Help:Reverting: Difference between revisions

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Reverted - Sounds like retarded but its not. I smokin up with the wiki guy right now. hahahahaha.
'''Reverting''' means undoing the effects of one or more edits, which normally results in the page being restored to a version that existed sometime previously. More broadly, reverting may also refer to any action that reverses the actions of other editors.

This page contains technical information about making reverts. Some Wikipedia guidelines and essays concerning the appropriateness and manner of reverting include [[WP:Edit warring]] (including the [[WP:3RR|three-revert rule]]), [[WP:Revert only when necessary]] and [[WP:Reverting]].

==How to revert==
===Manual method===
* Go to the top of the page in question, click on the "[[Help:Page history|history]]" or "page history" (in some skins) tab; then, click on the "[[Help:Calendar|time and date]]" of the earlier version, to which you wish to revert.
* When that page displays, you will see a phrase similar to: "This is an old revision of this page, as edited by ***.*.***.*** (Talk) at 15:47, January 24, 2009. It may differ significantly from the current revision."
* Verify that you have selected the correct "old revision" version and click on the "[[Help:Editing|edit this page]]" tab, as you would normally do.
** '''Important:''' in the case of vandalism, take the time to make sure that you are reverting to the last version without the vandalism; there may be multiple consecutive vandal edits or they may be interspersed between the constructive edits.
* Above the edit box, you will see a warning similar to: "You are editing an old revision of this page. If you save it, any changes made since then will be removed."
* Ignore this warning and save the page. Be sure to add the word "revert" or the abbreviation "rv" and a brief explanation for the revert to the "[[Wikipedia:edit summary|edit summary]]". It is possible to wikilink the usernames associated with the versions that you are reverting from and to.
** For example, when reverting vandalism by a user identified only by an [[IP address]], an edit summary would be: <br><br>'''<code><nowiki>rv edits by [[Special:Contributions/<IP address>|<IP address>]] to last version by [[User:Example|Example]]</nowiki></code>'''<br><br>
** When the [[Wikipedia:Username policy|username]] is known, an edit summary would be: <br><br>'''<code><nowiki>rv edits by [[User:<username>|<username>]] to last version by [[User:Example|Example]]</nowiki></code>'''<br><br>
:''Note: when reverting blatant vandalism, "rvv" normally suffices, as speed is more important than a full edit summary with usernames or IP addresses''.
* Click on the "history" tab again. A new line will have been added and you will be able to verify (by clicking on "last") that you undid the vandalism, plus all subsequent bona fide edits, if any. It is courteous to redo all the constructive edits that were undone, along with the edit(s) which you intended to revert. This should always be done, where it is reasonably possible.
* In a vandalism case, where sections of text were simply deleted and then subsequent edits were made by others, it may be easier for you to cut and paste those missing sections of text back in, than to revert and then re-do the edits.
* Check the contribution history of the user who vandalized the article. (Click on the IP address for anonymous users or the "contribs" for registered users.) If this user is vandalizing many articles, please report them to [[Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism|administrator intervention against vandalism]] at Wikipedia or to the relevant administrators' noticeboard on other projects.

===User shortcuts===
* [[User:Sam Hocevar|Sam Hocevar's]] godmode-light.js script adds functionality similar to the admin ''rollback'' links described below. More info at [[WP:US]].
* The vandal edit can also be reverted using [[Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups|popups]] or [[:es:Usuario:Axxgreazz/Monobook-Suite|monobook-suite]].

===Reverting images===
In order to revert an image to a previous uploaded version, go to the image page and click on "File history". The File history section of the image displays the full history of edits to the image alongwith a thumbnail of each version. Logged-in users can see a "revert" link for every version other than the current version. Clicking on a version's revert link makes that version the current version.

==Undo==
{{shortcut|WP:UNDO}}
The MediaWiki software allow editors to easily revert (or "undo") a single edit from the history of a page, without simultaneously undoing all constructive changes that have been made since. To do this, view the [[Help:diff|diff]] for the edit, then click on 'undo' above the newer version. The software will attempt to create an edit page with a version of the article in which the undesirable edit has been removed, but all later edits are retained. There is a default edit summary. It is also possible to make further modifications before saving.

This feature removes the need to manually redo useful changes that were made after the edit which is being reverted. However, it will fail if undoing the edit would conflict with later edits. For example, if edit 1000 adds a paragraph and edit 1005 modifies that paragraph, it will be impossible to automatically undo edit 1000. In this case, you must determine how to resolve the problem manually.

===Misuse===
Vandals may click "undo" next to reversions of vandalism to easily load the vandalism back onto the page. These actions are reverted and treated as vandalism.

