Wikipedia:Three-revert rule

Another one of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines:

Your recent editing history shows that you are currently engaged in an edit war; that means that you are repeatedly changing content back to how you think it should be, when you have seen that other editors disagree. To resolve the content dispute, please do not revert or change the edits of others when you are reverted. Instead of reverting, please use the talk page to work toward making a version that represents consensus among editors. The best practice at this stage is to discuss, not edit-war; read about how this is done. If discussions reach an impasse, you can then post a request for help at a relevant noticeboard or seek dispute resolution. In some cases, you may wish to request temporary page protection.

Being involved in an edit war can result in you being blocked from editing—especially if you violate the three-revert rule, which states that an editor must not perform more than three reverts on a single page within a 24-hour period. Undoing another editor's work—whether in whole or in part, whether involving the same or different material each time—counts as a revert. Also keep in mind that while violating the three-revert rule often leads to a block, you can still be blocked for edit warring—even if you do not violate the three-revert rule—should your behavior indicate that you intend to continue reverting repeatedly.

This policy applies to each person. Use of sockpuppets (multiple accounts) is not a legitimate way to avoid this limit, and the 3RR specifically does not apply to groups. If the edit really needs reverting, somebody else will probably do it—and that will serve the vital purpose of showing that the community at large is in agreement over which of two competing versions is correct. If you like, chat with other Wikipedians whom you respect, and ask them if they could take a look. If you and the person you've asked to help have both needed to revert three times, then it is probably time to ask for the page to be protected and to start looking into dispute resolution.

After making a reversion, do not do so again more than twice within 24 hours of the initial one. This policy does not apply to self-reverts or correction of simple vandalism. Reverts intended to perform maintenance—such as on the Introduction or the Sandbox—are likewise allowed.

Intent of the policy

The three-revert rule is not an entitlement, but an "electric fence". The 3RR is intended as a means to stop edit wars. It does not grant users an inalienable right to three reverts every 24 hours or endorse reverts as an editing technique. Persistent reversion remains strongly discouraged and is unlikely to constitute working properly with others.

If you find you have reverted a page more than even once in a day, it indicates there is a serious problem and you should try dispute resolution, starting with the article's talk page.

An alternative: make at most one revert per day

Some users recommend spacing out your reverts to one per day. Benefits are:

• The other person might see the light of reason.
• You might realize that the other person was right!
• Others can easily step in and try to help. See, for example, MeatBall:DefendEachOther
• A day is much easier to apply than "any 24-hour period". By limiting yourself to one revert per day, you avoid the risk of accidently reverting four times in a 24-hour period.

See Harmonious editing club

Reverting and vandalism

If you find yourself reverting a considerable amount of edits by a banned user or a vandal, it may be appropriate to block the user or IP address. If you are not an administrator, you should list the person on vandalism in progress. If you are an administrator, you should block the user in accordance with the blocking policy. Jimbo Wales has said:

The three revert rule is not generally considered to apply to reversions of simple vandalism by users who are waiting for a sysop to block the IP, of course. Generally, sysops need not revert a simple vandal even twice, because they should have been blocked already by that time. (However, sometimes sysops will validly choose not to block the IP out of a fear of affecting innocent users.) But in some cases, it can happen that simple vandalism makes it through three reverts; the rule should not be interpreted to mean that such vandalism must be left standing by a user who has already reverted three times. Use this exception cautiously—it is better to just make sure the vandal is blocked when possible. And make sure it's simple vandalism by the usual definition.

This exception does not apply to reversions of well-established users just because you consider their edits to be "vandalism". Simple vandalism is indisputable; don't confuse it with edits which you simply disagree with.

Enforcement

A vote passed to give further enforcement power to this rule:

If you violate the three-revert rule, after your fourth revert in 24 hours, sysops may block you for up to 24 hours. In the cases where multiple parties violate the rule, sysops should treat all sides equally.

Additionally, this rule is enforced by:

• Educating users who may not be aware of good Wikipedia practice in the matter.
• Peer pressure and leadership by example.
• Where pages are protected due to revert wars, sysops may protect pages on the version disliked by those who have engaged in excessive reverts. This is believed by some to be a recent change to the protection policy. The sysop also has the option to protect the current version, thereby maintaining a sense of neutrality.

Violations of the three-revert policy can be brought to the attention of administrators at the Administrators' noticeboard.

Chronic offenders may be subject to rulings by the Arbitration Committee.

Sysops blocked under this provision must not unblock themselves.

I've been blocked under 3RR! What do I do?

First, check if you actually did make a fourth revert in 24 hours or very close to it.

• If you didn't, you should email the admin who blocked you (or another admin), politely point this out and ask to be unblocked.
• If you did, you should either wait the 24 hours, or email the admin who blocked you (or another admin), acknowledge your error, and ask to be unblocked. (They may, of course, choose not to.)

Some admins look at the quality of the edits in question. Others do not.

Note that historically, public denunciation of the blocking admin has not tended to gain sympathy. You can, however, report cases of egregious misapplication of this rule to Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/3RR; for more serious cases, to the "use of administrator privileges" in Wikipedia:Requests for comment.

See also

• Edit war
• Wikiquette