27, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
I agree with Hbackman. We shouldn't be overly concerned about labels here, whether or not it was vandalism. The bottom line is it was a nonsense edit and had no business at all being in the article. Anyone with a lick of sense should know that, so a test2 was entirely appropriate. –Abe Dashiell (t/c) 22:38, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for your support. I've responded to the user by, more or less, restating my orignial opinion on the edit--it just made me a little uncertain to have a user so adamently defend his vandalism (to the point of citing sources nonetheless), but your replies have reassured me that I haven't completely lost mind. Once again, thanks. AmiDaniel (Talk) 01:08, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

how to deal with anon IP vandal?

Hello, I've spent part of the day reverting vandalism by User:63.238.185.98, who has messing around with InuYasha, Street Sharks, South Park, and Xbox. Sometime after I left the test 4 warning on the anon's talk page (and after I logged out), the person subsequently vandalised Bob Dole.

My question is, how long of a time period do you allow to pass before you start anew with test 1 for a given IP address? I would have reported the anon to an admin if the vandalism had been more recent, but now, I don't know.

Thanks. --Tachikoma 01:20, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

The IP is registered to a branch of the Qwest ISP in Newark, DE. Since Qwest doesn't (typically) used shared IPs, the IP is most likely only being used by one computer or one very small LAN. Therefore, I wouldn't think there should be any problem blocking the IP for at least 48 hours because the intended user will be on the receiving end of that block (if anything, it will let him/her know that we're serious about blocking, and he/she might stop vandalizing). I'd say in this case you could treat the anon. just like a regular user, but that's just one non-admin's opinion. AmiDaniel (Talk) 01:32, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
Oops, should have actually read the question first--never mind what I said about blocking. I certainly don't think you have to start over at test1 the next day, but instead start with 3 or whatever you feel most comfortable with. There's really no policy that I'm aware of for these situations. AmiDaniel (Talk) 01:48, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
When talking about this kind of case in general, I think it really depends on the situation and preferences of the user. If you get all the way up to {{test4}} and the user stops, but then starts up again in the next day or two, I don't think anyone would have a problem with you giving only 1 or 2 warnings out, with one of them being a {{bv}}. Same goes for users with a long period of vandalism. But I'd say it really depends situation-to-situation, and it's probably best to just use common sense. -EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 01:35, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Vandal IP

24.199.204.66 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · block user · block log) has committed various acts of vandalism starting November 20, 2005, its most recent example being here [8]. So far, it hasn't committed any vandalism since its last warning, but it should be kept an eye on. - Conrad Devonshire 05:21, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Help requested from CVU folks

Since the sockpuppetry by PoolGuy (talk · contribs) as GoldToeMarionette (talk · contribs), I've been affected by a barrage of attacks by PoolGuy's new sockpuppets. (See Wikipedia:Requests for CheckUser/Archive/March 2006 for details; see also PoolGuy's sockpuppets' repeated harassment on my talk page [9] and campaign of obfuscation and defamation on WP:AN.) I've received mightily little help from others, both in terms of moral support and reversion/blocks of these sockpuppets; indeed, the lack of help is making me considering giving up Wikipedia altogether. I imagine that I'd at least be able to count on CVU folks for support in both areas. Please consider stepping in and helping, as real life business the last few days, which will last for another week, is preventing me from fully doing so. --Nlu (talk) 07:56, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Have you considered requesting that your user and talk pages be semiprotected for a short period of time? That might help matters. In the meantime, I'll add your pages to my watchlist. Hbackman 17:36, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
Thanks. The last time I semi-protected my talk page, another admin who had an axe to grind against me harassed me about it. (See both User talk:nlu/archive14 and WP:AN, and it's really not been serious enough to warrant semi-protecting at this point. (I'd semi-protect a page myself only if the vandalism is like once every 10 minutes or so, and I'd apply that policy to my own page.) --Nlu (talk) 07:43, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Warnings on Talk Pages

Is it appropriate to leave a warning on a talk page if you weren't the one that fixed the damage? Specifically, this is regarding recent edits by User:Nk430. This person page-blanked Google, leaving behind a two-word opinion of google. S/he has also made similiar changes on user pages (not talk pages, user pages). Someone, a bot I think, corrected the edit to Google, but didn't leave a warning. In fact, as of right now, the only comment on the talk page is a welcome from a couple days ago. To me at least, it appears that the only edits have been to promote a certain website, and to protest (to say the least) any attempts to revert thost promotions. I'm not about to revert changes to someone's user page. I'd like to see some warnings, because I think if this continues, a block should be considered--however, without an appropriate set of warnings, admins are reluctant to block. And why is it that bots tend to not leave warnings? --Straif 15:31, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

I think definitely. Issue the warning. (At least that's what I was told a few months ago when I wasn't an admin.) Thanks for being diligent. --Nlu (talk) 16:07, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
I second that. Also, it may be worth mentioning to the user (or bot controller) who fixed the page that they should in future leave a note on the vandal's talk page. Pretty much all the vandal-fighting guidance I've seen tells them to do this, and there's even a template, {{vandal tags}} that you could use asking them to comply. Waggers 17:37, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
(P.S. Don't forget to subst it!) Waggers 17:39, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
I'll third that idea. And sometimes when you're running high-paced RC patrol, it's not necessarily that the reverter forgot to leave a message, but rather that you beat them to the punch. Perhaps check out the reverter's contributions and see if they typically leave warning messages or have been leaving them recently before putting that {{vandal tags}} template on their talk page. As for bots, I imagine some of the bots don't have the programming to leave warnings, but I know some bots do, such as User:Tawkerbot2. EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 22:34, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

AOL users

We have many problems with them. They always vandalize, then their IP address will change before they get blocked. I have a suggestion (or solution) to end this problem. We could force AOL users to sign up before they edit so that justice will be served to the right person. Funnybunny 04:07, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Unfortunately, as far as I know, this policy will never fly. --Nlu (talk) 05:42, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
I'm not so sure that "always" is correct. I've seen plenty of AOL vandals, but when I look at the contributions for that IP address, many of the edits are legitimate. Frequently, they are small things like grammar or spelling corrections. But that is a good thing. I understand your frustration though, I've followed around too many AOLer's or school district proxy IPs cleaning up one change after the other. Plus, if we manage to slow down vandalism from those sources (school proxies in particular), I may never solve one of the great riddles of our time: why is the word "poop" so popular? --Straif 19:39, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

Warning toolbox

I've received some good feedback on a vandal warning toolbox that I wrote. It's javascript that can be linked into your profile that adds some useful links to the Wikipedia toolbox when a user talk page is being edited. It puts an array of warning messages just a click away, making it much easier and faster to leave appropriate messages, thus making it more likely that messages will be left.

