RecentChangesPatrollingGuide
Revision as of 01:00, 21 December 2006 by ChristopherBabson (talk | contribs) (→Unconstructive Edits)
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 not, see History, then User Contributions to find the rest of it).
- 2) Remove all vandalism by rolling page(s) back to prevandalized state (summary: RevertVandalism).
- 3) Contact user to notify them of your action.
(Note: in most cases, vandalism traces back to an IP address rather than a registered user. It has been our experience that reaching out a user always results in an optimal outcome. This, of course, should be determined on a case by case basis. It is always up to you whether you decide to initiate contact.)
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
- 1) Verify spam is localized (if not, see History, then User Contributions to find the rest of it).
- 2) Remove all spammy content by rolling page(s) back to prevandalized state(summary: RemoveSpam).
- Note: Unless it is absolutely clear that the content removed was spam, we prefer to use the summary tag DeleteTest. This gives the user the benefit of the doubt by assuming good intent on their part.
- 3) Contact user to notify them of your action.
Unconstructive Edits
a) Incorrect information
- Ex. Description for an Mp3 site changed to indicate they are a car dealer.
Recommended action
- 1) Verify edits are incorrect.
- Note: In many instances, you will not be able to verify whether content is correct or not (or doing so would take too much time). Do your best to make a determination here (ie. check the site, check whois records, etc.).
- 2) Remove incorrect information by rolling back to prior state (summary: RemoveIncorrect).
- 3) Contact user to notify them of your action.
b) Information in the wrong place
- Ex. Domain specific information on a category page.
Recommended action
- 1) Determine appropriate location for content (if none exists, then see 4).
- 2) Move the content (summary: MoveInfo).
- 3) Contact user to notify them of your action
- 4) If you can't find an appropriate place for the content, it is up to you whether to leave it in its place or to delete it. Make your judgments on a case by case basis.
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
- 1) Check to see if the content is correctly located (see b above).
- 2) If needed, move content to appropriate place (summary: MoveInfo).
- 3) Once in the correct place, remove offensive content while retaining constructive elements (summary: Reword).
- 4) Contact user to notify them of your action.
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: