Adoptee Stuff

Getting to know you

Alright Alex, I'm glad you chose me to be (one of?) your adopter(s). Not sure how wise a choice that was, but that's irrelevent ;)

First thing I'd like to ask you is if you have any sort of instant messaging clients, for example MSN Messenger (Windows Live Messenger now?) or XFire, etc. I'm on MSN pretty much all hours outside of school (even when I'm doing work) so it's an easy way to contact me.

Now, I'm not going to ask you any more personal information (well, I'll probably forget I said that and ask anyway, but just ignore it :P). If you want to you can freely disclose anything you like to me, but, as you know, this is Wikipedia, and all edits are saved, so anyone could come here and find out things about you.

Anyway, enough of that.

What do you enjoy doing around Wiki? I've noticed you also like Wikignome sort of things (which is always great fun, but doesn't get you a lot of attention). Do you do any article writing?

This is just a quick get-to-know-you sort of thing, so if you at any time have any questions for me (or answers :P), just reply here. I'll keep this page on my watchlist, and bookmarked. --Razor ICE 23:02, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

I first created my account to change minor spelling mistakes and revert spam. I realise that you can do that without an account but I suppose I wanted one anyway. Article writing is something that interests me but I have so far been unable to find a topic that I know enough about that does not already have a page.

Also how would you like me to refer to you? Dan/RazorICE/something else?

You can call me Alex or use my Internet alias Hazy. It's up to you. Alex Hayes 08:13, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Alright, I added you to both and removed them from here.

So you are mainly a WikiGnome I gather? That is practically how I started out, usually fixing just minor spelling mistakes as an IP user. But after a while you get the hang on things, and when you start spotting lots of vandalism, fixing it is actually heaps of fun (surprisingly).

So, do you do anything apart from fix vandalism and typos? Do you know how the basic structure of the Wikipedia community works (I'm not completely sure, but I could say how it works basically). For example, do you know what "bureaucrats" on Wikipedia are, and what they do? It's not really important for being around but it might give you a sense on how WP really works.

Also, how do you go about reverting vandalism? Are you a recent changes watcher or do you just happen to stumble by some vandalism as you read up articles. I'm assuming you know very little about Wikipedia, so if you don't know any of the things I mentioned, then I'll gladly explain them. I can't guarantee I'm always sure of what I'm talking about though. :P

And of course, you can call me whatever you like as well. I prefer being called Dan (as being named by your internet nickname is somewhat awkward) but I really don't mind.

Hopefully I'll see you on MSN a couple of times, but seeing as we live in different countries (as I assume from your UK address), it might be a bit difficult.

And by the way, I also play a bit of Counter-Strike: Source myself ;)

--Razor ICE 08:34, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

So, you still alive? Haven't seen you on in a while. Busy with exams? --Razor ICE 09:02, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Questions

Below I will post any questions I have.

Further Action?

After I have reverted vandalism by a registered user do I then have to leave a template on their talk page? If so what are the template's codes? Alex Hayes 10:23, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

To answer your question simply, yes, you should, and templates can be found here.

If you have reverted vandalism by any user, yes, you should place a warning on their talk page (though this does not mean you have to, it's useful). There are heaps and heaps of templates you can use, but if you're using Twinkle, then it should make your job a lot easier. I'll outline it here.

With Twinkle:

When you revert vandalism (i.e. by clicking on the "rollback - vandalism" button (if you don't know what these do then I'll explain them later)), a pop up should automatically open with the user's talk page ready to edit.
In the user's talk page, at the top (where the edit this page, history, etc buttons are located) there should be a few buttons to the right, numbered something like 1, 2, 3, 4, s, and arv. I shall explain what these mean:
- 1 are warnings for minor vandalism, a user's first vandalism, or basically "good faith" vandalism (i.e. looks like the user didn't mean to vandalize, did so by accident). Basically, "Thanks for testing Wikipedia. Please don't do it again." If you don't know what the items in the list do, just click one, and then go to show preview (not save page).
- 2 are warnings for minor vandalism, either after a user's first vandalisms (no idea if that is a real word :P) or if it is their first but it was obviously intended vandalism. Basically, "Please don't add nonsense to wikipedia."
- 3 are warnings after the above. Basically, "Stop vandalising now! You will be blocked!"
- 4 are warnings after 3. Basically, "This is your last warning!"
- s are "special" warnings, such as for racism, legal threats, violating WP:3RR (very important policy I recommend you read).
- arv is for reporting users to administrators so they may be blocked.

Without twinkle:

Same as above, but you'll have to open user talk page and add the templates manually.
Templates can be found here.

Some important things to note:

Always assume good faith!
If the person you reverted vandalism is an IP address, and they haven't been warned by another user/you in the past, say, 2 days, then you should start again with level 1 or 2 warnings. Just because it's the same IP that has vandalised a lot before does not mean it's the same person.
I'm not really sure about what to do with registered users. Yes, you should warn them, but registered users are allowed to remove warnings from their talk pages (if I remember correctly). Make sure you always "upgrade" your warning level from the previous warning.
If a user has had a final warning (i.e. someone or you gave them a final warning, then you reverted some more vandalism by them) and it was all within a day of each other, you may use arv to report them to Administrators (WP:AIV).
You can also report users for having bad usernames (pretty much anything that's offensive). I think you can use arv to report them to "username" administrators. I can't remember the exact policy for that at the moment though.

That's all I can think of for now. For more information see WP:Vandalism

Hope this all helps! --Razor ICE 10:19, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Break from Wikipedia

Just to let you know im taking a break from Wikipedia over the summer. I will be back when I start school again in September.

Alright, see you then! --Razor ICE 03:52, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Return to Wikipedia

Hey just to let you know im starting college tomorrow so im back on Wikipedia. Anything new happened over the summer? I've joined a wiki-project for my local area in the hope I can contribute to the articles if i get some time.

--Alex Hayes 18:52, 4 September 2007 (UTC)