==Advanced features==
===Rollback===

{{seealso|Wikipedia:Rollback feature}}

[[Wikipedia:Administrators|Administrators]] and other editors who have been granted access to the [[Wikipedia:Rollback feature | rollback feature]] have additional links which:
* appear only next to the top edit
* revert ''all'' top consequent edits made by last editor
* work immediately, without the intermediate confirmation diff page
* add automatic [[Help:edit summary|edit summary]] "'''m''' [[WP:RBK|Reverted]] edits by [[Special:Contributions/Example|Example]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]]) to last version by Example2", marking edit as minor

Rollback links appear on the [[Help:user contributions|user contributions]] pages, [[Help:Page history|history pages]] and [[Help:Diff|diff pages]]. Note that in the last case, rollback links can be misleading, since reversion is not necessarily to the old version shown (the diff page may show the combined result of edits, including some by other editors or only part of the edits the rollback button would revert). To see the changes the rollback button will revert, view the specific diff, which compares the last version from the last editor with the last version from the previous editor.

Rollback works much quicker than undo, since it:
* allows reverting without even looking at the list of revisions or diff
* does not require loading an edit page and sending the wikitext back to the server
* does not require a click of the save button

On the other hand, it is not as versatile as undo, since it does not allow specification of which edits have to be undone. One may want to revert more or less edits than the rollback does or edits which do not include the last edit. It also does not allow adding an explanation to the automatic edit summary. Rollback is supposed to be used to revert obvious vandalism.

Rolling back a good-faith edit, without explanation, may be misinterpreted as "I think your edit was no better than vandalism and reverting it doesn't need an explanation". Some editors are sensitive to such perceived slights; if you use the rollback feature other than for vandalism (for example, because undo is impractical due to the large page size), it is courteous to leave an explanation on the article's talk page or on the talk page of the user, whose edit(s) you have reverted.

If someone else edited or rolled back the page before you clicked the "rollback" link, or if there was no previous editor, you will get an error message.

===Bot rollback===
In cases of flood vandalism, administrators may choose to hide vandalism from [[Help:recent changes|recent changes]]. To do this, add <tt>&bot=1</tt> to the end of the url, used to access a user's contributions. For example: <nowiki>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Contributions&target=SomePersistentVandal&bot=1</nowiki>.

When the rollback links on the contributions list are clicked, the revert and the original edit, that you are reverting will both be hidden from recent changes, unless you click the "bots" link to set <tt>hidebots=0</tt>. The edits are not hidden from contributions lists, page histories or watchlists. The edits remain in the database and are not removed, but they no longer flood "Recent changes". The aim of this feature is to reduce the annoyance factor of a flood vandal, with relatively little effort. This should ''not'' be used for reverting a change you just don't like, but is meant only for massive floods of simple vandalism.


==Wikipedia-specific help==
{{meta|Help:Reverting}}
In Wikipedia, it is recommended to link to the "Special:Contributions" page, instead of the "user page" (which may not yet exist), of a user that can only be identified by their [[IP address]]. It has also become more common to not link to the second user name, which would be that of the editor of the version that one is reverting to.

:For example, a rendering of the edit summary would be:
<center>''rv edits by {{color|blue|000.000.00.00}} to last version by User Name''</center>
:or for reverting vandalism: <br>
<center>''rvv edits by {{color|blue|000.000.00.00}} to last version by User Name''</center><br>

:Examples of the codes typed into the edit summary would be:
'''<code><center><nowiki>rv edits by [[Special:Contributions/<IP address>|<IP address>]] to last version by <username>. </nowiki></center></code>'''<br>
:or for reverting vandalism: <br>
'''<code><center><nowiki>rvv edits by [[Special:Contributions/<IP address>|<IP address>]] to last version by <username>.</nowiki></center></code>'''<br>

Instead of using abbreviations, one may prefer to use the following:
:for reverting:
''<center>Reverted edits by {{color|blue|000.000.00.00}} to last version by User Name</center>''
:or for reverting vandalism:
''<center>Reverted vandalism edits by {{color|blue|000.000.00.00}} to last version by User Name</center>''<br>
''<center>Reverted edits by {{color|blue|000.000.00.00}} to last version by User Name; vandalism</center>''<br>
''<center>Reverted edits by {{color|blue|000.000.00.00}} to last version by User Name; rvv</center>''

[[Category:Wikipedia how-to|{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Editor handbook|{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[ar:مساعدة:رجوع]]
[[de:Hilfe:Wiederherstellen]]
[[es:Ayuda:Cómo revertir una edición]]
[[fa:راهنما:واگردانی]]
[[ko:위키백과:이전 버전으로 되돌리기]]
[[it:Aiuto:Rollback]]
[[ja:Help:以前の版にページを戻す方法]]
[[pt:Ajuda:Guia de edição/Reverter edições]]
[[simple:Help:Revert a page]]
[[yi:װיקיפּעדיע:צוריקדרייען]]

Revision as of 14:16, 3 July 2009

Reverted - Sounds like retarded but its not. I smokin up with the wiki guy right now. hahahahaha.