User:Zaf

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en This user is a native speaker of English.
sgn-2 This user can communicate at an intermediate level in New Zealand Sign Language.
This user assumes good faith.
This user is a member of the
Counter-Vandalism Unit.
This user's IRC nick is Zaf on the server irc.zirc.org.
This user has a website, which can be found here.
This user contributes using Debian GNU/Linux.
C-4 This user is an expert C user.
C# This user can program in C#.
Perl-4 This user is an expert Perl programmer.
Too Many This user can program in too many languages to list

[edit] Basic Info

Hi Wikipedia, my name is Nicktalk

[edit] Intro

I'm a IT Support contractor by trade, that means I go to various companies and fix various computer problems they have. In order to keep what is left of my sanity, I generally try to avoid the front-line user problems (such as how do I underline in word?) and stick to the more difficult problems, like diagnosing network problems, or fixing Active Directory corruptions on servers.

I try and visit Wikipedia at least once a day and do a bit of editing, if only just reverting the almost endless vandalism that occurs.

[edit] Vandalism

I spend most of my time here reverting vandalism. I'd like to quickly outline the technique I use to find vandalism, as I notice it is very successful. Whether this is because its a good technique, or because vandalism is prevalent, I will leave for the reader to figure out.

[edit] Finding it

  1. Find a list of reverts being done. Either the Recent changes or preferably MartinBot.
  2. Go through the list, and open each reverted users Contribs in a new tab.
  3. Go to each user's contrib list, and check if any contribs are still the top change. If so, open the diff up in a new tab (As you can see, tabs are essential here).
  4. If its vandalism, then remove it..
  5. Rinse, repeat.

The biggest point of course is when I find a single vandalism, I check the users contrib history to see if there are any other un-reverted changes. Sometimes I can find vandalism that is months old!

The other technique I find useful is to look at the history of a given page; if the vandal is corresponding with another vandal on the page, then I can begin undoing the other vandals work too.

[edit] Wikipedia Editing Style

I edit at random. Mostly cleaning up articles, sometimes rewriting or reorganising articles with better layout and consitancy. Contact me via my talk page if you want to discuss any edits. I often spend some time reverting vandalism.

[edit] Articles I might work on

This section is a note to myself to revisit these articles when I'm feeling brave. They could do with some attention.

  • None. Someone noticed my list and fixed them all. Good on ya.
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