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wikiHow to Use the wikiHow Administrator Notice Board

Two Methods:As a Non-AdminAs an AdminCommunity Q&A

The wikiHow Administrator Notice Board, often referred to as the ANB, is a place for users to report a problem that needs attention from an administrator. For wikiHow administrators, the ANB is the place to handle the concerns of these users. However, for new wikiHowians, it can be confusing learning to use it, and new trial administrators may be unsure of how to handle reports on the ANB. Using the ANB is a simple task that doesn't require a lot of learning to do, and is crucial to any wikiHowian.

1
As a Non-Admin

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    Know when to file a report on the ANB. There are no hard and fast rules as to when you should file a report on the ANB, and some trolling behavior doesn't get reported immediately. However, it's considered best practice to make an ANB report when the user has been coached and is continuing to make the same kinds of edits or engage in the same behavior. Some examples of situations that would be good to report on the ANB would be when:
    • Somebody's username or real name is in violation of the Username Policy, and they've received {{username}} or {{realname}} (or any derivative of it) on their Talk page.
    • Somebody is vandalizing or blanking wikiHow pages (whether they're articles, Talk pages, or so forth) and does not appear to be listening to coaching. This is inclusive of removing NFD tags when the user is not a New Article Booster or administrator.
    • Somebody is leaving abusive comments (e.g. telling someone to harm themselves or threatening them) or spam comments (e.g. linking a service on people's Talk pages). This also applies to threads on the wikiHow forums.
    • Somebody is impersonating another user or an administrator.
    • Somebody is uploading inappropriate images (e.g. pornographic images) or is uploading many images that they do not have a license to.
    • Somebody who was blocked previously is using a different account to evade that block. This type of account is referred to as a malicious sockpuppet.
  2. 2
    Know when not to file an ANB report. There are times when filing an ANB report is unnecessary, as nothing will be done. To avoid making an edit to the ANB that you don't need to make, it's important to understand when you shouldn't file an ANB report. There are many situations that don't warrant an ANB report. Some examples of these situations are when:
    • An anonymous user has stated that they're under 13. Anonymous users are not blocked for their age, as IP addresses are often used by multiple people.
    • Somebody is making bad faith edits, but doesn't appear to have been coached. The policy on wikiHow is to assume good faith; the contributor may just be messing around or testing out editing software. Check the history on their Talk page to make sure they didn't remove the coaching message; if they did, leave a coaching message and then file an ANB report.
    • Somebody's last abusive edit was more than a few days ago. While some vandals disappear for several days and then return to vandalize, most of them get bored quickly. Chances are, if their last contribution was days ago, they're not interested in continuing to vandalize.
    • The person responded to coaching and is now making good faith edits.
    • The person has a sockpuppet account, but neither account is making bad faith edits. There's no problem with having a sockpuppet in and of itself; the problem is when those sockpuppets are used with malicious intent.
    • Somebody has stated their grade level. Grade levels vary among countries. Somebody saying they're in "year five" doesn't automatically mean they're around the age of an American fifth grader (ten or eleven) and doesn't warrant a block.
    • The user is already blocked. This may seem like it's obvious, but it's possible to file an ANB report without realizing the user has already been blocked. If you check the user's contribution history, there will be a notice if the user is currently blocked. If you get this notice, don't report them.
  3. 3
    Coach the user before filing an ANB report. In cases where the vandalism, chatting, spamming, or so forth isn't extremely severe, and the user hasn't been coached before, consider coaching the user before making an ANB report. People on wikiHow are often very receptive to positive, friendly coaching, and many people who started out as bad faith editors can evolve into wonderful contributors (and even administrators!). Take a few minutes to help coach the user so that they know what they're doing wrong and have a chance to change their behavior.
    • If you don't know how to coach the user, templates like {{test}}, {{warning}}, {{chat}}, {{exlinks}}, {{Nfdtag}}, {{username}}, and {{speedy}} can help out. These automatically generate a message when posted on a Talk page.
    • If a user has stated their age and they are under the age of 13, remove their age information from where they posted it, if possible. You can either "coach" them by writing a message yourself, or use {{age}}. However, in this case, file an ANB report after notifying them - you can't coach someone's age.
    • If the user has been coached more than fifteen minutes ago or you've sent them a coaching message, and they're still making the same types of edits, file an ANB report.
  4. 4
    Access the Administrator Notice Board. In order to make an ANB report, you'll need to go to the ANB. The page is in the wikiHow namespace, but simply putting only "Administrator Notice Board" in the URL will redirect you to the ANB. You may want to bookmark the page if you think you're going to forget where it is.
  5. 5
