Any edits made to make this wiki look bad are a part of what is called vandalism, a mainly minor problem that affects many wikis. Different wikis will handle bad-faith editors in different ways, so do not judge one wiki's vandalism policy entirely by reading this one. However, all HTIF wikis use the same Vandalism Policy (see Driving World:Vandalism and Animal World:Vandalism).
What Is Vandalism[]
Tag Abuse[]
- Abusing putting tags, like marked for deletion, stub, etc.
- Removing needed tags.
Content Vandalism[]
- Adding false information into pages.
- Adding loads of bad-faith info into pages.
- Removing true information from pages.
- Deleting necessary pages, or rapidly adding new pages.
- Tiepeeng laik diss lawl (which is also spamming).
User Vandalism[]
- Making UAV accounts.
- Giving yourself an offensive name and using a method to show it everywhere (like adding lots of signatures).
- Bad-faith editing another user's or bot's page.
- Marking on your account falsely that the account is for sale, a bot, or otherwise impersonating an important WoW user.
System Gaming[]
- Marking a bad-faith edit as minor.
- Embedding the bad-faith edit.
Copyright Violation[]
- Uploading a copyright-violated image. However, many users may not know about copyright, so until the user is warned with a template on their user page, they cannot be recognised as vandalising the wiki.
What Isn't Vandalism[]
Accidents / Little Knowledge[]
- Any of the above, assuming that the bad-faith edit was an accident, and that the user is a good-faith editor.
- Any of the above, assuming that the user hasn't been warned yet.
- Any of the above, assuming that the user is unfamiliar with wikis.
Mess-Allowed Pages[]
- Any of the above, assuming that the edit was on the Sandbox, or another page which intentionally allows messing up.
Edit Summaries[]
- Users are encouraged to add an edit summary to every edit, including minor edits. Even a brief summary is better than none. However, the exclusion of an edit summary is not in any way vandalism, and it is permitted.
- Not marking an edit as minor, though it is encouraged.
Other[]
- Adding loads of good-faith content at once, although discuss with an admin about splitting up info into pages.
How You Should Respond[]
Warning[]
- If the user hasn't been warned already, warn it with this template. As always, it is important to assume good faith until the user ignores the warnings.
Template:VW01 - Give this to new users who don't know their way around yet. This template encourages the use of the sandbox, the reading of this page, tells them a bit about the wiki, and explains that what they're doing is wrong and they need to stop.
Block[]
- If you are an administrator or any rank with administration abilities, you may block the user.
- If you are not an administrator, you can request that the user be reviewed, and if necessary, blocked.
- If the user has performed mass vandalism across many wikis, or if the user is a vandalbot, you may contact wikia.
How You Shouldn't Respond[]
Feeding The Trolls[]
- Most vandals are doing what they do because they want attention. So whatever you do, try not to give them attention.
- Do not use a template to mark somebody who knows that they are vandalising. This only feeds the trolls, or fans the flame.