User:Puddleglum2.0/cvua/Empire AS

Hello @Empire AS:, and welcome to your Counter Vandalism Unit Academy page! Every person I instruct will have their own page on which I will give them support and tasks for them to complete. Please make sure you have this page added to your watchlist. Your academy page has been specifically designed according to you and what you have requested instruction in - for that reason, please be as specific as possible in your answers, so that I know the best ways to help you (and do not be afraid to let me know if you think something isn't working). If you have any general queries about anti-vandalism (or anything else), you are more than welcome to raise them with me at my talk page.

Make sure you read through Wikipedia:Vandalism as that's the knowledge which most of the questions I ask you and tasks you do will revolve around.

How to use this page

This page will be built up over your time in the Academy, with new sections being added as you complete old ones. Each section will end with a task, written in bold type - this might just ask a question, or it might require you to go and do something. You can answer a question by typing the answer below the task; if you have to do something, you will need to provide diffs to demonstrate that you have completed the task. Some sections will have more than one task, sometimes additional tasks may be added to a section as you complete them. Please always sign your responses to tasks as you would on a talk page.

The CVUA curriculum

There are several sections of the training course. In some of them, will be asking you to do perform practical exercises; in others, I will ask you to read certain policies and guidelines, and then ask you some questions about their content. To be clear, it is not a problem if you give the wrong answer to any of the questions - making mistakes and discussing them is a crucial part of the learning process. For that reason, it is important that you do not attempt to find previous users' training pages in order to identify the 'right' answers to give: all your answers should be your own, so that we can identify and address any misconceptions that you might have. There is no time pressure to complete the course: we will go at whatever pace works for you, and you can take a pause or ask questions at any point along the way.

Communication

Counter-vandalism work can result in very large watchlists, which can make it more difficult to monitor pages using that alone. For this reason, I will ping you whenever I update this page with some feedback or a new task; I would also ask you to ping me when you have completed a task, so that I get a notification telling me that it's ready for review. See WP:PING for details on how to do this if you aren't sure. -- puddleglum^2.0 20:23, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

The start

Twinkle

Twinkle is a very useful tool when performing maintenance functions around Wikipedia. Please have a read through WP:TWINKLE.

Enable Twinkle (if haven't already) and leave a note here to let me know that you have enabled it.

Puddleglum2.0, Yes, I've enabled 'Twinkle' from my preferences. Thank you. Empire AS ^Talk! 03:14, 13 July 2020 (UTC)

@Empire AS: great! Redwarn is a helpful supplement to Twinkle that makes the interface a little more user-friendly. It isn't a huge part of the course, but it's handy nonetheless. You can find installation instructions and notes in use from the link above. let's get started! Best -- puddleglum^2.0 16:35, 13 July 2020 (UTC)

fix ping @Empire AS: -- puddleglum^2.0 23:49, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

Good faith and vandalism

When patrolling for vandalism, you may often come across edits which are unhelpful, but not vandalism - these are good faith edits. While it is often necessary to revert such edits, we treat them differently from vandalism, so it is important to recognise the difference between a vandalism edit and a good faith edit. Please read WP:AGF and WP:NOT VANDALISM before completing the tasks in this section.

Please explain below the difference between a good faith edit and a vandalism edit, and how you would tell them apart.

Puddleglum2.0, "An edit that is made to destroy wiki and whom purpose is to present wiki in a bad way to others is 'vandalism'. During editing, using a fan's or hater's view is also vandalism. However, edits that are made to help wiki and present it in a good way aren't vandalism, rather they are good faith edits. These edits are made to improve wiki." I explained what I understood, I don't now whether it is right or not. Thank you 4Ur help. Empire AS ^Talk! 05:02, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

@Empire AS: I apologize, I didn't get your ping, therefore the delayed response. So, you touched on it, but the main difference between good faith and vandalism edits is the intent behind the edit. If the intent is to help the encyclopedia but doesn't, the edit is made in good faith. If not, it's vandalism. It's that simple! -- puddleglum^2.0 02:40, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

Please find three examples of good faith but unhelpful edits, and three examples of vandalism. You don't need to revert the example you find, and I am happy for you to use previous undos in your edit history if you wish. Place diffs below

@Puddleglum2.0::

Good Faith edits

As I think, these edits are in good faith.