I'm interested in seeing messages left on vandals' talk pages in almost all cases. I'm also interested in any feedback from users of this tool, and I wonder if there are other appropriate venues in which to let responsible editors know about this, if it deserves the exposure. Thanks. --Kbh3rdtalk 20:32, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

I think your tool is very good. I didn't know this until now, but I left vandal's talk pages with a {{test}} template on it, reguardless of what kind of vandalism they commited. I had no clue there were more templates to other kinds of vandalism. Using that tool, it will be easier to choose the right kind of warning template. Funnybunny 23:10, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

I've been using this toolbox for quite a while, and I'd HIGHLY recommend it to all vandal fighters. It's made my life so much easier and it makes warning users so much quicker. I don't know what else to say...just a great, great tool. EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 23:49, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I personally find it very useful, of course, and I want to encourage warning comments on users' talk pages for the reasons discussed on the toolbox page. What I don't know is whether there are other widely-employed tools alongs the lines of Lupin, godmode, etc., that provide the same functionality as part of a larger or better package. (I don't see it in the same arena as standalone tools such as CryptoDerk.) If there isn't such a beastie, and this therefore meets a heretofore unfulfilled need, then what steps to take to further popuarize it? --Kbh3rdtalk 20:02, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
I think promotion is the key to increasing use (without spamming, of course). Post a link to it and description of it in the appropriate section on WP:CVU, Wikipedia:Recent changes patrol, and Wikipedia talk:Vandalism. You could also post a short "announcement of a new tool's release" or something on WP:AN, as I think many administrators might like it. Anyway, let me know if you need any help at all, and best of luck! EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 01:05, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Just curious..

Who is the leader(or president, whichever you prefer) of this organization? How do you become one? Can I become the leader when I create an account? 65.2.5.140 00:48, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

It's not really all that structured of an organization, ie, we don't really take orders from anyone or anything. If you create an account, though, you're quite welcome to join us. :) --InShaneee 01:22, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Poorly written defcon level discriptions

I noticed some grammatical errors and poor wording in the discriptions for each level of the WikiDefcon meter. I tried to correct these, but after doing so and saving the template page, the messages stayed the same. I you click the "edit" tab of the WikiDefcon template, you will be able to see my revised discriptions, even though they do not appear in the WikiDefcon meter. Could someone please come to my assistance? - Conrad Devonshire 01:23, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Never mind; I was able to take care of it myself. - Conrad Devonshire 19:59, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

New Anti-vandalism idea

After reading about the "Jimbo Wales images vandal", I started to think about how such types of vandalism might be prevented. According to the report on Wikipedia:Long term abuse, the vandal would register an account, vandalize an article, quickly log out and register a new accout to avoid being autoblocked, and vandalize again. If a system could be set up to autoblock IPs that rapidly register new accounts, then this sort of vandalism could be prevented. - Conrad Devonshire 06:08, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Non compos mentis

I for one do not understand what is going on here nor, apparently, do I have the capability to figure out what a Counter-Vandalism Unit is or does. Perhaps a quick explaination? Not all of us are as clever as you guys. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.187.17.155 (talk • contribs) 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Its just a place where Wikipedians who are dedicated to fighting vandalism can coorespond and learn about current vandal issues, new vandal-fighting tools, etc. It has been refered to as a WikiProject related to fighting vandalism. - Conrad Devonshire 17:52, 16 April 2006 (UTC)


Combating the Slashdot effect

I've noticed on multiple occasions where high-traffic sites linking to Wikipedia articles, such as Slashdot tends to lead in a shapr increase in vandalism. Is there any way we as non-administrators can combat this phenonemon? I personally would think semi-protection would be rather effective, but often in the time it takes for that action to occur, an awful lot of vandalism will have occured already. ANy thoughts? Wizardry Dragon 20:00, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

A post on slashdot is likely to result in a large number of eyeballs being on wikipedia, unfortunately the number of vandals is uniformly distributed amoungst slashdot vs. other users. This makes vandalism a function of traffic not a specific site. Luckily the geekey slashdot community are probably more likely to jump in and fix things, than average, and the vandal will be tempted to hit the referred article. Perhaps if a vandal comes from a slashbot referrer they could be traced back. Undoubtably some daft vandal will have been logged into slashdot. The referrer could be used to trace their slashdot account, and so be able to finger them as offenders. I'm fairly sure slashdot will have no problem co-operating, they have no love of abuse (The entire ADSL network in my country is effectively blocked from slashdot since our National Monopoly won't respond to vandalism inquiries - they have dynamic-ip's) --Mig77 09:14, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Volunteer

I'm keen to assist with this venture. Let me know what I can do.

Extramural 16:59, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Watch the blanking warnings

Hi everybody. Just a note to ask people to watch out when reverting part-blanking of articles: there may be a bug (affecting me and at least 2 other editors) that means the full article is not loading into the edit window.

If you see an edit that cuts the bottom off an article, of course revert it. But revert it manually - it's not vandalism - and above all don't warn the editor with a template. Write to them personally, perhaps to point them at Bugzilla #5643, but don't warn or block for it without good reason! Thanks folks. ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 19:12, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

QVRS

User:General Eisenhower has established the Quick Vandalism Response Squad. He does not go into detail about what it is for, and to me it seems that the Counter-Vandalism Unit and the Recent Changes Patrol already take its place, but I have listed it in the announcements section of this article nevertheless. - Conrad Devonshire 23:00, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

so is this thing still going on? -- ( drini's page ☎ ) 23:01, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
I looked at its page, and it says that it is open to new members, though so far User:General Eisenhower is the only member. - Conrad Devonshire 03:14, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
Seems a bit militant to me. --Knucmo2 01:00, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Tuskegee Airmen vandalized again

Please revert Tuskegee Airmen, and please consider semi-protection. Vandalism to this racially sensitive page is not daily, but certainly ongoing. Latest was by anon IP use 66.213.29.242r:

This IP address, 66.213.29.242, is registered to the Columbus Metropolitan Library and is shared by multiple users. Comments left on this page may be received by other users of this IP and appear to be irrelevant. Caution should be used when blocking this IP or reverting its contributions without checking. In the event of vandalism from this address, efforts will be made to contact the Columbus Metropolitan Library to report abuse.

Thanks. Catherineyronwode 20:45, 23 April 2006 (UTC)


Exponential increase in vandalism

Is there an exponential increase, or am I just having bad luck with the articles I have been involved with since this year? I mean, more exponential than the increase in articles.DanielDemaret 12:06, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, the only criteria I have for the global level of vandalism is the "DefCon" meter, and it hasn't gone above 4 in quite a while.--Chodorkovskiy (talk) 04:14, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
That is a relief. :) Could you please direct me to the Defcon meter?DanielDemaret 06:03, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
Sure, see Template:Wdefcon, or you can add {{Wdefcon}} to any page where you want it displayed. I actually have the feeling that in the last few weeks vandalism has been startlingly low, which is definitely a good thing, but I don't know what to attribute it to (sorry for ending with a preposition lol), which bothers me a bit. AmiDaniel (Talk) 06:21, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
As long as it is not an error in measurement, it is good news. :) DanielDemaret 10:58, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
And thank you for the template. My user page has been a bit empty of late.DanielDemaret 11:00, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
I prefer to see the good side: IMHO, the more prominent WP becomes and the more people learn that it is open to anyone, the more sociopaths will try their hand here. ←Humus sapiens ну? 06:30, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
God I hope not... I rather not have to revert anything this week Aeon 13:46, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Problem using Sam Hocevar's Godmode

After installing the tool, the rollback buttons have appeared as they should, but when I have tried to rollback an edit, a large amount of code has appeared on the page with a message saying something to the effect of that my having the "right-click section header to edit section" and the "double-click page to edit page" options turned on was interfering with it. I turned them both off and the same problem happens. Here is an example of what appears: [10] --Conrad Devonshire 22:00, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Godmode, as I understand it, is FireFox dependent. Could this be the problem? AmiDaniel (Talk) 04:02, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
I am using Firefox, so something else must be the cause of it. I also have Lupin's Recent Changes Filter installed. Maybe it is somehow interferring with Godmode.--Conrad Devonshire 15:55, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Who is in the Counter Vandalism Unit?

Hi All,

I am very suspicious of people who label other people as vandals, make them "illegal", and then shut them off. It is a very effective way of stopping the enemy in their tracks. I was labelled myself as being a vandal on three separate occasions, twice indeed by the very senior enforcement personnel of Wikipedia, known as "Administrators". Naturally I kept my head down, as one does when "rounds are coming towards me". I have never referred to anyone as a "Vandal" and do not like such inflamatory language anyway. To have something called a Counter-Vandalism Unit appears to me to be something akin to the SS. I don't like it, and I suspect that some others are like minded too.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Wallie 18:49, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
"Who is in the Counter Vandalism Unit?" Whoever wants to be. Please do not throw wild accusations and try to start a revolution. Rather, point to the exact cases of injustice committed against you, if indeed they were such, so that they can be dealt with. P.S. The "SS"? If you were new, I'd be very suspicious. As it is, I'm just puzzled. The "SS"? --Chodorkovskiy (talk) 19:05, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
The SS, or Schutzstaffel Prodego talk 19:07, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
First of all, comparing the CVU to the SS is quite a frivolous argument (see Argumentum ad nazium); however, I do agree that many here are prone to labeling "vandals" and that doing so is a highly counterproductive form of counter-vandalism. It is necessary, however, to identify users who repeatedly vandalize articles (users like WP:WoW for an extreme example) in an effort to control the severity of the damage they can do, but any claim of vandalism must be documented and in accordance with WP:VAND (whereas any other claim is a personal attack or an error in judgment). The issues that you have with these admins and users who claim that you have vandalized should be directed toward them, not toward the institution, as the CVU does not in any way encourage personal attacks. I will also agree that I am opposed to this mentality of "us vs. the vandals"--we're not soldiers, and the CVU is not an army; instead, we're nothing more than quality control. I believe most users and members of the CVU recognize that fact, though there are still some who feel we're fighting a war. To some extent, I am opposed to the WikiDefcon for this very reason, though I still believe it to be a useful tool.
Whether you like it or not, the CVU (or somethig like it) will always exist on Wikipedia, for, in order for Wikipedia to have a chance at surviving, there must be some means by which counter-vandalism can be organized and encouraged. The CVU, though perhaps not the best method of doing this, provides users with a variety of tools, links to the IRC channels, and contacts they may otherwise not have found, all of which is, in my opinion, absolutely vital to provide. Try clicking on Special:Recentchanges sometime, go down the list, and see how much vandalism you find. I'd say the ratio is about 1:10 edits is vandalism, yet thanks to the CVU and its committed members, the average time it takes for vandalism to be reverted is five minutes (I can't find my source right now, but it's on Wikipedia:Statistics somewhere). If it weren't for organizations like this one, instead of finding a respectable FA when you click random page, you'd find "FALLOUT BOY SUCKS!" (seems to be the most popular one I've been finding lately ... didn't even know what Fallout Boy was until recently). So, please, before you start a revolution, consider what impact it might have on Wikipedia. There will always be editors out there constantly attacking each other whether the CVU exists or not, and at some point everyone just has to learn to ignore rude remarks and get on with life. AmiDaniel (Talk) 23:55, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
I agree, Wally. Some others are probably like-minded...especially the vandals.--Conrad Devonshire 02:49, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
Just making a remark: should we call vandals "encyclopedially challenged editors" or something? Other than that and the part about war (Kill! Kill! Kill!), I'm cool with the above. --Chodorkovskiy (talk) 05:31, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
Gahhh ... now we're going to have the Wiki PC-Police. The true vandals we can call vandals, the confused n00bs we can call confused n00bs, and the well-intentioned yet misunderstood editors we can call the tragic poets, or whatever. I think the point Wallie made was that we should avoid labels altogether (including "encyclopedically-challenged editors"), with which I entirely agree. Categorization of some users will at times be necessary, yet every contributor, WoW included, is still subject to change his ways. I will also agree that the term vandal is thrown around far too often to describe too wide a variety of editors, and it should be avoided where possible (as should any form of labeling). The usage of vandal has become analogous to Mexican, which everyone uses to describe pretty much any race coming from south of the border, though many of them are Argentinians, Colombians, Puerto Ricans, etc. (Living in New Mexico, I run into this one on a daily basis). Okay, now back to my paper (eight hours until it's due!). AmiDaniel (Talk) 05:49, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
*cough* Titoxd(?!? - help us) 06:01, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

You make a good point. But it's not like I go around yelling "hey you, vandal - stop vandalising!!!". The warnings only adress the subject matter, explaining to the editor that this or that is called "vandalism". Without getting into a debate over details, yes. I agree that personal references should be avoided. And if you reply anywhere within the next 8 hours I will use the power you so foolishly endowed me with to revert anything of yours all over Wikipedia!--Chodorkovskiy (talk) 06:03, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Now threats from the CVU

I got this piece on my talk page. Naturally, the person has called me a vandal. I think the person who sent me this is a bully. Wallie 17:29, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Threats and bullying now eh? Can't you see that you're acting like a spoiled child? There was nothing threatening or bullying about my comments.--Conrad Devonshire 00:58, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Your rude comments on Wikipedia talk: Counter-Vandalism Unit

