Hello. Welcome to my Counter-Vandalism Center! Here, you will find essential tools and information about helping
rid Wikipedia of one of its worst problems:
vandalism. Please, feel free to use them and help the
Counter-Vandalism Unit fight vandalism and help make Wikipedia the best encyclopedia ever! Happy vandal fighting!
Eddie
Note: If you have a question, comment, concern, request, or an idea to help make this page better, please contact me on my talk page or be bold and edit the page yourself.
Credits: This page is based on my friend Arnon Chaffin's Anti-Vandalism Center. The layout is based on R's userpage layout, which was made by Phaedriel.
 | If you've never used a particular template before, or have not used it recently, read it before using it, to ensure it actually says what you want to say. |
Rules
This are the rules of the trade. Please read them carefully and respect them when reverting vandalism.
- 1.Removing or improving the edit
Needy edits should be tagged according to their need (e.g. {{wikify}}), or boldly changed immediately. Bad edits should likewise be tagged or deleted. Because no wikipedians like their edits to be deleted, it is important to leave concise but clear justifications on the talk page or in the edit summary. When adding tags, please consider placing them on the article's talk page rather than in the article itself.
- 2.Warn the editor
In the cases of deliberate vandalism or an evident lack of knowledge on Wikipedia procedure, offending editors should be warned on their talk pages. While this is an optional step, it should be a regular part of a patroller's duties, as it minimizes conflict, educates new editors and alerts administrators of repeat offenders. For efficiency and consistency, standard warning templates can be found here. However do feel free to simply write a warning if the available templates are not appropriate.
Check the user's other contributions
You'll often find more edits with similar problems. Fix those as well.
Your Faith
These are the different level of user-warnings. Use them depending on your faith and the user's vandalism history. For example, if the edit is probably a test and the user has never been warned before, use a Level 1 warning. If the edit is probably a bad-faith edit made to damage Wikipedia and the user has a long history of vandalism, you should tell him to cease vandalizing Wikipedia with a Level 4 warning.
- Level 1 - Assumes good faith
- Level 2 - No faith assumption
- Level 3 - Assumes bad faith; stern cease and desist
- Level 4 - Assumes bad faith; strong cease and desist, last warning
Recent Changes Window
This is a window that displays the recent changes made by both registered and unregistered (IP) editors. Most vandals are unregistered editors, so you should check those first. Please note that some IP editors actually contribute useful stuff to this encyclopedia. This does not mean that registered editors are not vandals. You should also check edits made by new users. You can identify new users by looking for editors with their links to their talk or userpages red. You should always check carefully every edit before reverting it.
Click
here to show newer edits.
Vandalism Warnings
When fighting vandalism, please remember to always warn the vandal so they can stop vandalizing our hard work. If the user has already been warned at least 2 times, please remember to report them to the admins at the administrator intervention against vandalism noticeboard so they can be blocked from editing.
- Custom Warnings
These are my personal, custom warnings for vandals. To use them, copy the correct messages and post them on the vandal's talk page. You don't have to sign the post, as the warning automatically generates it.
- {{subst:User:Boricuaeddie/VandalWarning1}} This is a Level 1 warning for vandals.
- {{subst:User:Boricuaeddie/VandalWarning2}} This is a Level 2 warning for vandals.
- {{subst:User:Boricuaeddie/VandalWarning3}} This is a Level 3 or 4 warning for vandals. (Depends on how you look at it)
- Normal Warning Templates
These are the templates editors usually use to warn vandals. To see the full list of user-warning, click here.
Awards
If you see an editor who is a very active vandal fighter, don't hesitate to award him the The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar. This will probably make the user feel better and become a more productive editor. To use it, copy this message to the recipient's talk page and leave him a beautiful message: {{subst:The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar|message ~~~~}}
Vandal-Fighting Tools
These are tools that will make vandal-fighting easier. Be aware that they are very powerful tolls and you should test the tools out before actively using them to avoid mistakes. Be sure to carefully read the instructions on each individual page before using the tool. To see the full list of tools, see the Counter-Vandalism Unit's list of tools.
- VandalProof: This is one of the most powerful tools available. With this you can monitor the recent changes and quickly revert vandalism. To use it, you must request approval.
- Lupin's Anti-Vandal Tool: This tool monitors the RSS feed and flags edits with common vandalism terms. It also has a live spellcheck feature.
- Twinkle: My personal favorite. This tool gives non-administrators three types of rollback functions. Other functions include a full library of speedy deletion functions, user warnings, pseudoautomagical reporting of vandals, and more. When combined with Lupin's Anti-Vandal Tool, it is very powerful.
- RC patrol script: This tool gives non-administrators revert, filter, and popup tools while using the (default) monobook skin.
Useful Links
These are links that will help you understand vandals and how to cleanup their messes.
- Wikipedia:Revert: This help page says how to correctly and effectively revert vandalism.
Current Status