1, test edits or spelling mistakes.

2, edits that are bold and nonconstructive.

3 adding false external links.

Vandalism

1 nonsense edits.

2 adding false informations

3 adding false informations.

4 adding false informations

5 changing references to non-existing references.

6 Same as above (5)

7, blanking of page.

8 adding jokes

9 adding nonsense

10 BLP violation

11, blatant vandalism

Thank you. Empire AS ^Talk! 02:56, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

All correct, fantastic job! I think you've got this down, so here's the next section.

Warning and reporting

When you use Twinkle to warn a user, you have a number of options to choose from: you can select the kind of warning (for different offences), and the level of warning (from 1 to 4, for increasing severity). Knowing which warning to issue and what level is very important. Further information can be found at WP:WARN and WP:UWUL.

Please answer the following questions

Why do we warn users?

We warn users so that they should stop their test edits in main space, nonconstructive edits and vandalism. Because after the warning, they know the threat of being blocked.

Y that's half of it! Another reason would be to create a sort of paper trails for admins acting upon a noticeboard report.

When would a 4im warning be appropriate?

If a user has been warned for 4 times and hasn't stopped his vandalism, then they should be given last and only warning, that's 4im warning.

N actually, if a user has gotten to 4 warnings, you can go ahead and report to WP:AIV. 4im is used for cases of egregious vandalism, especially on BLPs. Make sense?

Should you substitute a template when you place it on a user talk page, and how do you do it? (Hint - read the link before answering!)

It's better to substitute a template instead of simply adding it. As it helps you to edit the content. If you don't, then you can't edit it. Substitution is done by placing "subst:" in the start of template. For example

{{subst:template name}}

Y

What should you do if a user who has received a level 4 or 4im warning vandalises again?

If I'm an admin, then I would block them permanent or temporary (depending upon their vandalism). And if I'm not, I would report them to admin, so that they can take an action.

Y at WP:AIV, you can use Twinkle.

@Puddleglum2.0:, Sorry, I pinged you but don't know why you didn't received it. I think my all answers are right. It's interesting. But I didn't understand that in the "4im" warning, what is meant by "im". Don't mind if you don't understand or get confused with my English, I'm a bit weak in it. Thank you. Empire AS ^Talk! 12:22, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

@Empire AS: nice job! Please read the comments above, and your next section is below. Cheers! -- puddleglum^2.0 00:22, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

Protection and speedy deletion

Protecting and deleting pages are two additional measures that can be used to prevent and deal with vandalism. Only an administrator can protect or delete pages; however, anyone can nominate a page for deletion or request protection. You can use the Twinkle menu to request page protection or speedy deletion (the RPP or CSD options).

Protection

Please read the protection policy.

In what circumstances should a page be semi-protected?

When unregistered and newly registered users make disruptive edits, cause edit-wars and vandalise pages especially about BLPs, then the page should be semi-protected. If there are autoconfirmed or extended autoconfirmed users also involved in it, then it shouldn't be applied.

Y

In what circumstances should a page be pending changes protected?

An article should be pending changes protected if there's continuous disruption, violations of BLPs and copyright in it caused by unregistered or newly registered users. It shouldn't be used on pages with high edits rates.

Y pages with a trickle of vandalism as I like to say.

In what circumstances should a page be fully protected?

A page should be fully protected if it has long term disputes, vandalisms and disruptions.

N actually, it should really only be used in edit wars between extended-confirmed users Rhonda edit semi protected pages.

In what circumstances should a page be creation protected ("salted")?

A page should be salted if it has been repeatedly and continuously recreated and deleted. However, if a page is created repeatedly by a single user or it's sockpuppet, then it should be temporary salted.

Y although temporary salting is very rare.