I removed your most recent comments from the above page, as they had no constructive purpose and were written most likely to start an argument. However, as you are curious as to the purpose of the WikiDefcon meter, allow me to explain it to you: It is a general indication of the current level of vandalism currenly occuring on Wikipedia. It ranges from levels 5 to 1; Level 5 indicating that relatively little or no vandalism is taking place on Wikipedia while level 1 indicating that an attack of an extreme nature is underway. A level 0 is also used to indicate that Wikipedia is currently out of operation or that editing on Wikipedia is temporarily disabled. In the future, please refrain from making rude remarks and consider showing some respect for the members of the CVU, because if it were not for them, Wikipedia would have been out of operation long ago.--Conrad Devonshire 21:57, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

By the way, I noticed that you seem angry with the CVU for having labeled you as a vandal on previous occasions. However, considering some of what you have done, which includes copying content from other websites and posting it here (which is a breach of copyright and could possibly result in a lawsuit filed against Wikipedia), I am not surprised that you were labeled as a vandal. I do not assume that what you did was an intentional means of damaging Wikipedia, but I nevertheless suggest that you familiarise yourself with Wikipedia's rules and regulations to avoid seeming like a vandal because of careless mistakes. I also recommend that rather than compare those who have labeled your edits as vandalism to the SS, you accept responsibility for your actions and try to be more careful about your edits in the future.--Conrad Devonshire 22:04, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
1.Wikipedia is not censored. 2. No personal attacks. 3. Do not feed the trolls. --Chodorkovskiy (talk) 18:01, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
Is that right? I am the one under attack. If someone calls me out, then I can and will respond. Some in the CVU are by definition trolls, as they seek to cause arguments by their actions. I never accused the CVU of calling me a vandal, as the user above stated. As far as the accusations of copyright violation are concerned, the user above scanned by my user page and noticed this. I am not a lawyer, and do not believe that this was a copyright violation. I am an open person by nature, and keep these records open to anyone, as I did not intend, and never have, any wrong. However, I do believe that people who call others trolls and vandals defintely have malevolent intentions, and will continue to actively engage them. Wallie 18:27, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
By the way. From the horse's mouth. Read on...
Not vandalism
The following should not automatically be considered to be vandalism and should be dealt with in other ways:
Copyright violations - Inserting content that we have no license to or cannot use the license for. Revert the changes if there is an old version of the article that is not a copyvio, otherwise blank the article and put the copyvio tag on it. See Copyright problems. Persistant and defiant insertion of such content should however be considered vandalism. Wallie 19:29, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
Then contact the user, and if worse comes to worst, open an WP:RfC--this is not the place for it. Seeking to disrupt the CVU, posting inflammatory remarks that seek only to undermine the hard work of others, accusing others of trolling, and attacking users like Devonshire for trying to help you understand what you did that led to your being labeled as you were is most inappropriate (see WP:POINT), and I would urge to stop such practises. You seem to be looking for a head to knock off and a war to wage, and you seem to have missed that we are trying to write an encyclopedia, not living a soap opera. Please, calm down Wallie; there are more important things than someone's inappropriate choice of words. If I went and started a revolution everytime someone attacked me or called me a vandal or a troll, I'd never have had time for anything else. AmiDaniel (Talk) 21:01, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
I am always calm. But I am also willing to fight fire with fire, as anyone should. I do not open RfCs, but tend to deal with the matter quickly, honestly and directly. I cerainly have never accused anyone in person of trolling, and never would. I have only used the term "bully", as that's what this sort really is. I certainly didn't take Devonshire's comments as being helpful either. In his view, I may have made mistakes in the past, but I am sure he has too. Don't we all? I also do not lecture to other people, so I expect the same from others. While I am sure some at the so called VDU are helpful and genuine, I think that others are not. Unfortuately this sort of grouping can attract the wrong sort. Wallie 17:53, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Like I said, Conrad, what you did was a bad move whether or not you were assuming bad faith. Especially if you were assuming bad faith. --Chodorkovskiy (talk) 03:17, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. Wallie 17:53, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
  • He called it as he saw it. If you vandalise Wikipedia, then you are a vandal. Period. I really couldn't care whether you object to the label. If you dislike it so much, then stop vandalising Wikipedia. - Wizardry Dragon 18:02, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
OK. This is a first. Now I have been branded officially as a vandal, as you an accredited and full member of the CVU. I can live with that, as after what you have said, I now have no respect whatsoever for the unit anyway. I see you have an affiliation with Scotland. I cannot imagine any Scot being part of this organisation. Wallie 20:06, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean, but if you hate trolling so much, then why are you continuing to post pointless and possibly inflammatory comments such as that?--Conrad Devonshire 00:55, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
Beacuse I hated the arrogant tone of the person to whom I was responding. Wallie 20:06, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
  • Arrogance? Hardly, that presumes I gave a toss about what happened to you as if it affected me, and it does not. All you have done is troll the CVU talk with complaints about the members of the CVU, and anyone that contradicts you becomes another example of misconduct. If you're not going to be civil yourself, do not expect civil replies. - Wizardry Dragon 22:07, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
You are deliberately twisting the truth. I asked about the purpose of the VDU, and mentioned that I had been called a vandal in the past. I did not say that the VDU had anything to do with this. It is you that are jumping to conslusions and misrepresenting what I am saying. Wallie 18:31, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

FWIW, there's no such thing as an "accredited" member of the CVU: all you have to do is add yourself to a category. As such, the CVU has no control of its members, so if you have a dispute with any of them, this is not the place to sort it out, but rather on the talk page of the user. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 01:19, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

OK. Lets get this straight. I have been making all this fuss, as I really get upset at the name calling that goes on. I am not particularly singling out one person, and think that the key to the problem and probably the solution also is the CVU. I do not want to argue on someone's user page, as again, this is singling out one person, when many are doing the same thing. The real problem is that one person says something another disagree with, and the second person calls the other a vandal or a troll, which is most cases is unwarrented. I would say in many cases the second person is a very disruptive influence. As for being against trolls. Quite the contrary, they often put forward the opposing view. Politely called in some circles the devil's avocate. Getting back to the VDU, I think it could be a good solution to the problem. But it should not attack anyone, and combat the problem (vandalism) and not the person (the vandal). Better to say, "I think you might have said this better in this way" rather than "you're a (expletive) vandal and you're banned!". Wallie 07:45, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Adam Goldstein vandalism?

I just checked out the page, and there's a lot of *questionable* stuff on it, but I'm not good at looking at versions and I'm not even sure if it's actually vandalism (although it looks like it). Take a close look at the picture captions.--Anchoress 05:42, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

I've reverted back to a version in March to get rid of the vandalism. Most of the vandalism occcurred on this edit about 3 days ago. EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 05:59, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
Cool, thanks.--Anchoress 16:17, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Does the CVU have an Internal Affairs Department?

