Wikipedia:Oversight

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This page documents an official English Wikipedia policy, a widely accepted standard that should normally be followed by all editors. Any edit to it should reflect consensus. Consider discussing potential changes on the talk page first.

Shortcuts: WP:OS WP:OVER WP:SIGHT

If you are a user who has a request for suppression, please note that details should not be posted in public. See Wikipedia:Requests for oversight for the email address (monitored 24/7) and other ways to request suppression.

Suppression on Wikipedia (in the past also known as Oversighting) is a form of enhanced deletion which, unlike normal deletion, expunges information from any form of usual access even by administrators. It is used within strict limits to hide the username, revision content, and/or edit summary in order to remove defamatory material, to protect privacy, and sometimes to remove serious copyright violations. When using the suppression function on an edit, it is possible to suppress the text of a revision, the username or IP address of a contributor, and the edit summary of a contribution, or any combination thereof. This will prevent the revision from being viewed by anyone except other users with the "oversight" permission. In this way it differs from normal administrator deletion. It is also possible to suppress the username, action and target, or log summary for any public log events, like moves or blocks. Users with oversight may also hide an account entirely, which removes it from the list of accounts and suppresses its name in all log events and edits.

On the English Wikipedia, "oversight," the right to suppress edits, is entrusted to a restricted number of users, who can suppress material if it meets the strict requirements below, and monitor each others' use of the function.

The permission is granted (exceedingly rarely and only with good cause) by the Arbitration Committee and beginning in February 2009 with a community election following vetting by the arbitration committee, who handle many other privacy-related functions. Users in the oversight group must be over 18 and must have provided personal identification to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Contents 1 Nomenclature 1.1 RevisionDeleted vs Oversight 2 Policy 3 Operation 3.1 Actions 3.2 Logging 3.3 Appearance 3.4 Assignment and revocation 3.5 Complaints 4 Users with Oversight permissions 5 See also 6 Notes

[edit] Nomenclature

The original term "oversight" (for the function/tool) came from the the name of the extension previously used to expunge revisions: Extension:Oversight, whose log access was originally intended to allow oversight of its operation. The Oversight extension was intended to be a temporary measure, as the RevisionDelete system that replaced it fixed several problems with oversight (including causing misattribution of edits and its irreversibility) and added features not originally present (including account and log hiding). For historical reasons, currently, the group of users with the ability to use suppression are still known as "oversighters" and suppression might still be referred to as "oversight."

RevisionDeleted is sometimes abbreviated to RevDel or RevDeleted.

[edit] RevisionDeleted vs Oversight

There are two tools that allow suppression: Oversight (in use since 2006) and RevisionDelete (in use since early 2009). In general RevisionDelete is preferred and Oversight largely deprecated unless circumstances call for its use.

	Oversight	RevisionDelete
Scope	Suppression of page revisions only	Suppression of page revisions, log entries, and usernames.
Suppression of page revisions	The entire edit is suppressed as a whole; no finer level of control is possible.	The username, edit summary, or text, can be individually selected; data that does not actually require suppression can remain visible and unaffected.
Suppression of log entries	Not available	The username, target, and reason can each be suppressed in log entries; data that does not actually require suppression can remain visible and unaffected.
Suppression of page name [1]	Not possible (details in footnote)	Possible: the page should be moved to an innocuous title and then the original page name suppressed in the move log.
Suppression of user name	Not available	A user name that contains oversightable material can be suppressed wherever user names will usually be shown, including removal from the list of user names. This appears as an additional option when blocking the user. Note that usernames entered within an edit or log entry (as part of a signature, revision text, edit summary or reason) are not covered. They may need suppressing separately.
Effect of suppression on page revisions (and log entries for RevisionDelete)	The revision is completely "removed" as if it never existed - it does not appear in any page history, contributions record, or the like, nor will a diff or direct link to it work.	The revision (or log entry) appears in all logs as normal, but the suppressed portion cannot be viewed or accessed by users and links that would show the suppressed data are inactive. An error will be given if access is attempted. Existing links will continue to work for oversighters.
Effects on editing history and attribution	Any change between the revision before and after will appear to be due to the following edit, hence attribution and "blame" may be affected.	Although the material cannot be seen, the fact that suppression has taken place is shown and logs are less disrupted, so readers are less likely to mis-understand the editing history.
Reversibility	The Oversight extension does not have a "reverse" function; oversighted material cannot as a rule be reinstated.	Suppression using RevisionDelete can be reversed or amended by any oversighter, if circumstances call for it.

The key differences are that Oversight fully removes page revisions (without leaving a placeholder) which can then only be viewed via the Oversight log and cannot readily be restored. RevisionDelete redacts the entries, which can also include log entries and usernames, affects history and contributions much less, allows finer control, and is reversible.

[edit] Policy

Wikimedia Foundation Suppression policy is documented at m:Hiding revisions

This feature is approved for use in three cases:

1. Removal of non-public personal information, such as phone numbers, home addresses, workplaces or identities of pseudonymous or anonymous individuals who have not made their identity public. This includes hiding revisions made by editors who were accidentally logged out and thus inadvertently revealed their own IP addresses.
2. Removal of potentially libelous information, either: a) on the advice of Wikimedia Foundation counsel; or b) when the subject has specifically asked for the information to be expunged from the history, the case is clear, and there is no editorial reason to keep the revision.
3. Removal of copyright infringement, on the advice of Wikimedia Foundation counsel.

Revisions that were suppressed are inaccessible to administrators, but remain visible to oversighters, and can be restored if a mistake was made.

Suppression is not used on usual vandalism—even egregious and offensive vandalism—unless it is one of the above.

[edit] Operation

[edit] Actions

Users with the "Oversight" permission can perform the following actions:

1. Suppress individual page revisions (as a whole) using Oversight.
2. Suppress and unsuppress elements of individual page revisions (any or all of the text, username, or edit summary) using RevisionDelete.
3. Suppress and unsuppress log entries.
4. Suppress and unsuppress user names when blocking.
5. Review the suppression logs (one for each tool) and suppressed material.

Page revisions suppressed with the Oversight extension do not leave a placeholder in the page history and can not be restored. Revisions suppressed with RevisionDelete leave a visible placeholder in the page history and can be restored if the situation calls for it.

[edit] Logging

Revisions that have been suppressed using Oversight are logged at Special:Oversight.

The RevisionDelete extension can be used both by oversighters, and by administrators (when fully functional). Oversighters may select whether to use RevisionDelete as an administrator action that any administrator can see and modify (deletion), or a suppression action that prevents administrator access. The action will be logged in the deletion log or suppression log accordingly.

1. Page revisions and logged events that have been suppressed using the "also hide from administrators" checkbox are logged in the suppression log.
2. Page revisions and logged events that have been deleted by an oversighter without using the "hide from administrators" checkbox or by an administrator, are logged in the deletion log¹.
3. Accounts which are blocked with the "suppress user name from lists" checkbox are logged in the suppression log.

The logs list who made the removal, when, from which page, and a provided comment. A diff link to compare the previous live revision to the hidden one is available.

¹The reason for this behavior is that RevisionDelete can be configured to allow administrators to hide page revisions from regular editors but not other admins, while allowing users with "oversight" permission to hide page revisions from regular users and admins. However, at this time RevisionDelete is configured to hide all suppressed edits from admins as well as users and the "hide revision from admins" checkbox has no effect except to change where the event is logged. If the RevisionDelete functionality is extended to admins in the future, admin suppressions will be logged in the deletion log and will be viewable and reversible by other admins, while revisions suppressed by oversighters will be hidden from admins as well and logged in the suppression log.

[edit] Appearance

If RevisionDelete was used on an item in "suppress" mode (ie parts of the edit or log entry are currently redacted with suppression) then the "del/undel" text will be bolded. Otherwise it will appear in ordinary font.

[edit] Assignment and revocation

Users who require the oversight permission are typically members of the Arbitration Committee, or former arbitrators. For those users who are not, in order to be granted the oversight flag, a case should be made and sent to the ArbCom mailing list; you may do this by consulting an arbitrator, or simply by emailing the Committee directly, using the details here. If confirmed by the Arbitration Committee to have a need for oversight, an Arbitrator will post a request on Requests for permission on Meta-Wiki and a Steward will assign the permission [1].

Just as easily as the oversight permission can be granted, it can be revoked. If the Arbitration Committee feels that an editor has abused oversight by suppressing items which do not qualify under one of the above criteria, they will immediately request a Steward to remove the permission from the editor. This may be done by any of the usual ways, including email or a request on requests for permission on Meta.

Emergency requests based upon clear evidence may also be made in exceptional circumstances, the same way. In an exceptional case, and for good cause, a Steward may temporarily remove the permission, pending a decision by the Committee. The steward should check the matter is well founded, and make clear immediately that it is a temporary response only, since such an action could lead to controversy.

A description of the current and historical processes for appointing new oversighters can be found at Wikipedia:CheckUser/Appointments; the process is the same for both.

[edit] Complaints

Complaints or inquiries about potential misuse of the oversight flag should be referred to the Audit Subcommittee.

[edit] Users with Oversight permissions

An automatic list is available at Special:Listusers/oversight. Accurate as of 10 July 2009, the Oversight team is:

Current Arbitrators 

Carcharoth, Casliber, Cool Hand Luke, Coren, FloNight,^[2] John Vandenberg,^[2][3] Newyorkbrad, Risker, Rlevse, Roger Davies,^[2] Stephen Bain, Vassyana, Wizardman.

Former Arbitrators 

David Gerard, Deskana,^[3] Dominic, Fred Bauder, FT2, Jdforrester, Jpgordon, Mackensen,^[2] Neutrality, Raul654, Sam Korn, SimonP, Yellow Monkey.

Non-arbitrators appointed by Arbcom 

Daniel Case, EVula, Luna Santin, Mailer Diablo, Taxman, Thatcher,^[2] Tznkai.^[2]

Developers 

Tim Starling, Voice of All

Others 

Cary Bass, Jimbo Wales, Wikimedia staff members.

Developers typically do not handle routine requests for suppression, but rather require occasional access to the extension interface for maintenance and enhancement purposes. "Others" includes users who require access for WMF reasons, and WMF officers.

[edit] See also

Background

• Wikipedia:User access levels: Wikipedia page outlining the various user access levels, including oversight;
• m:Hiding revisions: Master copy of this page, on Meta-Wiki;

Oversight requests

• Wikipedia:Requests for oversight: For requesting that a revision, log entry, or account be suppressed. Requests should be made by email, not on that page. Please read the instructions there.

Oversight access

• m:Requests for permission: The permissions requests page ("RFP") on metawiki, where the Arbitration Committee will direct user rights changes, including oversight appointments.
• m:User rights log: Shows oversight assignments and removals. Enter User:USERNAME@enwiki in the "Title" box.
• mail:oversight-l: Mailing list administration

Technical

• mw:Extension:Oversight: Oversight extension documentation on MediaWiki.org.
• mw:RevisionDelete: More detailed description of how the Revision/Log entry hiding feature works and how to install the extension on one's own wiki.
• mw:Bitfields for rev deleted: How the bitfields for revision deletion are implemented and a list of who-can-see-what.

[edit] Notes