In what circumstances should a talk page be semi-protected?

An article's talk page or user talk page is semi-protected only in the case of acute vandalism or abuse. Generally, talk pages aren't protected, but if they're protected, it happens for a very short time.

Y

Correctly request the protection of one page (pending, semi or full); post the diff of your request at WP:RPP below. (Note - it might take you a while to come across a circumstance where this is required - we can continue with the next section of the course before you do this, but when the need arises please post here and ping me).

@Puddleglum2.0:, Nearly 2 weeks ago, I requested semi-protection for the article Dirilis: Ertugrul due to continuous edit-wars. Empire AS ^Talk! 06:41, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

Y

@Empire AS: OK, here's the next part. -- puddleglum^2.0 23:34, 7 August 2020 (UTC)

Speedy deletion

Please read WP:CSD.

In what circumstances should a page be speedy deleted?

Pages that have BLP violations, copyright violations, were recently deleted after deletion discussion, were created by blocked user in sockpuppet form, pages that have personal attacks towards another editor or any organization, promotional pages and disambigs that include only 1 link. All such pages should be nominated for speedy deletion. Empire AS ^Talk! 05:38, 8 August 2020 (UTC)

Speedy deletion examples

In past iterations of this course, students have been asked to go out and actually tag pages for deletion, but with the introduction of WP:ACPERM, the amount of straight vandalism that gets created directly in mainspace has reduced dramatically. As such, I'm going to ask you to say how you would act in a set of hypothetical scenarios. What would you do if you saw the page listed in each scenario? Note that not all scenarios may warrant speedy deletion.

Scenario 1

A user with the username "BobSucks" creates an article called "John Smith" that contains solely the following text:

John Smith is the worst elementary school teacher on the planet.

Apply G10 or A11 as subject was discovered by creator.

Scenario 2

A user with the username "GoodTimesLLC" creates a user page with the following text:

'''Good Times LLC''' is an organization dedicated to helping your children get the highest quality education at an affordable price. Visit our website at goodtimes.info and contact us at 123-456-7890.

It seems like an advertisement so G11 would be applied.

Scenario 3

A user creates an article titled "Edward Gordon" with the following text:

'''Edward Gordon''' (born July 1998) is an aspiring American actor and songwriter. So far, he has starred in many school plays and has published two albums on SoundCloud. He has over 5,000 subscribers on YouTube.

I'll wait for some time. If it isn't updated then I would apply A7. But it provides some verifiable information such as birthdate, albums and subscribers.

Scenario 4

A user creates an article titled "Bazz Ward" with the following content:

Bazz Ward was a Hall of Fame roadie and I wish he was as well known as Lemmy. Cheers Bazz.

(Attribution: Ritchie333 came up with this scenario as a question to an old RfA candidate. I've borrowed his example here. Hint: Try Google searching a few key terms from this short article.)

Google search provides 2 articles The Nice and Hanx, but the former also includes Lemmy, so A9 maybe workable.

Scenario 5

A user creates an article that was clearly copied and pasted directly from another website, which states "All Rights Reserved" at the bottom of it. Would your answer be the same if it didn't state "All Rights Reserved" at the bottom?

Apply G12, if it doesn't have the statement at bottom, then it will be in public domain.

Scenario 6

A user creates an article, but you can't understand any of it because it's in a foreign language.

Apply A2

Scenario 7

A user creates an article, but shortly after creating it, the same user blanks the article by removing all of its content.

Apply G7

Scenario 8

A new user creates a user page with nothing but the following content:

Jlakjrelekajroi3j192809jowejfldjoifu328ur3pieisgreat

How would this scenario be different if the page was created in a different namespace?

If the page was created in mainspace then apply G1. If the page was created in user namespace like sandbox then it shouldn't be nominated as the user is testing.

@Puddleglum2.0:, I'll be inactive for some months after 10 September. And I think that it might not be finished during that period. So, when we'll be able to complete the remaining. Thank you. Empire AS ^Talk! 10:31, 8 August 2020 (UTC)