For policing itself. Wallie 05:45, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Wallie, get over it. This is really getting quite tiresome. The CVU is not even an organization. It is a page that provides tools and resources for individuals to deal with vandalism. That's it. End of story. We are not a branch of the Wikimiilitary or the Wikipolice, and no we do not have an internal affairs department -- we don't have departments. The issues you have are with individual users who you believe have wronged you. Take the issue up with them, as no one here is involved or interested. AmiDaniel (Talk) 06:31, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
Short answer: No.
Long answer: There's no need to have special policies to apply to CVU members, as Wikipedia policies and guidelines suffice. Therefore, there's no policing arm of the CVU, nor there will be any time soon. If you have an issue with a user who happens to be in the CVU, talk with them or pursue dispute resolution. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 06:45, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
C'mon, why stop if everyone here is so eager to cooperate?--Chodorkovskiy (talk) 07:14, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
Ami. Organizations start out in this way as a loose collection of people. Look at the way the Ku Klux Klan and the European Union started out. Best to get them on the correct footing when they are babies. Wallie 18:57, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
But this is not an organization. There is no leadership. There are no departments. There is no control. There are only individuals, who by saying they are members of the CVU, say only that they revert vandalism. All the CVU does is provide resources, tools, and contacts, as well as links to WP:VAND and WP:BITE. If individuals choose to ignore the policies, that's their problem, not the CVU's. AmiDaniel (Talk) 21:31, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
You could be missing the point. Many organizations started out without leadership or departments, only individuals. But they emerged as powerful organizations, say 100 years, later. Wallie 07:49, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
True, but for the time being this is not aa organization. --Siva1979Talk to me 16:27, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
This will never be an organization, as a previous attempt to get leadership and organize things further was met with considerable opposition, and the only bit of organization that it had (the directors) was disbanded. I'm afraid this entire thread does not belong on this page. Titoxd(?!? - help us) 18:45, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

From an Ex-vandal

As an ex-vandal, a message to other vandals. Go to Uncyclopedia! There you can "vandalize" without troubling people. You can add stuff there, make history up, things that could never happen. They don't consider those vandals. --69.67.226.10 00:09, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

What is with all these new squads?

First the QVRS, now this? What is going on? American Patriot 1776 02:09, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Let them have their fun - if this way WP gets more RC patrollers, so much the better. --Chodorkovskiy (talk) 16:02, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

88196 vandal

Hi, I'm curious about the nature of this vandal. It always has an ip beginning 88.196. It always leaves the same message , DIF'S It sometimes picks out something from my userpage to add to someone else's, DIFS in a manner I take to be mocking. Does it conform to any known BOT or vandal Thanks! :) Dlohcierekim 15:58, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I would like to join

Hello! How do I join the Counter-Vandalism Unit? I was hoping to join and Bayantree pointed this unit out to me.:--Kitsumiti

How Do You Join?

I was wondering...

Is there any way to join, or do you just pick people?

Or, can you just become one without asking?

Thanks.

TeChGuY 14:34, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Nope, no need to ask, campaign, or otherwise. Just look on our project page near the top of 'general information' for how to associate yourself with us. --InShaneee 19:17, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
So then, you just put that box on your user page and your in? Or do you have to fill something out?El benderson 04:59, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
Nope, just the userbox! Welcome to the CVU! --Ginkgo100 16:28, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Vandal UBX

Um, this isn't a report or anything, but I am a bit confused. If there are actual vandals on Wikipedia, then (forgive my rudeness) what the heck is a Userbox doing here that says you've been vandalized? I realize it could really be useful in some situations, but anyone can just get that UBX and act like they've been hit big. Besides, I recently got a new message that said I'd been vandalized, but when I got to the bottom, it turned out to be a (forgive my rudeness again) stupid joke, and someone had just put the same UBX on my User Page. I'm sorry if this comes off as being rude and rather rash, but I'm just a bit perturbed that it's been allowed to exist. Once again, I ask you to forgive me if I've offended anybody in anyway. And don't be mad at the prankster. She and I have resolved it. --DcPimp

Oh, sorry I didn't leave a date and time. I didn't know how when I wrote the above. DcPimp 23:29, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

You've Probably Heard This Before...

I don't mean to be rude, but did the Level 4 defcon say sockpuppets? Call me ignorant, but why is a reference to a sockpuppet in a defcon description? I read on some page a while back that that wasn't a typo or vandalism, either. So, uh, could you just explain this to me? I've been a Wikipedian for two weeks, and I'm still learning. --DcPimp 12:45, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

"Sockpuppet," though it sounds silly, is a real term for a common phenomenon. This article can give you more info on these nasty little creatures. Best, Docether 13:01, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
Oh. Thanks. That's a new bit of info for me. Guess ya learn something every day, huh? --DcPimp 01:15, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Countervandalism strategies

Here are a couple countervandalism strategies:

  • Pick one day out of the month (e.g. May 22), and put it on your watchlist. This date could be your birthday, or any random day. Better yet, put the same date/different months also on your watchlist (e.g. June 22, July 22, ...). These are frequently the target of vanity edits.
  • Put your high school on your watchlist (or a bunch of high schools).

Perhaps, we can build a list of such strategies and put them on the main project page? I have found these two to be very useful in finding vandalism. --Aude (talk | contribs) 17:52, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Great ideas! I'm doing that right now. --Ginkgo100 19:31, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
What I personally do is to watch articles I created or contributed and as many articles related to my country as I can, because there aren't many argentina-related articles that are good for vandalism yet. Other users would preffer to watch their state/province/administrative division's main articles, but if everyone did so most geography/biography/history related articles would be covered. —Argentino (talk/cont.) 21:44, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
My concern with strategies like these is that, while they're effective for popular subject matter, vandalism to less popularly watched articles can easily slip through. If we're serious about developing countervandalism strategies, we should look to ensuring that the whole encylopaedia is covered, not just our favourite bits. Waggers 11:56, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
I agree with Waggers. I think that limiting the scope of the articles we watch would be counter productive. When I'm hunting for vandalism (using VandalProof), I'm looking at every edit being made and picking those edits that are suspect. It may not be the best strategy, but I think it covers a broader range of the encylopaedia. Tachyon01 17:03, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Yet Another Question From Me....

Okay, once again, forgive me for being rude. I'm just going to get that out of my system right now.

Now, anyway, is there a topic that isn't checked for vandalism as much as it should be? I'm just asking because of an article that was recently edited. It was about a video game series. On the Talk Page for the article, I asked a question concerning some information about an enemy I believed was false. It was then brought to my attention that this information was most likely vandalism. I guess what I'm trying to say is, are you guys really trying your hardest? It's not just that one article, either. Gaming is a hobby of mine, and I've found quite a few other vandalized sections throughout my searches. --DcPimp 01:22, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Like all Wikipedians, we're not paid to watch for vandalism, we're volunteers. So comments like "are you really trying your hardest?" are hardly fair. Members of the CVU don't have any responsibility to fight vandalism any more than any other Wikipedians, including yourself. To answer your question though, most vandalism fighters tend to concentrate on RC patrol, thus reverting vandalism wherever it occurs no matter what the subject matter. Vandalism on Wikipedia takes many forms, including changing factual information within articles, which is hard for a vandal fighter to spot if they aren't familiar with the subject. Therefore it's imperative that those with an interest in a particular subject, like yourself, take some of the strain. Waggers 11:53, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
Okay. I'm sorry about the comments. I know it's no excuse, but I was extremely tired when I wrote them and wasn't thinking straight. Anyways, I think I see your point. So, uh, what do I do now? Should I just go about my business, or is there anything else I should know/do? --DcPimp 13:11, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
It depends how you want to contribute to Wikipedia. From your comments I suspect you're interested in fighting vandalism in a specific subject area. The best way to do that is to add the relevant articles to your watchlist, and keep an eye on what happens there. If you're interested in more general vandalism-fighting, there's plenty of advice and tips on the WP:CVU project page and elsewhere. Away from vandalism fighting, there's always a list of "things to do" and projects needing help on the Wikipedia:Community Portal. Waggers 13:54, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
Well, I've already got the pages on my watchlist just to monitor the Talk Pages. So, I guess I'm ready. I'll try my best to keep the video game articles vandal-free. Thanks for the advice, too.
Oh, just for the record, don't expect me to join the CVU. I might try to fight vandalism, but as you've already learned, I'm a bit, well, blunt. I don't want to ruin your good name by ticking off a lot of people. But if I find something, I'll let you know. --DcPimp 00:41, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

Just a heads up! For quite a few days now FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives has been taking alot of flak from a few vandals. --Jcw69 06:52, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

IRC Channel

Only a technical question: when I click on the link to the chanel I get a message saying something like "firefox doen't know how to open this link because the protocol (irc) is not associated to any program " [quick translation from span.]. Can anyone tell me what do I have to download to be able to use it?—Argentino (talk/cont.) 14:08, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

You can check out this tutorial which explains pretty much everything. --Scott 18:05, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

The registration issue, again

There's another move to disallow anonymouse editing taking place right now. Kaiwen1 has apparently put up an informal, nonbinding vote, and while I don't place much faith in it, members of CVU would probably be more qualified than others to weigh in on whether anon vandalism is bad enough to require registration. It's worth checking out. Moulder 01:41, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

"On June 6, 2006, Wikipedia will meet its maker"

It's almost 6,6,06, so I thought I should post a reminder about the "Wikipedia will meet its maker" vandal. I'm not sure if there's any substance to his claims, but we might want to be on the lookout tomorrow just in case.--Conrad Devonshire Talk 19:13, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

bah standard bot vandalsim.Geni 03:14, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
I'm going to be busy all day tomorrow, and so I won't be able to help out too much should the maker arrive. However, should Wikipedia's maker give you too many problems, he can't be that difficult to deal with =D. AmiDaniel (talk) 03:27, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

anybody feel like addressing this?

We have a rather dedicated vandal on The Great Dalmuti (see history page). Personally, I can live with the insults, but it's becoming a bit comical how persistent this guy is. I've ARIN-searched him to a dorm in San Jose State University, but that's about where my interest ends.--Mike Selinker 03:09, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

Is there a vandalizing user named Haz?

One who who poses as a member of the Counter-Vandalism Unit, that is? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 218.218.61.59 (talk • contribs) .

No results for Haz. Did you spell it correctly?--Firsfron of Ronchester 23:19, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

I checked again, and that is his "name" but his user ID is Haza-w. But the issue I had with him seems now to have been resolved to my satisfaction. Thanks.218.218.61.59 17:18, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Education

I was wondering, how many users actually know everything that this unit knows? How can we expect wikipedia to grow if only a few people know what pages have been vandalized and who the vandals are? Maybe somebody who opperates a bot could send out a message that can inform as many users as possible about recent vandalism. There should be something like this. D Hill 19:43, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Interesting Vandal

Tongiht, I've kept seeing vandals adding strings such as --65.35.95.189 03:40, 18 June 2006 (UTC) to pages. However, the IP keeps moving around, and I haven't been keeping track. Anyone else experience this, or know what to do? I'm kinda new at this thing. - Xiong Chiamiov talk contact 03:49, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

sounds like a sig string from someone using aol maybe? there's almost nothing that can be done to nail down an aol user... their ips change almost every request. -- frymaster 14:17, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

ALERT: AOL Vandals at Large

Currently, two AOL vandals are at large. It is unknown whether they are related. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 19:37, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

.F.U.C.K...S.H.I.T...C.U.N.T... etc. Vandal (AOL)

This user has been very disruptive recently, posting ".F.U.C.K...S.H.I.T...C.U.N.T...P.O.O...A.S.S...B.I.T.C.H.!.!.!.!..." on everyone's userpage. Recommendation: block on sight for 15 minutes to 3 hours. If they are vandalizing in a range, then block for 5 to 15 minutes. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 19:37, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Ceiling Cat Vandal (AOL)

This user has posted images of Image:Ceiling cat 00.jpg everywhere. Recommendation: search in the "File links" section of Image:Ceiling cat 00.jpg for suspicious activity (such as appearance of the image in a non-related article). Block on sight for 15 minutes to 3 hours. If they are vandalizing in a range, then block for 5 to 15 minutes. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 19:37, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism at RuneScape

We're having a bit of a problem over at the RuneScape (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) articles and portal with the sheer volume of petty vandalism (ie, "runescape sux lololol"). It is actually the seventh most edited article, beating what one would expect to be massive vandalism magnets, like Saddam Hussein. When the article spent several days semiprotected, only around 2-3 edits a day were made, unprotected; 30+. Keeping an eye on this article would be greatly appreciated, as vandalism is seemingly the main factor preventing the article from reaching Good Article status. Thanks, CaptainVindaloo t c e 22:22, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Anon edits are completely ruining the article. Besides silly vandalism, they sometimes add misinformation and nonsense into the article. And semi-protection stops them. I propose the article be permenantly semi-protected. It failed Good Article primarily because of the anons messing up the article. If you don't want permenant semi-protection, I think we should at the very least keep the article semi-protected until the Peer Review is complete and it becomes a Good Article. --J.L.W.S. The Special One 14:20, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Username registration log

Isn't there a log somewhere which shows recently registered usernames that is used by admins to block inappropriate names on sight? I'm not an admin, so I couldn't use it, but I'm just curious about it, as I have been unable to find it.--Conrad Devonshire Talk 04:46, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Special:Log/Newusers. AmiDaniel (talk) 05:32, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

request block

205.188.116.199 is repeating vandalism on Canada. Can we block him? (BTW, what's the procedure for asking for a block?) Xiong Chiamiov talk contact 00:18, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism. I recommend bookmarking that, actually. CaptainVindaloo t c e 01:03, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Very sophisticated spammer

