RecentChangesPatrollingGuide
Contents
A Reference Guide for Patrolling Recent Changes
The goal of this guide is to make RC patrolling as efficient and constructive as possible. Please use and contribute as you see fit.
The Mantra
Above all, we operate under this cardinal rule: assume every edit is constructive. We believe that this creates a positive and open minded perspective in our RC patrol which in turn facilitates a receptive and warm community environment. As an RC patroller you are guardian of the AboutUs community.
The Operation
Collectively, we approve every single edit made to the site. This number is steadily increasing but is currently stable between 1,000 and 2,000 edits per day. We estimate that around 95% of these edits are constructive. A major focus of =RC is to deal with the remainder.
=Vandalism, Spam and Unconstructive Edits
Vandalism
- Intentional and/or malicious defacement of a page.
- Ex. 'This page hacked by CharliHorseDog55'
- 'Recommended action':
- 1) Verify that vandalism is localized (if yes, continue; if no go to 4)
- 2) Remove vandalism and revert page to prevandalized state
- 3) Leave message for vandal on talk page (Note: in most cases, vandalism traces back to an IP rather than a registered user. It is up to you to decide
Spam
- Commercially oriented content that is either irrelevant to the page or detrimental to it.
- ex. Unrelated links in the related domains or external links sections, or somewhere else on the page.
- 'Recommended action': remove spammy content. Contact user to
Unconstructive edits
a)Incorrect information
- 'Recommended action': correct or remove
b)Information in the wrong place
- 'Recommended action': if you can determine where the information should be located, move it there (summary: MoveInfo). If not, delete it (summary: DeleteInfo). In either case, note in the summary e
c)Correct information, but unconstructive
- Ex: 'These guys are spamming a$$holes!'
- Clearly, the expletive is not constructive (and may even be considered malicious). However, the content itself (i.e., that a certain site may be involved in spamming) is useful.
- 'Recommended action': Remove offensive content while retaining constructive elements. Check to see if the content is correctly located. If not, see b) above
OptOut
When to opt out a domain: See also OptOut
Per request:
- If we receive a request for a page to be opted out, we comply categorically. If you are contacted personally with an opt out request, verify your contact and proceed accordingly
Deleted page:
- If we encounter a deleted page in RC and we believe the user to be affiliated with the site, we assume this is an indirect request to be opted out.
- Note: it is up to your discretion whether or not
How to opt out a domain:
Is opting out different from scrubbing?
ProtectEmail
The current protocol for protecting emails is to convert the email address text into a graphic. Examples:
- Unprotected: johnsmith@aboutus.org
- Protected:
Here's how you do it: ProtectEmail
Categories
New Pages
Suspicious Activity
What to look for:
How to proceed: