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Difference between revisions of "Wikitravel:Protected page policy"

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(Reasons to protect a page: differentiate permanent, temporary, semi-protection)
(Reasons to protect a page)
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However, in some circumstances, it may be necessary to '''protect''' a page on Wikitravel. When a page is protected, it can only be edited by [[Wikitravel:administrators|administrators]]. This is an extreme measure and shouldn't be taken lightly. '''Whenever possible, we prefer to counteract abusive actions by some users with the ability of other users to edit a page.'''
 
However, in some circumstances, it may be necessary to '''protect''' a page on Wikitravel. When a page is protected, it can only be edited by [[Wikitravel:administrators|administrators]]. This is an extreme measure and shouldn't be taken lightly. '''Whenever possible, we prefer to counteract abusive actions by some users with the ability of other users to edit a page.'''
  
==Reasons to protect a page==
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Hold a spelling    bee and crown the winner. ,
 
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Administrators may protect a page whenever they feel that this step is warranted. They are expected to use their judgement, and to err on the side of openness. Some example reasons why a page should be '''permanently fully protected''' would be:
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*The text of the page must remain '''verbatim''' on the site. An example is the [[full text of the Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license]], which is a legal document not open to interpretation by Wikitravellers.
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*A policy page has '''legal ramifications''' for the Wikitravel project. Some policy is important to the continued existence of the project and the livelihoods of Wikitravellers. If these pages are repeatedly compromised, they should be protected.
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*'''Non-human spambots''' occasionally hammer away creating pages that are not and can never be valid Wikitravel articles (eg. [[Talk:Bangalore/]]; note the slash at the end).  As it's not possible to stop page creation, these can be redirected to some reasonable place and then permanently protected.
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Reasons for '''temporary full protection''' include:
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*An out-of-control '''[[Wikitravel:edit war|edit war]]''' is underway. If two or more Wikitravellers are involved in an extended edit war over a page and are unable or unwilling to discuss the issue on the appropriate [[Wikitravel:using talk pages|talk page]], an administrator can use the page protection feature to declare a '''cooling-off period''' on the article until contributors are willing to talk out their differences. Administrators ''should not'' protect a page if they are personally involved in the edit war; they should ask another administrator to do it instead.  It's preferred that the participants be cautioned before such a step is taken, rather than simply pre-emptively protecting the page; actual protection of the page should really be a last resort.
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*A page is subject to repeated '''vandalism'''. This is a special case of the edit war; if a user is repeatedly and systematically vandalizing a page, it should be protected until the user gets their head straight, or they wander away, or they get banned.
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*A page causes a '''security risk''' for Wikitravel. Hopefully the [http://wikipedia.sourceforge.net MediaWiki] software is robust enough to deal with simple security attacks through the Wiki interface, but if in some case it's not, administrators should take the step of protecting the page.
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Pages can also be '''semi-protected''', allowing established users to edit, but blocking anonymous users:
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* A few high-visibility and/or high-risk pages like the [[Main Page]] and the [[Wikitravel:Local spam blacklist]] are semi-protected to stop drive-by vandalism and spamming.
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See [[Wikitravel:Protected pages]] for the full list.
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==Process for protecting a page==
 
==Process for protecting a page==

Revision as of 19:45, 22 October 2009

Click here for a list of currently protected pages

The revolutionary nature of Wiki is the ability for any reader of any article to edit that page right now. Wiki is the enabling technology that is making Wikitravel into a really great travel guide. Wikitravellers know that we need to keep Wikitravel open and available to make it succeed. We depend on the distributed effort of the millions of people on the Internet to get high-quality, up-to-date and reliable articles.

However, in some circumstances, it may be necessary to protect a page on Wikitravel. When a page is protected, it can only be edited by administrators. This is an extreme measure and shouldn't be taken lightly. Whenever possible, we prefer to counteract abusive actions by some users with the ability of other users to edit a page.

Hold a spelling bee and crown the winner. ,

Process for protecting a page

Before or immediately after protecting a page, the administrator should note the protection on the accompanying talk page, and add a link on the protected pages page, with a justification for why the page was protected. Other Wikitravellers can and should comment on the protect action there, but it's not the place for discussing the particulars of an edit war.

If the protect action isn't in the above list of reasons, it should be strongly defended and the reason should be added to the above list.

A page should be unprotected as soon as it's feasible. When a page is unprotected, a note to that effect should be put on the protected pages page.

See also

Variants

Actions

Destination Docents

In other languages
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