I've come up against a sophisticated spammer who has done the full range of spamming - images, blatantly advertisement articles for (minor) companies, link-spamming and even promotional categories! They are obviously quite aware of all kinds of wikitricks, including making a null edit to their user page so they show up as a blue link (grrr) and getting rid of speedy deletion notices. Unfortunately I was the first one to apply the "spam" warning template to their talk page so it may be quite some time before they end up stopping or being banned. So if you guys could keep an eye out on User:Amykocot, that'd be great. TheGrappler 05:54, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I've been watching this user for a few days now and it's quite evident that their account has been created to solely maintain 2 articles (both up for deletion) about 2 companies. Neither article should exist to begin with IMO, however this user account will revert and remove AfD notices and revert removal of link spam. User now has an IP address sockpuppet as well, 70.168.56.34. Suggest indefinate block on both. Yankees76 20:36, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

One of Your Own

Just thought I'd alert you to the fact that you've got a CVU member (see user page) vandalizing — edit diffs are [11], [12], and [13]. Also, there's this vandalism via page move which was clear vandalism, and this page move may be vandalism or just unfamiliarity with the system. — Mike • 17:01, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

His talk page also tries to trick you into thinking you have new messages on your talk page. --Ginkgo100 talk · contribs 18:41, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
Well, there are many that do that [14]. --MrFishGo Fish 12:52, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia feeds the trolls

I read on The Motivation of a Vandal that The motivation of a vandal ranges, but their purpose is the same; to get attention. Neither being a psychopathologist nor knowing any vandals, I'm not sure if this is true, but I have no strong reason to doubt it.

Wikipedia gives them attention in spades: impressive graphics with minatory messages in italic, bold, or both, and, for the real stars, even entire pages. Look, heeeeeere's Willy! And before I commented it out, he even had his very own little Willys graphic at the top right. Gosh, look at all those usernames he has created! And wow, look at all those other Wikis he has pissed on too! What a man!

I shan't repeat this comment of mine here, but briefly it suggested removal of anything that might aggrandize this twit. It prompted a stronger response from another user, who seems to think that the whole page might be deleted (though he/she concedes that parts of it might have some use to administrators).

I agree. I think vandals and vandalizing IP numbers should be blocked and banned rather more freely than they are now -- but that much less freely readable fuss should be made over it. Consider removing graphics from vandalism-related templates: make them say what they need to say, as coolly and concisely as possible. (If the vandal is really too slow-witted to take in anything that's not in bold, he's unlikely ever to make intelligent edits; Wikipedia doesn't need him.) Don't give the troll anything to gloat over or to show off to his pimply chums. -- Hoary 03:11, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

there are some problems with this. firstly, we assume good faith here. that's why the vandalism templates are called "tests" -- we assume that vandalizing is motivated by curiousity rather than malice and that strident pleas to cease will, in fact, be heeded. secondly, ip and account blocking are used as preventative rather than punitive measures. that's why most blocks are only for a couple of hours. it's to prevent an overcurious tester from causing too much damage right now. it's not to slap their wrists. now, i know there are a lot of long-term, persistant and malicious vandals out there, but if we build our policies around the actions of these people we create a more hostile and intolerant environment for everyone else. this more open/trusting model more work for the cvu? yes. but freedom and openness has a tendancy to be annoying and inconvenient... __ frymaster 17:08, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
Agreed. This project is a free encyclopedia, after all. As for many vandals being motivated by curiosity rather than maliciousness, I found out yesterday talking to my brother (a successful computer entrepreneur and no petty thug) that he has (wince) vandalized Wikipedia himself. He says he did it to see what would happen, and was quite impressed by the immediate reversions and polite test warnings, presumably from CVU and RCP members. I hypothesize this is a more common motivation for most vandals than a desire to damage the project. --Ginkgo100 talk · contribs 19:02, 26 June 2006 (UTC)


User Pete Peters

User Pete Peters registered yesterday and has engaged in stalking behaviour against user Arthur Ellis. Please examine his user talk and his posts. 70.51.52.253 19:37, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Uh, I never vandalized anything, all I have done is point out that you are a suspected sock puupet. It is not vandalsm. This has resulted in a unrelentless attack by you. As a result, you were banned yestarday for 24 hours, under the name Arthur Ellis. Are you violating your ban with the IP 70.51.52.253? Pete Peters 19:43, 28 June 2006 (UTC)


220.237.23.86, blatant vandal

See user contributions. Abt 12 06:07, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Suspected vandalism

I posted the following question at Wikipedia:Help desk and got the attached reply:

I think that I have found some vandalism on the project, but it looks like it occurred some time ago. I would clean it up, but I'm not sure how extensive it is, and I'm not sure what is correct and what should actually be on the articles in question. Where should I report this, and what should be done next? --Brian G 19:31, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Most vandalism report pages are aimed at current vandalism. You could try informing the counter vandalism unit and give them as much information as possible. - Mgm|(talk) 21:02, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

So, here are the details that I can provide. I was doing some research for an article on Jerry Grant and came upon some occurrences of the name when I did a search. It appears to me that User:Shaqdaddy88 placed this name on Scottsbluff, Nebraska as a prank and made similar edits on Emery, South Dakota, Salem, South Dakota and Geddes, South Dakota where he also blanked some text in a subsequent edit. It then looks like a series of other vandals have attached the "Government" section on the Geddes article. Some other associated vandalism might be found by someone upon closer examination. --Brian G 21:40, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

It appears to me that the section from Geddes, South Dakota that the user blanked was content that he/she earlier put in there as vandalism [15] and [16]. The two edits are mere minutes apart so I suspect the user put it in but then had second thoughts and removed it. IrishGuy talk 21:53, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
OK, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Emery, South Dakota, and Geddes, South Dakota still contained vandalism, which I habe now scrubbed off. --Brian G 23:20, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

IRC Channel

I cant get access to the CVU IRC channel. Can someone help me out? --False Prophet 00:11, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Propaganda

A user has been publishing some Original Research on Tata Consultancy Services with some highly controversial statements regarding the company (for instance accusing them of establishing a "slave labour culture"). This lead to a revert war between two anon users which I have now stopped is now stopped. But these statements have now been reposted to the article talk page with the caption "The section they won't let you see (please forward this to all your friends)". I am tempted to remove this from the talk page on the basis of it being propaganda, but I am not sure if this can be rightfully done on a talk pages. Does anyone know of any policies regarding this?--Konstable 01:56, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Note: Although the editors of the page have accused me of being bribed by TCS, I have no conflict of interest here, I only heard of this company when I reverted the original research that I stumbled upon during RC patrol.--Konstable 01:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Looks to be more POV issues than vandalism. Try opening an RfC SB Johnny 11:54, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Error using popups tool

