Wikipedia:RC patrol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
RC Patrol refers to the act of checking the recent changes to the wiki for harmful edits. New pages patrol refers to the act of checking and performing classification upon newly created pages.
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.
Contents |
[edit]
Tools
![Screenshot of Wikipedia recent changes IRC feed. [1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wikipedia_IRC_Feed.JPG)
- Special: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:
- Special:Newpages lists all new articles.
- Special:Newimages lists all new images.
- CryptoDerk's Vandal Fighter is a small but robust Java based live RC scroller with many helpful features.
- #wikipedia-en-vandalism is an IRC channel which has a bot that flags likely vandalistic edits.
- Lupin is working on a tool for catching vandalism missed by CDVF or other tools. To use what he has done so far, see the talk page at WP:CVU.
Other tools can be found here: Wikipedia:Tools.
[edit]
What to do
[edit]
Edits to existing pages
- Look out for vandalism, and revert it. Be familiar with the {{test0}}, {{test}}, {{test2}}/{{test2a}} (2a is for blankings), {{test3}}, and {{test4}} templates. Starting with {{test}} (or sometimes {{test2}}/{{test2a}}), leave each template on the vandal's user talk page in turn after each vandalising edit. If the vandal has had a test4 message and is still vandalising, list them at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism.
- Look for spam. If it comes in the form of articles, nominate them at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. If a user is posting multiple links to a particular website in several articles, revert the edits. In either case, warn the user with {{spam}}, {{spam2}}, and {{spam3}} on his or her talk page.
- 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.
[edit]
New pages
Special: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 speedy deletion criteria, then if you see any such pages created, tag them with {{d}} 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: {{db-empty}}, {{db-bio}}, {{db-repost}}, {{db-attack}} or {{db-nonsense}}. Finally, you can use {{db|Your reason here}}. You might also want to consider placing {{test}} 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 {{nn-warn}}.
- Unsuitable pages. Pages about individuals, places, or things which generally don't merit an encyclopedia entry should be listed at Wikipedia: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 transwikied to Wikisource.
- Dictionary definitions. These can be transwikied to Wiktionary. 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 Wikibooks; 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.
- 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.
| 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 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 speedily deleted. See CSD A8 for full conditions. After notifying the uploading editor by using wording similar to:
Blank the page and replace the text with
to the article in question, leaving the content visible. An administrator will examine the article and decide whether to speedily 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.
- Stubs, 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 an appropriate stub notice at the end of the stub.
- Foreign language articles. Run the page through an on-line translator, such as Google translate. The page will probably need tagging for cleanup afterwards. Or list it at Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English. This site can analyse text to guess what language it is written in.
- Style problems. Add one or more specific cleanup tags 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 Wikipedis articles, check their categorizations for ideas. If all else fails, assign the article to one of the fundamental categories as a start.
[edit]
New images
Special:Newimages logs all new images as they are created. Check new images for the following problems:
- Image copyright tag Check that an appropriate image copyright tag has been added. If not, leave a note on the contributer's talk page per suggestions here.
[edit]
Suggestions for patrollers
- Don't bite the newbies. 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.
- Remember not everyone is as computer literate as you, some people will cut and paste material from wikipedia and end up accidentally blanking it.
- 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 Wikipedia: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 Wikipedia: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.
- Using <Right-click> <"Open in New Window"> can help increase efficiency when checking pages, for example, leaving the original page open while following a text or image link.
- When combating vandalism remember to check and see if the user has attacked or created other pages.
[edit]
