Wikipedia:Recent changes patrol

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"WP:RCP" redirects here. You may be looking for Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission. NP Patrol is now at Wikipedia:New pages patrol.

Recent changes patrol or RC patrol is a Wikipedia communal patrol whereby individual users (also called editors) check the recent changes to various articles for harmful 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 the rest of Wikipedia is not harmed.

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.

This user is a recent changes patroller.

Contents

[edit] What to do

RC Patrolling primarily consists of a four step process:

Identify "bad" or "needy" edits
RC patrollers efficiently identify problematic edits. 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 (e.g. {{wikify}}), 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 placing them on the article's talk page rather than 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, it 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 found here. 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. Fix those as well.

[edit] Being nice

Throughout the entire process of RC patrol, it is important to remember not to bite the newbies. Far from being a monolithic horde of vandals, trolls, and spammers, the available evidence seems to indicate that newcomers write 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 gladly welcome the support.

It is also important to assume good faith as much as possible, or, minimally to assume incompetence 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.

Recent Changes Patrollers must maintain a level of respect for fellow editors.

[edit] Patrolling edits to existing pages

In general, one thing to keep in mind is not to focus only on patrolling articles in the main namespace. Image pages, for example, are frequently victims of nonsensical edits and vandalism. Such uncaught edits may be harmful due to malicious modification or collateral removal of copyright tags.

[edit] Newbie tests

Look for newbie 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.

{{subst:uw-test1}} ~~~~ 
Welcome, and thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test 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. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-create1}} ~~~~ 
Welcome to Wikipedia. A page you recently created may not conform to some of Wikipedia's guidelines for new pages, so it will shortly be removed (if it hasn't been already). Please use the sandbox for any tests. For more information about creating articles, you may want to read Your first article. You may also want to read our introduction page to learn more about contributing. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-delete1}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking) 
Welcome to Wikipedia. It might not have been your intention, but your recent edit removed content from Wikipedia. When removing text, please specify a reason in the edit summary and discuss edits that are likely to be controversial on the article's talk page. If this was a mistake, don't worry; the text has been restored, as you can see from the page history. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia, and if you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-test2}} ~~~~ 
Please refrain from making test edits in Wikipedia articles even if your ultimate intention is to fix them. 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-delete2}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking) 
Please do not delete content or templates from pages on Wikipedia without explaining the 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.

[edit] Lack of sources

Addition of unsourced material without proper citations

{{subst:uw-unsor1}} ~~~~ 
Welcome to Wikipedia. We invite everyone to contribute constructively to our encyclopedia. However, adding content without citing a reliable source is not consistent with our policy of verifiability. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-unsor2}} ~~~~ 
Please do not add content without citing reliable sources. Before making potentially controversial edits, it is recommended that you discuss them first on the article's talk page. Thank you.
{{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.

[edit] Spam

[edit] Copyright violations

  • 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.

[edit] Vandalism

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.

[edit] Warning templates

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 himself, 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 newbie 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. In the future, please do not experiment on article pages; instead, use the sandbox. 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 experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test 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. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-vandalism1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit is clearly vandalism)
Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to make constructive contributions 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 take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-unsor1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit is unreferenced)
Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia, adding content without citing a reliable source is not consistent with our policy of verifiability. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. If you are familiar with Wikipedia:Citing sources, please take this opportunity to add references to the article. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-test2}} ~~~~ 
Please refrain from making test edits in Wikipedia articles even if your ultimate intention is to fix them. 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-delete2}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for vandalism that consists of blanking text) 
Please do not delete content or templates from pages on Wikipedia without explaining the 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 blocking of editing privileges. If you would like to experiment again, please use the sandbox.
{{subst:uw-vandalism4}} ~~~~ (not suitable as a first warning) 
This is the last warning you will receive for your disruptive edits. If you vandalize Wikipedia again, you will be blocked from editing.
{{subst:uw-vandalism4im}} ~~~~ (used as a first warning for extreme cases of vandalism) 
This is the only warning you will receive for your disruptive edits.
If you vandalize Wikipedia again, you will be blocked from editing.