I have been using the popups tool for some time now, and all of a sudden it has just stopped working. I went to my monobook.js page and tried to reinstall it, but the popups are still not working. Does anyone know what might have caused this; a glitch in the code, perhaps?--Conrad Devonshire Talk 06:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Nevermind, its working now.--Conrad Devonshire Talk 07:10, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Talk Page Removal

ER MD continues to remove warning from his talk page. His defense is that he doesn't believe he was vandalizing even though he was blanking entire sections as well as making personal insults to others. He has been blocked three times, yet he continues. You can see some of the restored warnings here. Is there any way to stop this? I know that the policy has been argued by some, but it was my understanding that while someone may remove comments (which is considered bad form) removing warnings is another thing altogether. Am I incorrect in this? IrishGuy talk 08:23, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Yup. He seems to be blocked at the present time, his IP was also blocked this morning. SB Johnny 11:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

62.237.141.28

Help with this 62.237.141.28 I was monitoring Omega 3. I can revert 1 or 2 but I dont know if this is repeated offender. This is out of my league.

RIPE Whois

--Mig77 09:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Are you sure this is vandalism? The edits look legible to me.--Konstable 11:54, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
No. I'm not sure. The snake-oil in omega-3 has been removed before, and is definately factually questionable. And the talk page on that user shows unhappiness in some other areas. But I cant tell if the guy is just a little strange or if it is just a cover for repeating offences. Like I said, I'm not a "cop". I just patrol my tiny neck-of-the-woods and try to keep it clean, and up the quality. This edit has happened before, thats why I dropped it here, sorry if its a false alarm. --Mig77 12:14, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps just tag it with {{fact}} and see if he comes up with a source? SB Johnny 12:19, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
Traced it to the original snake oil article and tagged it with {{fact}} --Mig77 15:51, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

ImagePatrol Idea/Guide

See Here. I won't link it in the vandalism policy as it's a policy and the guide is partially complete.

Constructive comments, suggestions, and ideas welcome.--Andeh 14:03, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Grandmaster false signatures

Grandmaster has given himself false warnings on his talk page and signed them with another user's name. Ostensibly, this is to cause trouble but regardless of his motives this is against Wiki policy. [17]. Is there anything that can be done? IrishGuy talk 01:26, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Be very, very careful when examining talk pages. Grandmaster was replacing messages that had previously been removed [18]. Do not feel bad, as I have made similar mistakes, but be very careful and thorough when suspecting fraudulent user talk.--MrFishGo Fish 11:54, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

How may I become a member?

I found no link on this page's main page. NOVO-REI 16:46, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Welcome aboard, friend! Add yourself to Category:Counter-Vandalism Unit members. Remember to be courteous and civil, as your behavior shall represent the entire cvu. I hope to see you around!--MrFishGo Fish 11:58, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Crystal Palace F.C. - keep an eye

There is some strange vandal attacking this one with ever-chaning IP addresses.--Konstable 14:58, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

To those just dropping by - no need to bother, the page is now semi-protected.--Konstable 12:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Persistent Vandals

Hi. I'm quite new to the anti-vandalism, but I feel that Wikipedia is Communism should be one on the list of persistent ones. He's one of the few I've heard of. Kingfisherswift 15:46, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Funny page

This is a funny page. I totally respect what you guys are doing, and will not mock this page that much because many of the proud members of the Counter-Vandalism Unit protect my user page and my edits from vandalism.

I am just wondering if I become a member of the Counter-Vandalism Unit if I can print off the Counter-Vandalism Unit decal and sew it onto my sleeve.

The WikiDefcon counter is soooo funny.... but I can't figure out any clever jokes. Any suggestions?

Juvenile jokes aside, thanks for all of you guys' hard work. Thanks a lot.

Signed:Travb (talk) 12:09, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

a tiresome vandal who's making personal attacks against me

If anyone here is interested in helping me, I've got a vandal who believes it's fun to attack me personally. I've never met the guy (though I'm pretty sure I can tell what his name is). You can see his handiwork at Talk:The Great Dalmuti and also the history for the article The Great Dalmuti. Thanks in advance. I would like someone here to take the effort to at least temporarily block him. Thanks.--Mike Selinker 07:27, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

cibolo problem

A vandal has vandalised cibolo(a redriect page to Cibolo, Texas) to say "Cibolo is the Spanish word for buffalo"(which it isn't btw) . He(with differn't I.P. but I think it's both the same person) did this twice I and he reverted it twice. But both times I had a problem. I went back a few minutes later and found that it said "Cibolo is the Spanish word for buffalo" I went checked the edit page to fix and it said in the edit page #REDIRECT [[cibolo,texas]]. I contacted an adim about it and I think he fixed. I thought it was bug but when happend the 2nd time I started thinking that some how a vandal is using software to cause this.--Scott3 21:39, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

BTW I forgot to say this but when I looked on the edit page both times it said I made the last edit.--Scott3 21:42, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Active spammer for a pay site

User:67.169.19.199 for ceramic identification Special:Contributions/67.169.19.199

Anon-IP's complaint

My corrections to the tiananmen massacre page have been removed and described as vandalism. I am attempting to correct factual errors in this section. What do I need to do next? How do I address the issue of censorship of wikipedia pages?

The removal of NPOV material and/or nonsense is not censorship. As I said on your talk page, whether or not there is confusion as to where the people were killed does not mean the event was a lie to smear China's reputation or whatever. You need to read wikipedia's guidelines on how you should phrase statements, source them, etc. John Smith's 10:27, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

Mercola is encouraging vandlism

http://www.mercola.com/2006/jul/18/dont_rely_on_the_wikipedia.htm

Dr. Mercola is encouraging people who read his E-news advertisment to vandalize his entry. Not sure if this is the right place to mention so.. feel free to delete this notie if proper. - pb —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pbmax (talk • contribs) .

Thanks for the tip. Someone has kindly protected the page from editing by new and anonymous users. --Ginkgo100 talk · contribs · e@ 19:34, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Spammer

144.160.5.25 (talk · contribs) is spamming links to movielanddirectory.com which is nothing more than a commercial ad site with links to IMDB. Every tenth or eleventh spam link, he makes a legitimate edit. I just went back to the 18th to pull all these links out of articles. Can somebody keep an eye on him? It is a real pain to have to go back multiple days removing links. IrishGuy talk 18:00, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Kevin Vandal?

I've been noticing a trend in some recent anon vandals. There is at least one, maybe two or three ip/users who are going around adding in "Kevin loves (something to do with the article.)" I don't know if this is a reported long time abuser or if this is new or what, but it seems to be catching on. User:124.184.196.35 has been caught doing it, and I'll see who else I can find doing it. Galactor213 03:33, 30 July 2006 (UTC)