Help:Contents/Vandalism

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Vandalism is any addition, removal, or change of content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of WikiMobiDex. Vandalism cannot and will not be tolerated. Common types of vandalism are the addition of obscenities or crude humor, page blanking, and the insertion of incorrect or conflicting information into articles.

We will be vigorously patrolling the site for vandalism via our own tracking tools, but we ask that everyone do their part and use the directions below to monitor your own pages as well.

Any good-faith effort to improve the encyclopedia, even if misguided or ill-considered, is not vandalism. Even harmful edits that are not explicitly made in bad faith are not vandalism. For example, adding a controversial personal opinion to an article once is not vandalism; reinserting it despite multiple warnings is. Not all vandalism is obvious, nor are all massive or controversial changes vandalism. Careful thought may be needed to decide whether changes made are beneficial, detrimental but well-intended, or outright vandalism.

Committing vandalism violates our policy. If you find that another user has vandalized WikiMobiDex, you should revert these changes; you may also warn the user (see below for specific instructions). Users who vandalize WikiMobiDex repeatedly, despite warnings to stop, should be reported to the Administrator, who may block them. Note that warnings are not always required; accounts whose main or only use is obvious vandalism or other forbidden activity may be blocked without warning.

Not only is Vandalism stupid and lame, it hurts our industry - and yes it hurts your reputation as well!

Yes, we have multiple ways of tracking down vandals - and when we find them we make them "famous" for their wrong-doings. Don't let this happen to you!

Contents 1 How to spot (and ward against) vandalism 2 How to Respond to vandalism 3 How not to respond to vandalism 4 Help Table of Contents

How to spot (and ward against) vandalism

The best way to detect vandalism is through recent changes patrolling, using the recent changes link to spot articles with edits that had come from IP addresses (this means the user wasn't logged-in when they made their "change), or keeping an eye on your watchlist

• You should ALWAYS select "watch this page" when creating important pages. This way you will be immediately notified when a change occurs and can quickly and easily revert any illicit changes. The auto-summary feature can also help users spot vandalism.

How to Respond to vandalism

If you see vandalism on a list of changes (such as your watchlist), then revert it immediately. You may use the "undo" button (and the automatic edit summary it generates), and mark the change as minor. It may be helpful to check the page history to determine whether other recent edits by the same or other editors also represent vandalism. Repair all vandalism you can identify.

If you see that a user has added vandalism, you may also check the user's other contributions (click "User contributions" on the left sidebar of the screen). If most or all of these are obvious vandalism, you may report the user immediately. Otherwise you can leave an appropriate warning message on the user's talk page. Remember that any editor may freely remove messages from their own talk page, so they might appear only in the talk history. If a user continues to cause disruption after being warned, report them to the Administrator, who will then decide whether to block the user.

For repeated vandalism by an anonymous IP address, it is helpful to take the following additional steps:

1. Trace the IP address (e.g. http://www.domaintools.com/) and add {{whois|Name of owner}} to the user talk page of the address. If it appears to be a shared IP address, add {{SharedIP|Name of owner}} or {{SharedIPEDU|Name of owner}}. The OrgName on the IP trace result should be used as the Name of owner parameter in the above three templates.
2. For repetitive anonymous vandalism, particularly where registered to a school or other kind of responsive ISP, consider listing it on WikiMobiDex:Abuse reports.

How not to respond to vandalism

Do not nominate an article for deletion because it is being vandalized. That's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and simply encourages vandalism.

Do not feed these trolls. Fanning the fire will make the situation worse. Similarly, do not insult them, either. If someone is doing something they know is wrong, insulting them over it is likely to make them vandalize more, just to get that reaction. Furthermore, WikiMobiDex is not the place for personal attacks, it is not a battleground, and two wrongs don't make a right. Instead, report them to the administrators if they continue.

Avoid the word "vandal". In particular, this word should not be used to refer to any contributor in good standing, or to any edits that might have been made in good faith. This is because if the edits were made in good faith, they are not vandalism. Instead of calling the person who made the edits a "vandal", discuss your concerns with them. Comment on the content and substance of the edits, instead of making personal comments.

Help Table of Contents

• Just for Noobs.

1. Getting Around WikiMobiDex
   1. Sidebar (left)
   2. Top tabs (above the article)
   3. User options (top right)
2. Why You Should Register & Log-in
   1. How to log in

• Editing 101.

1. The Basics
   1. How to Create a Page
   2. Show preview
   3. Some etiquette
2. Style and Formatting
   1. Headings and subheadings
   2. HTML
3. Links to other WikiMobiDex Pages
   1. When (not) to link
   2. How to link
   3. Categories
4. References & External Links
   1. The external links section

• The Deal with Categories.

1. How Categories work *IMPORTANT! READ!*

• Adding Images

1. Adding images
2. How to add an image
3. Supported file types and max size

• Vandalism

1. Wiki vandalism defined
2. How to spot vandalism (and protect your page!)
3. How to respond to vandalism
4. How NOT to respond to vandalism