    Pick the proper category to file a report under. Once you've accessed the ANB, you may be confused by all the different categories for reports. However, it's only twelve categories in total, and they're fairly straightforward. The sections that you use to report a user for violating policy are:
    • Username Violations. This is for those who have a username or real name set that is in violation of the Username Policy.
    • Spammers and Vandals. This is for those who are spamming or vandalizing pages on wikiHow or the forums and haven't responded to coaching. This section is also often used for those who are leaving abusive comments towards other wikiHow users.
    • Users who are Chatting. This is for users who have been continuously chatting excessively on wikiHow, without contributing to articles, and have received a {{chat}} template, but are still chatting.
    • Malicious Sockpuppets. This is for users who are suspected to be a malicious sockpuppet of a troll, vandal, or chatter. These accounts are often used to evade blocks or patrol in their own bad edits.
    • Users Under the Age of 13. This is for users who have explicitly stated that they are under the age of 13.
    • Spam & Sites to be Blacklisted. This is for sites that are being repeatedly advertised, despite the user being coached on the External Links policy.
    • Patrollers on the Rise. This is for new wikiHowians that are starting off, but are making mistakes and getting multiple messages from the Patrol Coach.
    • Suggested Sites to be Whitelisted. This is for websites that are currently on the Spam Blacklist, but should be allowed for use.
    • Pages Needing Protection. This is for pages that are repeatedly being vandalized or spammed and that need to be protected to prevent spamming.
    • Image/Video Uploading Spree. This is for users who are uploading images without licenses or images that they do not have permission to use, or are uploading inappropriate images (e.g. gore or pornographic images).
    • NFD Review. This is for articles that are on the NFD list, but have been sufficiently edited to no longer meet the NFD criteria. It can also be used if an article has been NFD'd over a week ago, but no consensus for deletion has been reached.
    • Miscellaneous. This is for reports that do not fit any of the above sections, or that fit multiple of the above sections (for example, a suspected malicious sockpuppet without any proof of sockpuppetry, or a user who both vandalizes and chats).
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    Click on the Edit button. To file an ANB report, you'll need to edit the page. There are multiple Edit buttons on the ANB - there's one at the top of the page, and one at every section header. Click on one of the Edit tabs, which will bring you to the editing page.
    • Using the Edit tab above the title will pull up the whole page, which is useful if you need to file multiple reports under different categories. However, clicking Edit on a section header will allow you to edit just that section, which may be a better choice if you're new to wikiHow and don't know how wikiHow formatting and syntax works quite yet.
  7. 7
    Write the report in the proper format. When reporting a user on the ANB, there's a certain way of formatting the report. The proper form for this is to make two right-facing curly brackets, write the word userlinks, place a pipe (|) after "userlinks", and then place the contributor's name after the pipe. Afterwards, you should place another pipe, where you write the reason for the report and include any specifics if necessary (such as diff links or forum threads); afterwards, you would close off the report with two left-facing curly brackets. For example, to report a user who has the username "TrollName", you would write {{userlinks|TrollName|trolling}} to file a report. Then, sign your post with four tildes, so that it looks like ~~~~ at the end.
    • Sometimes, putting a pipe after the username and writing the reason doesn't work, and the report will cut off at the username. If this happens, simply delete the second pipe and move the brackets to the end of the username so that the report shows up properly. For example, {{userlinks|TrollName|trolling}} would be written as {{userlinks|TrollName}} - trolling ~~~~ instead.
    • Include diff links if possible. When making an ANB report, including diff links (which is proof of an edit, and is logged with every change of a page) is very important, especially if you're reporting something like an underage user or a malicious sockpuppet. Administrators will want to see proof of the reason you're making the report, and while it's possible for them to look at the user's contributions, giving them the link right from the start makes it easier for them to review the user.
    • If you're not reporting a user, and are requesting NFD review or page protection, simply format the report as something like *Please review/protect [[Article Title]] ~~~~. If you are requesting page protection, explain whether you feel the page should be semi-protected or fully protected, and how long the protection should last for.
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    Click Publish. Publishing the report will make it visible to everyone who checks the ANB, whether or not they're an administrator. However, it's necessary in order for an administrator to see the report and act on it. Once you publish the report, the contributor you've reported is more likely to be noticed and helped (or blocked, in severe cases).
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    Wait for an administrator to respond. After you have published your ANB report, you'll need to wait for an administrator to check the ANB and look at your report. This can take time. In the meantime, do whatever you need to, even if that involves rolling back a vandal's edits. An administrator will get to it - don't worry. Often, they log on at just the right time!
    • Be patient. It might take some time for an administrator to get online and check the ANB.

