MinorityView

Hello MinorityView! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions to this free encyclopedia. If you decide that you need help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking or using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Finally, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Happy editing! WinBot 05:13, 29 May 2007 (UTC) Getting started Wikipedia tutorial • The five pillars of Wikipedia How to: edit a page • upload and use images Getting help Frequently asked questions • Tips Where to ask questions or make comments Request administrator attention Policies and guidelines Neutral point of view • Reliable sources Verifiability • Citing sources • No original research What Wikipedia is not • Biographies of living persons Manual of Style • Three-revert rule • Sock puppetry Copyrights • Fair use • Image use policy External links • Spam • Vandalism Deletion policy • Conflict of interest • Notability The community Build consensus • Resolve disputes Assume good faith • Civility • Etiquette No personal attacks • No legal threats Community Portal • Village pump Signpost • IRC channels • Mailing lists Writing articles Be bold in editing • Develop an article The perfect article • Manual of style Stubs • Categories • Disambiguation Pages needing attention • Peer review Miscellaneous User name • User pages • Talk pages Clean up: General - Spam - Vandalism Join a WikiProject • Translation Useful templates • Tools • User scripts

From the discussion page Anthroposophy it appears you all ready know a bit about editing at Wikipedia, but some of the links above might prove useful! Lkleinjans 07:14, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. I'll try to find time to look through the links.MinorityView 17:21, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Sockpuppets

Thanks for your message. There's several things that can be done when you suspect a sockpuppet in operation:

• First, is it against Wikipedia policy? Some sockpuppets are acceptable - for example where they are not used abusively or are used for privacy reasons. Wikipedia:Sock puppetry has some good guidance on this.
• Second, is it better to block vandalism accounts rather than opening a sockpuppet investigation? Blocking vandalism accounts is straightforward and most users eventually get the message. In contrast identifying and blocking sockpuppets is a major step because it may involve a check on IP address (which has privacy issues) and the block may affect innocent users who edit from the same geographic area. If the problem is simple vandalism it is usually better to refer it to WP:AIV.
• Third, if there is evidence of abusive sockpuppetry and anti-vandalism blocks have had no impact (or if the vandal is using multiple IP addresses and cannot be easily blocked), it should be referred to Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets.

So - it is possible to detect sockpuppets but it is a last resort.

Re the Waldorf education page:

• The edits by User:Shadow Phoenix 1 were simple vandalism which would have got him blocked if he hadn't already given up.
• I can't see enough evidence for a sockpuppet check but you never know what tomorrow might bring.
• If there is continued and regular vandalism or if content disputes become too disruptive, you may also want to ask for page protection until the vandals get bored.

Sorry if this is a bit longwinded or tells you things you already knew. Thanks also for the kind words on removing the vandalism. Euryalus 00:31, 1 August 2007 (UTC)