Wikipedia:Recent changes patrol

Recent changes patrol or RC patrol refers to the process of checking the Recentchanges to the wiki for harmful edits. New pages patrol refers to the process of checking and performing classification upon Newpages.

Both patrols are entirely voluntary and carry with them no obligation. At their hearts, they're really just ways to see that every new page and edit gets checked in a timely manner and given a boost on its way to becoming "brilliant prose," and that the rest of Wikipedia is not harmed.

Regular RC patrollers may wish to put the RC patrol Userboxes on their user page by adding :

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Regular NP patrollers may wish to put the NP patrol Userboxes on their user page by adding :

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Tools

These tools are helpful for cleaning up vandalism.

Recentchanges is the wiki-based display of the latest edits. However it changes very rapidly and one of the following may make RC patrolling easier:
AmiDaniel/VandalProof is a downloadable application under development by AmiDaniel which allows to revert a page, warn the vandal appropriately and put them on a "black" list with just one click. Also allows the revert of all of a user's contributions at once. Requires permission to use.
CryptoDerk/CDVF (CDVF) and its successor Henna/VF is an open-source program that displays a live feed of recent changes (RC) but contains extra functionality to assist in vandal fighting. The bot works on all language Wikipedias, though some features currently only work on the English Wikipedia (see changelog). This tool is available to both administrators and users.
#vandalism-en-wp is an IRC channel which has a bot that flags likely vandalistic edits, mainly page blankings. If you want to use this method, please see Essjay/Verifications.
The Pgk/pgkbot, pgkbot, by Pgk runs on the IRC channel above.
Lupin/Anti-vandal tool monitors the RSS feed for recent changes, checks the content of edits for common vandalism terms. It then produces a list of likely vandal edits. This tool is available for both admins and non-admins.
rcbirds is an IRC-aware program which auralizes recent changes using the metadata "about changes", and regular expressions. It both shows color-coded output from the IRC bot, and maps each RC diff onto a bird-call or other nature sound. Both admins and non-admins can use this to view RC.
Godmode adds reversion options to the browser for non-admins.
Adam1213/warn is a page which simplfies the process of warning vandals by allowing warnings to be submitted to specific users directly from the page.
Voice of All/RC/monobook.js gives non-admins revert, Lupin's filter, and popup tools while using the (default) monobook skin. Note that rollback now works in IE by using broswer detection.
Newpages lists all recently created articles.
Newimages lists all recently uploaded images.
Young Orphans – a new 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.
- How to use it:
  1. Look for images which mention "copyrighted", "fair use" or "public domain" in the edit summary column; these are the most frequently abused.
  2. Look for edit summaries in any language other than English; these images are typically webspam/vanity.
  3. Look for edit summaries which mention an image hosting services like Imageshack, Flickr, etc.; typically these images are uploaded with the intent of using Wikipedia as an alternative image hosting service.
  4. Use common sense; if an image is uploaded without an edit summary by a red-linked (no user page) user, check it out.

What to do

RC Patrolling primarily consists of a three step process:

Identifying "bad" or "needy" edits:RC patrollers efficiently identify problematic edits. A bad edit is an edit that for one reason or another needs to be Revert. A Maintenance edit requires maintenance in some manner.
Removing or improving the edit:Needy edits should be tagged according to their need (ie ), or bold changed immediately. Bad edits should likewise be tagged or deleted. Because no wikipedians like their edits to be deleted, it is important to leave concise but clear justifications on the talk page or in the edit summary.
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 newbies and alerts admins of repeat offenders. For efficiency and consistency, standard warning templates can be found TestTemplates.

Patrolling edits to existing pages

Newbie tests

Look for newbie tests (odd edits Vandalism#What vandalism is not), but Please do not bite the newcomers. Revert their experiments and leave one of the following messages on their user talk page. Be sure to timestamp (~~~~) the warning.

~~~~ : Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the Welcome, newcomers if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks.
~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking) : Please be careful not to remove content from Wikipedia without a valid reason, which you should specify in the ES or on the article's TP. Thank you.
~~~~ : Please stop adding nonsense to Wikipedia. It is considered Vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the Sandbox. Thank you.
~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking) : Please do not remove content from Wikipedia; it is considered Vandalism. If you want to experiment, please use the Sandbox. Thank you.

Further non-constructive edits can be viewed as vandalism, and dealt with as above.

Spam

Look for Spam. If it comes in the form of articles, place a PROD tag on them with , or nominate them at Articles for deletion. If a user is posting multiple links to a particular website in several articles, revert the edits. In either case, again TestTemplates.

Copyright violations

Look for Spotting possible copyright violations and Revert them. As per the instructions at Copyright problems, just revert pages to remove copyright violations. However, take care to indicate in the Edit summary that this is what you are doing. If an entire article is a copyvio see the section on copyvios in the new pages section below.

Vandalism

Look out for Vandalism#Types of 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.

Warning templates

Note that TestTemplates need not be used sequentially. If the edit is Vandalism#Types of vandalism, consider using or starting with . For continuing severe vandalism, may be skipped and a given straight after a test2. If, however, you are Vandalism#What vandalism is not, always start with . For extreme or extensive cases of vandalism committed by users who have received no prior warnings, may be used. The ~~~~ in the templates below cause the time and your signature to be added to the warning.

~~~~ (use if an edit appears to have possibly not been an intentional act of vandalism): Thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been Reverting or removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the Welcome, newcomers if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia.
~~~~ (use if an edit is clearly vandalism): Welcome to Wikipedia. We invite everyone to contribute constructively to our encyclopedia. Take a look at the Welcome, newcomers if you would like to learn more about contributing. However, unconstructive edits are considered Vandalism, and if you continue in this manner you may be blocking policy from editing without further warning. Please stop, and consider improving rather than damaging the hard work of others. Thank you.
~~~~ : Please do not add nonsense to Wikipedia. It is considered Vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the Sandbox. Thank you.
~~~~ (a variant suitable for vandalism that consists of blanking text) : Please do not remove content from Wikipedia; it is considered Vandalism. If you want to experiment, please use the Sandbox. Thank you.
~~~~ : Please stop. If you continue to Vandalism pages, you will be Blocking policy from editing Wikipedia. This is your last warning. The next time you Vandalism a page, you will be Blocking policy from editing Wikipedia.

~~~~ (used as a first warning for extreme cases of vandalism) : This is your only warning. Your recent Vandalism has shown you to be intent on doing harm to Wikipedia. The next time you vandalize a page, you will be Blocking policy from editing Wikipedia.