Alternatively, you can use:

{{selftest-n|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-test#|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-vandalism#|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-delete#|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-vandalism4im|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-unsor1#|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. 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 vandalised a couple of times an administrator may simply remove the notice without action.

The blocking administrator will usually leave this on the vandal's talk page:

{{subst:uw-block1}} ~~~~ 
You have been temporarily blocked from editing in accordance with Wikipedia's blocking policy for abuse of editing privileges. Once the block has expired, you are welcome to make constructive contributions. If you believe this block is unjustified, you may contest the block by adding the text {{unblock|your reason here}} below.
Once the block has expired, you are welcome to make constructive contributions. If you believe this block is unjustified you may contest this block by replying here on your talk page by adding the text {{unblock|your reason here}} .

Remember to sign and timestamp your warnings by leaving four tildes (like this: ~~~~).

[edit] Trace IP

Also, consider tracing the IP. 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 {{vandalip|Name of owner}} to the talk pages of users who vandalise - the realisation that they can be traced is often sufficient to make them stop.

[edit] Tools

The following is a list of tools and resources available for those who want to clean up with a more systematic approach.

Screenshot of Wikipedia recent changes IRC feed
Screenshot of Wikipedia recent changes IRC feed

[edit] Monitoring

A sample recent changes output
A sample recent changes output

The old school way is to load recent changes and check the (diff) links. 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:

  • VandalProof is an anti-vandalism program for Windows.
  • 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. anonymous IPs). 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.
  • 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.
  • VandalSniper, a VandalProof-like application, is currently in beta. At the moment it has only been confirmed to run on Linux.
  • 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 channel on the freenode network list suspected vandalism edits (for example: blankings, edits made by blacklisted users, etc.)
  • Young Orphans is a tool made by Interiot to find newly uploaded orphaned images. This is useful for finding various copyright violations and people who are using Wikipedia merely as an image hosting service.
  • ShadowTool is a lightweight RC patrol application for Linux.
  • Mike's Wiki Tool - An RC patrol tool for Windows users.
  • Wikipedia Vandalism Watch is a Windows program that monitors specified users' contributions pages for top edits.
  • Huggle is a Windows program which parses edits from users not on its whitelist. You must be running Windows 2000 / XP / Vista and have .NET 2.0 installed for this program to function.
  • WatchlistBot is an XMPP bot that sends messages in realtime when articles are modified. Users with a Jabber account (note that Google Talk is an XMPP service) can subscribe to the bot and watch both articles and users.

[edit] Rollback scripts

Administrators and users who have requested it get a rollback button when looking at diffs in order to revert articles to their previous versions. However, non-administrators and users without the permission can emulate such a button using several tools.

  • RC patrol script gives non-administrators revert, filter, and popup tools while using the (default) monobook skin.
  • Godmode-light is a Javascript program to give non-administrators a rollback button.
  • Navigation popups are a set of utils that appear when hovering over wikilinks. Particularly, hovering over links of old versions provides a "revert" link.
  • Twinkle gives non-administrators (and administrators, for that matter) three types of rollback functions. Other functions include a full library of speedy deletion functions, user warnings, pseudoautomagical reporting of vandals, and more.

[edit] Special pages

[edit] Task Force

[edit] IRC channels

Note that these are not operated by or affiliated with Wikipedia.

[edit] Other

Vandalism information

Level 4

Low to moderate level of vandalism. [update]

Low levels of vandalism Benon (talk) 07:41, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

  • 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.
  • Counter-Vandalism Wiki (Not owned by, operated by, or affiliated with Wikipedia.)
  • 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)
  • Arnon Chaffin has built a wonderful page made just for vandal fighting and warning.

[edit] See also