User:0612/RC Edit Algorithm

This page is written for aspiring Recent Changes Patrollers, to increase efficiency of your editing. I find this algorithm quite accurate (yes, I use it myself), and it doesn't require any specialised software, such as bots.

The main purpose of this page is to help you find the correct pages to edit, and not to waste your time on other pages. This page will not teach you what to do after you found any offending pages, because what you're supposed to do is quite simple. Please read it up on the Wikipedia:Vandalism page.

Hitting the Right Articles

It's no go if you have to inspect each and every article on the recent changes page. You need to be able to identify which articles are likely to be vandalised, and skip the others. Well, 100% accuracy isn't guaranteed, but it's still quite good.

New Pages

New pages are indicated by an "N" before their title in the Recent Changes page. First check that they are not user pages or talk pages (this is important). Then check their edit summary, since it will reflect the contents of the article unless the creator changed it. If it says redirect, you can safely skip it. If it shows article contents and it looks OK, you can skip it too. Otherwise, pop in and take a look.

Edit Summary

First, look out for the obvious edit summaries, like those that start with "Blanked page" or "Replaced page with...".

Users who edit for a good cause usually provide an edit summary. Keep your eyes open for edit summaries that show the default note.

Easily Accessible Articles

Compare two article names: Looney Tunes and Polybutadiene. Which one will a vandal be more likely to type into a search box? Obviously Looney Tunes, since it's common and easily spelt. That's not to say that Polybutadiene will never be vandalised, just less likely.

Articles with simple names, or commonly heard ones, will be more suspectible to vandalism, and that's one algorithm you can apply. Look out for articles with simple titles, or common ones.

Magnitude of Edit

A new feature on the Recent Changes page shows the difference in number of letters on the page. This is a highly useful feature, which allows you to judge whether an article has been vandalised. Keep your eyes open for bolded numbers, because it signifies a large decrease in number of letters.

Still, be wary, because this method is not foolproof.

Easily Vandalised Articles

I'm not into politics, but it'll be idle to deny that loads of people dislike George W. Bush. That, of course, makes his article prone to vandalism. Watch out for articles that fall under the same category.

In addition to that, there's also an article named f*** (I did the censoring. The actual article name isn't censored), and articles like this are practically open to vandalism.

Who's Vandalising?

An annoynmous user (ie un-logged in user) is more likely to vandalise as opposed to registered users. I am not saying that all unregistered editors are vandals, and I'm also not saying that all registered members don't vandalise. It is, once again, the question of probability.

Speed Tips

If you want to fight vandalism from Recent Changes, and do it fast, here is a little tip: When you suspect a page needs reverting, click (diff) from the RC page immediately, to save time. The (diff) button can be found at the extreme left of each line.

That's all I have for you. If there's anything you might like to bring up, you can use the talk page. If there is anything you want to tell me directly, please leave a note on my talk page.

Last Edit: 04:10, 21 December 2006 (UTC)