2
As an Admin

  1. 1
    Understand your responsibility as a wikiHow administrator. As a wikiHow administrator, one of the ways you can be involved is to check the ANB and watch out for anything that's going on. Since non-admins can't do anything to prevent other users from contributing abuse or spam, it's important to have some selection of members from the Admin team checking the ANB on a regular basis.
    • You may want to put the ANB on your Watchlist.
  2. 2
    Navigate to the Administrator Notice Board. As an administrator, you probably know where the ANB is at this point. You may even want to keep it in your Mylinks so that you can access the ANB quickly.
  3. 3
    Search for reports. Because two important categories are at the top of the ANB, it's easy to forget about checking the other ones. However, these reports are still just as important as username violations or spammers. Scan the entirety of the ANB and see if there's something listed.
  4. 4
    Perform requested maintenance on the site. Some ANB reports require minor maintenance that is up to an admin to tackle. If you see one of these on the ANB and want to take care of it, you can dive in with activities such as:
    • Add links to the Spam Blacklist or Whitelist if appropriate. If you're unsure about whether you should blacklist or whitelist a link, check with another admin or a staff member such as Anna or Chris H.
    • Review any articles in NFD Review. If it's appropriate to do so, remove the NFD tag.
    • Protect any pages that are getting repeatedly vandalized. Make sure to follow the guidelines for doing so.
    • Delete pages that have been reported and qualify for speedy deletion. Additionally, delete any photos that have been reported and remove any inappropriate user images.
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    See if a reported user has been coached. Before taking any action on a user who has been violating policy, it's important to see if another user has made any attempt towards coaching them or leaving them a warning. If someone has been chatting, for example, see if anyone has left them the {{chat}} template, or has sent a friendly coaching message of their own to encourage them to contribute.
    • If someone has seemingly coached them with a personal message, but the message comes off as rude or harsh, leave the user a friendly message or a template. While the other user may have meant well, harsh criticism may discourage users and drive them away from being helpful contributors.
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    Take appropriate action on a reported user. Coach the user, apply any needed patrol throttles, or block them if necessary, for the proper block times. If you're unsure about the situation, check with another administrator. Generally, though, it's best to avoid blocking users unless they're clearly out to do more harm than good, and aren't stopping with firm warnings.
    • If you aren't a checkuser, contact a checkuser if there is evidence of a suspected sockpuppet. You can also just leave the report there and handle any other reports that don't have to do with sockpuppets.
    • You don't need to immediately resort to blocking the user; if they've been inactive and you don't know if they've done enough to warrant being blocked, you can simply watch the user's contributions for some time rather than blocking them.
    • If blocking or patrol-throttling a user, you may leave them a note so that they know. The {{blocked|Reason for block}} will work fine in most block cases (unless the user is under 13, in which case, {{Under13}} should be used), but you'll have to write a message to the user yourself if you're patrol-throttling them.
    • Anonymous users under the age of 13 should not be blocked solely for being under 13. IP addresses are often used by multiple people, and blocking an underage anonymous user may block several good faith editors as well. Additionally, some IP addresses are connected to places like schools or libraries, meaning that blocking an under-13 anonymous user may inadvertently block those who are not connected to the underage user in any way.
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    Remove or respond to the ANB report. In some cases, such as when you've blocked a user, you can simply remove the report from the ANB with an edit summary such as "blocked". However, in some cases, it's not in the best interest for the report to be removed - such as if a checkuser has been contacted for a sockpuppet, or a vandal has been inactive for a bit. In this case, it may be better to leave a note on the ANB so that it's clear an admin (you) has seen. When it comes to either option, though, write a proper edit summary so that others can see that you've responded to or removed the report.
    • You don't have to respond to an ANB report, but this can be a courtesy to the user who made the report. Non-admins don't know what admins are doing behind the scenes, and another admin might not know that you checked out the situation. A simple "Watching out for further activity" or "Contacted a checkuser - thanks for the report" can do a lot.
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    Follow up with the reporter if necessary. In some cases, you may want to follow up with the user who placed an ANB report. If they were heavily involved in a situation, you may want to follow up with them and let them know how you handled the report. It's a courtesy to them so that they know what happened without having to check the ANB.