Alternatively, you can use:

~~~~
~~~~
~~~~
~~~~
~~~~
~~~~
~~~~

to explicitly state which articles were vandalized (suffix -n stands for named) and to add your signature. For example:

: Thanks for experimenting with the page France on Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the Welcome, newcomers if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks.

The "Template substitution" causes the template text to be pasted into the talk page as if you had typed it out, instead of leaving 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 strikes again, list them at Administrator intervention against vandalism. The blocking admin leaves this on the vandal's talk page:

You have been temporarily Blocking policy from editing for vandalism of Wikipedia. If you wish to make useful contributions, you may do so after the block expires.

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

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 to the talk pages of users who vandalise.

Patrolling new pages

Newpages logs new pages as they are created. Check these new pages for the following problems:

Speedy deletion candidates. Read and be familiar with the Criteria for speedy deletion, then if you see any such pages created, tag them with , so that they can be deleted by an administrator. You may want to use one of the following, which provides the reason from the criteria automatically: , , , or . You might also want to consider placing on the creator's user talk page to help point him or her in the right direction. If you tag an article for deletion as a non-notable bio, you may opt to notify the user who created the article with .

What Wikipedia is not. Pages about individuals, places, or things which generally don't merit an encyclopedia entry should be listed at Articles for deletion. What exactly qualifies as encyclopedic is debatable, though, so it's best to err on the side of caution and not delete or nominate for deletion too hastily.

Primary source texts. These should be Transwiki to Main Page:English.

Dictionary definitions. These can be Transwiki to Main Page. Many may be redeemable as Wikipedia articles, if sufficiently refactored, rewritten, and expanded.

How-tos or instructional materials. In some cases, these can be transwikied to Main Page; however, it's often possible to turn these into meaningful articles. Try to improve an article by adding some more material before resorting to moving it out of Wikipedia.

Spotting possible copyright violations. One way to check for a possible copyright infringement is to do an internet search; however, not all text is on the internet; search engines do not index all the internet's text, and some texts available through search engines are public domain and thus suitable for import into Wikipedia. These public domain texts include the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
- After notifying the uploading editor, blank the page and replace the text with ~~~~
- Go to today's section of the Copyright problems and add from URL here ~~~~ to the bottom of the list. Put the page's name in place of "PageName". If there is not a URL, use a description of the source.
- Please also add to the article creator's talk page.

Blatant copyright infringements may now be "speedied". If an article and all its revisions are unquestionably copied from the website of a commercial content provider (engaged in directly making money off the content) and there is no assertion of permission, ownership or fair use and none seems likely, and the article is less than 48 hours old, it may be Speedy_deletions. If the article meets these requirements you may use instead of the standard copyvio notice and skip step 2 above. An Administrators will examine the article and decide whether to delete it or not.

Orphaned articles. Checking the "What links here" link will tell you if any other page points to the newly created article. Sometimes orphans result from a mistitled article (see below). Other times you'll want to find a related article and link the new one to it.

Mistitled articles. Usually it's straightforward to move a page to a more appropriate title using the "move page" function. Sometimes you'll find that an article under the other title already exists, in which case you should try to merge any new material from the newly created article into the old one.

Stub, which are the beginnings of meaningful and encyclopedic articles but which need a little help (a little wikifying, as it were). The basics of wikifying stubs:
- Bold face the article title.
- Link relevant terms.
- Phrase the article in complete sentences, including the first.
- Place WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types at the end of the stub.

Foreign language articles. Tag the page with and list it at Pages needing translation into English. This site can analyse text to guess what language it is written in. Do not run the page through an online translator and submit the results.

Style problems. Add one or more Cleanup resources#General for pages which need tidying up.

Categorization Check that the article has been assigned to a useful category and if not, try to add one. If the article links to other Wikipedia articles, check their categorizations for ideas. If all else fails, assign the article to one of the Fundamental as a start.

New images

Newimages logs all new images as they are created. Check new images for the following problems:

Image copyright tags Check that an appropriate image copyright tag has been added. If not, leave a note on the contributor's talk page per suggestions Untagged images.
Image source The image description must say how the image was obtained, for example if the uploader took it himself. Also consider if the licence is reasonable considered the source, for example a combination of "I found it on bbc" and "this image is public domain" may indicate that the image is in fact not free. Tag unsourced images with .

Suggestions for patrollers

Please do not bite the newcomers. If you see a new user or IP address contributing, 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.
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.
Try not to step on people's toes. Many times, users will start an article as the briefest of stubs, and then expand it over the succeeding hours or days.
Be hesitant to list articles on Articles for Deletion if there's a chance they could be improved and made into a meaningful article.
Ensure that the user has been warned thoroughly before posting a notice on Administrator intervention against vandalism. If a user has not been sufficiently warned, an administrator may simply remove the notice without action.
A tabbed browser can help increase efficiency when checking pages.
When combating vandalism, remember to check and see if the user has attacked or created other pages.
Always check the history and the talk page. A new page might be a recreation of a previously deleted article. With other articles, someone may have removed a tag. The talk page may contain a notice that indicates that the article has already survived an AfD.

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