Bridgeopedia Wiki:Vandalism

On Bridgeopedia, vandalism is any action or series of actions that have the intent to disrupt or otherwise harm the project.

The unexplained removal of valid content and the insertion of inappropriate content are both considered vandalism. Some specific examples include:


 * Full page blanking without reason
 * Inserting nonsense or gibberish into existing pages
 * Creating new inappropriate pages
 * Delibrately adding false information
 * Crude humor, vulgar language, or derogatory remarks
 * Inappropriate images or other media

Vandalism is prohibited. While editors are encouraged to warn and educate vandals, warnings are by no means necessary for an administrator to block users from editing (although administrators usually only block when multiple warnings have been issued).

Even if misguided, willfully against consensus, or disruptive, any good-faith effort to improve the project is not vandalism. For example, edit warring over how exactly to present content is not vandalism (although it is disruptive in its own sense). Careful consideration may be required to differentiate between edits that are beneficial, edits that are detrimental but well-intentioned, and edits that are vandalism. Mislabeling good-faith edits as vandalism can be considered harmful.

Handling
Upon discovering vandalism, revert such edits. Once the vandalism is undone, you should warn the vandalizing editor. Notify an administrator if users continue to vandalize after multiple warnings. User accounts that clearly only exist to vandalize may be blocked and/or banned indefinitely without prior warning. IP addresses should never be blocked or banned indefinitely, as they can be shared by multiple users. It is recommended to leave a message regarding shared IP addresses when delivering warnings.

Vandalism-only accounts
A vandalism-only account is an account that only exists for the purpose of vandalizing Bridgeopedia. Such accounts will often also have inappropriate usernames. There are several actions that frequently indicate vandalism-only accounts; among these are:


 * Accounts that vandalize within their first edits, often without creating a user page
 * Accoutns with blatantly inappropriate usernames that post vandalism on their user page or user talk page
 * Accounts that impersonate another existing user, especially an existing administrator
 * Accounts that create attack pages or other insulting material

Vandalism-only accounts will often be blocked indefinitely upon discovery, as they are clearly acting in bad-faith. Sometimes, a single "only warning" message will be used first, but even this is totally optional and up to editor discretion.

Warning templates
Several warning templates exist for notifying editors about vandalism. These templates should be used in the order they are listed below, with the exception of vandalism-only accounts which have a separate subsection below this list.


 * - assumes good faith. Welcomes the editor and politely informs them that their edits were unhelpful
 * - no faith assumption. Just a note about unhelpful changes
 * - assumes bad faith. Firmly warns the editor to stop
 * - assumes bad faith. Gives the editor a "final warning" to stop before being blocked
 * - used by administrators to inform an editor that they have been blocked

Vandalism-only accounts

 * - an "only warning" message for obvious bad-faith accounts
 * - used by administrators to inform an editor that they have been indefinitely blocked

Deletion
Most vandalism to preexisting articles will be reverted and can still be viewed by others. However, entire pages that consist of vandalism with no clean version to revert to will often be deleted by an administrator. Deleted pages cannot be viewed by non-admins, however a "this page has been deleted" placeholder will still appear to all users. For extreme and serious vandalism, global Wikia staff may oversight the edits, which hides the content even from admins and does not leave a placeholder for all users.