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  • What do I do if I'm patrolling, and I see a non-administrator remove something from the administrator notice board?
    Look at the edit summary. If there is a probable reason for removing something, investigate and determine whether the reason was true. If an experienced community member removed something with a fair cause, you may mark it as patrolled. If a new contributor has made an edit to the ANB, be suspicious but assume good faith. If the new contributor made a bad edit to the ANB, roll the edit back and coach them in a kind and civil manner.
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    Tips

    • Many users respond well to coaching and will listen to it. However, if a user is acknowledging coaching and is still struggling, an ANB report under "Miscellaneous" may be a good idea.
    • Administrators that do not have checkuser powers can leave suspected sockpuppet reports alone so that a checkuser can look at them.
    • Non-admins can comment on a report, even if it's not their own, to clarify, add additional information, or add new information. Don't be afraid to do so if you know more about the situation.
    • It's better to include diff links than to not, if possible. However, it's not necessary, so there's no repercussions if you can't add diff links or if there's no on-wikiHow evidence.
    • Don't delete any troll or spam emails that were sent via wikiHow. If users are harassing you via email, you will be requested to forward the emails to an administrator.
    • Avoid engaging with trolls. If somebody is leaving you abusive messages, don't respond to them. Responding to trolls only makes them more inclined to keep harassing you, which escalates the situation.
    • Remember that the admin team is made up of volunteers. They're not all online all the time and aren't all able or willing to respond immediately to messages about potential issues. There is never any big rush, since anything done on the wiki can be undone easily, so it's best to leave your report on the ANB and wait for an active admin to help, rather than putting pressure on any individuals who may be online at the time.

    Warnings

    • Administrators are the only ones allowed to use the {{blocked}} or {{Under13}} templates. If a non-admin uses these, they may get blocked for impersonating an administrator.
    • Some vandals will remove reports from the ANB. If you're dealing with a particularly belligerent user, keep an eye on the ANB and roll back their removal of reports.
    • Filing a report against a user that you dislike for your own personal reasons is unacceptable.
    • Don't file an ANB report against someone with the intent of getting them in trouble. Things on wikiHow like blocks or patrol-throttles are not set with the intent to punish.

    Article Info

    Categories: WikiHow User's Manual

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