Tachyony: Imported page

2021-12-06T16:29:07Z

Imported page

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{{For|Wikipedia's more detailed (but less newcomer-friendly) official policy on vandalism|Wikipedia:Vandalism}}
{{Wikipedia how to|Help:CLEAN|Help:CLEANUP}}

[[File:Broom icon.svg|right|220px]]
Welcome to Wikipedia! This page will teach you how to easily fix vandalism that you may come across while browsing the site.

==What is vandalism?==
Vandalism is editing ''deliberately'' intended to obstruct the project's [[Wikipedia:Five pillars|purpose]] of building a free encyclopedia. [[Wikipedia:Vandalism#Types_of_vandalism|Examples]] include adding irrelevant obscenities or jokes, illegitimately blanking pages, and inserting obvious nonsense. '''Not all bad edits are vandalism'''. If an edit is misguided but plausibly made in good faith, you can try undoing it once, but you should use the [[Wikipedia:Dispute resolution requests|dispute resolution]] process if it is restored. Most vandalism is obvious, so [[Wikipedia:Be bold|don't be afraid]] to fix it.

==How to revert it==
{{further|Help:Reverting}}
#Go to the page's [[Help:Page history|edit history]]. {{If mobile|On mobile devices, this is represented by the [[File:OOjs UI icon history.svg|16px]] icon at the top of the page.|[[File:Wiki history tab.png|right|x48px]]On desktop displays, this can be found at the top right of the page, next to the search bar.}}
#Adjust the circular radio buttons at the left and click on {{Button|Compare selected revisions|{{If mobile|bgcolor2=#BBE}}}} until you identify the edit(s) that introduced the vandalism.
#{{If mobile|Go back to the edit history and click {{Button|undo}}|Click the {{hover title|This is not a clickable link; it illustrates the link one should find.|'''({{color|#0645AD|undo}})'''|dotted=no}} link at the top right, in the "revision as of" line}}.
#Scroll to the [[Help:edit summary|edit summary]] box and add "reverting vandalism" or something similar to the automatic summary.
#Click {{Button|{{int:Showpreview}}}} to make sure your edit removes the vandalism as intended.
#Click {{Button|{{int:Publishchanges}}|bgcolor2=#BBE}}, and pat yourself on the back!

If you are unable to revert the vandalism because of subsequent edits, you can fix it manually. Here's how:
{{collapse top|bg=#F0F2F5|left=yes|Manual reverting:}}
#Click on the page's edit tab. {{If mobile|On mobile devices, this is represented by the [[File:OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg|16px]] icon at the top of the page.|[[File:WikiEditor-edit tab-en.png|right|x48px]]On desktop displays, this can be found at the top right of the page, next to the search bar.}}
#Find the vandalism and correct it.
#Scroll to the [[Help:edit summary|edit summary]] box and add "reverting vandalism" or something similar to the automatic summary.
#Click {{Button|{{int:Showpreview}}}} to make sure your edit removes the vandalism as intended.
#Click {{Button|{{int:Publishchanges}}|bgcolor2=#BBE}}, and pat yourself on the back!
{{collapse bottom}}

==Alternative: Call attention to it==
It is [[Wikipedia:Be bold|better]] to fix vandalism yourself, but if you're not comfortable editing an article directly, it's alright to just let others know about it:
{{collapse top|bg=#F0F2F5|left=yes|If the page is high-traffic:}}
#Go to the page's associated [[Help:Talk pages|talk page]]{{If mobile| by clicking on the tab just below the title.|. [[File:Wiki discussion tab.png|right|x48px]]On desktop displays, this can be found at the top left of the page.}}
#{{If mobile|Click on {{Button|Add discussion|bgcolor2=#BBE}}.|Click on {{menu icon|New section|non}}.}}
#Enter a heading and concisely describe the vandalism you noticed.
#Sign your post with four tildes (<code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>) at the end.
#Click {{Button|{{int:Publishchanges}}|bgcolor2=#BBE}}.
{{collapse bottom}}

{{collapse top|bg=#F0F2F5|left=yes|If the page is not high-traffic:}}
#<span class="plainlinks">[{{fullurl:Wikipedia:Help desk|action=edit&preload={{urlencode:Help:Simple guide to vandalism cleanup/Preload}}&preloadtitle={{urlencode:Vandalism help request from {{subst:<noinclude/>REVISIONUSER}}}}&section=new}} Click here]</span> to submit a request to the [[Wikipedia:Help desk|Help desk]].
#Replace <code>PAGENAME</code> with the page where you noticed the vandalism, keeping the double brackets (<code><nowiki>[[ ]]</nowiki></code>).
#Replace <code>BRIEFLY DESCRIBE THE VANDALISM HERE</code> with a concise description of the vandalism.
#Click {{Button|{{int:Publishchanges}}|bgcolor2=#BBE}}.
{{collapse bottom}}

==Further steps==
*''Warn the vandal:'' It is good practice (although not strictly necessary) to [[Wikipedia:Vandalism#Warnings|give the vandal a warning]] on their personal talk page after you revert them.
*''Report chronic vandalism to administrators:'' If the vandal persists after receiving a level-4 warning on their talk page (which tells them that they may be blocked the next time they vandalize), you should report them to the [[Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism|administrator intervention against vandalism noticeboard]].
*''Find more vandalism to fix:'' If this was satisfying, you can help identify and revert vandalism with the <span class="plainlinks">[http://doublecheck.wikiloop.org WikiLoop DoubleCheck]</span> tool, which presents a feed of edits flagged by an algorithm.

{{Basic information}}

[[Category:Wikipedia vandalism]]
[[Category:Wikipedia how-to]]

Help:Simple guide to vandalism cleanup - Revision history

Tachyony: Imported page