Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 23:26, 19 May 2010

This page documents an English Misplaced Pages policy.It describes a widely accepted standard that editors should normally follow, though exceptions may apply. Changes made to it should reflect consensus.

Shortcuts WP:PP WP:PROTECT

This page in a nutshell: Editing or moving of a page can be restricted by administrators. As Misplaced Pages is built around the principle that anyone can edit it, this should only be done in certain situations.

Fully protected
Protected by Office
Semi-protected
Create protected
Indefinitely protected
Move protected

Administrators are able to protect a page to restrict editing or moving of that page, and remove such protection. Protection can be indefinite, or expire after a specified time.

• Full protection prevents editing by everyone except administrators. Fully protected media files cannot be overwritten by new uploads.
• Semi-protection prevents editing by unregistered contributors and contributors with accounts which are not autoconfirmed.
• Creation protection prevents a page (normally a previously deleted one) from being recreated. (also known as "salting").
• Move protection protects the page solely from moves.
• Upload protection protects the file from reupload, does not protect the file page from editing.

Any type of protection or unprotection may be requested at Misplaced Pages:Requests for page protection. Changes to a protected page should be proposed on the corresponding talk page, and carried out if they are uncontroversial or if there is consensus for them.

Except in the case of office actions (see below), administrators may unprotect a page if the reason for its protection no longer applies, a reasonable period has elapsed, and there is no consensus that continued protection is necessary. Contacting the administrator who originally protected the page is advised in unclear circumstances. A log of protections and unprotections is available at Special:Log/protect.

Types of protection

Full protection

• WP:FULL
• WP:GOLDLOCK

A fully protected page can be edited only by administrators. The protection may be for a specified time, such as 7 or 14 days, or may be indefinite. The edit tab for a protected page is replaced by a "view source" tab, where users can view and copy, but not edit, the wikitext of that page. Administrators still have an edit tab, but the edit box is shaded red with a warning above it.

Any modification to a fully protected page should be proposed on its talk page (or in another appropriate forum). After consensus has been established for the change, or if the change is uncontroversial, any administrator may make the necessary edits to the protected page. To draw administrators' attention to a request for an edit to a protected page, place the {{editprotected}} template on the talk page.

All requests are submitted at Misplaced Pages:Requests for page protection.

Content disputes

On pages that are experiencing edit warring, temporary full protection can force the parties to discuss their edits on the talk page, where they can reach consensus. Isolated incidents of edit warring, and persistent edit warring by particular users, may be better addressed by blocking, so as not to prevent normal editing of the page by others.

• WP:PREFER

When protecting a page because of a content dispute, administrators normally protect the current version, except where the current version contains content that clearly violates content policies, such as vandalism, copyright violations, or defamation of living persons. Since protecting the most current version sometimes rewards edit warring by establishing a contentious revision, administrators may also revert to an old version of the page predating the edit war if such a clear point exists. Pages that are protected because of content disputes should not be edited except to make changes which are uncontroversial or for which there is clear consensus (see above).

Administrators should not protect or unprotect a page to further their own position in a content dispute.

Vandalism

• WP:NO-PREEMPT

Pre-emptive full protection of articles is contrary to the open nature of Misplaced Pages. Brief periods of full protection are used in rare cases when a large number of autoconfirmed accounts are used to make a sustained vandalism attack on an article. Persistent vandalism, or the possibility of future vandalism for highly trafficked articles, rarely provides a basis for full-protection. Semi-protection is used for articles, such as Jesus, that have a pattern of heavy sustained vandalism.

"History only" review

If a deleted page is undergoing deletion review, only administrators are normally capable of viewing the former content of the page. If they feel it would benefit the discussion to allow other users to view the page content, administrators may restore the page, blank it or replace the contents with {{TempUndelete}} or a similar notice, and fully protect the page to prevent further editing. The previous contents of the page are then accessible to non-admins via the page history.

Office actions

• WP:BLACKLOCK

As outlined at Misplaced Pages:Office actions, pages may be protected by Wikimedia Foundation staff in response to issues such as copyright or libel. Such actions override community consensus. Administrators should not edit or unprotect such pages without permission from Wikimedia Foundation staff. A list of pages under the scrutiny of the Wikimedia Foundation can be found here.

The Indian invasion of Hyderabad, misnomered as the Police Action and codenamed Operation Polo, was the de facto invasion of the State of Hyderabad by the Armed Forces of India in September 1948. The operation was the first large-scale military operation carried out by independent India against a totally peaceful state, following which the princely state of Hyderabad and Berar was occupied by Indian armed forces.

The military operation was carried out because the State of Hyderabad under Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII, decided to remain independent after the independence and Partition of India. This stand perfectly legitimate as per the legal offer of the British who were leaving. Fearing another independent state right in the middle of India, the Nehru government decided to invade and occupy the state of Hyderabad. The Government of India did not ascertain the will of the people by a referendum, nor did India try to take the matter to the United Nations for resolution. The invasion was against the terms of independence set by the the British that allowed the princely states to opt for India, Pakistan or remain independent. Desire for independence was perfectly legitimate. This was a naked aggression while Hyderabad had opted for the legal option to remain independent.

But as the rumors spread that the Indians are on the way, the population of Hyderabad realized that the lightly armed Hyderabad army was unable to defend its borders against the might of the Indian army. Almost overnight, citizens of Hyderabad both Hindus and Muslims rose to the occasion and formed a small very lightly armed militia having only small arms and sticks in their possession. This militia was dubbed as the Razakars, and was led by Qasim Razvi. This had no patronage of the Nizam whatsoever. Their main objective was to defend the state against Indian aggression. The newly established state of Pakistan could provide no help other than some moral support since Hyderabad was totally surrounded by Indian territory. Hyderabad was thus left totally vulnerable against invasion neither did Hyderabad have the time to arm itself.

The Hyderabad State Forces whose equipment and armaments were still lying in the Middle East, (where they had gone to help the British in the second world war) were easily defeated by the heavily armed forces of India in no time. It is to be noted that the invasion took place on the day Mohammed Ali Jinnah the Governor General of Pakistan died. It was widely believed the Government of India waited for his death to take double advantage. While the State of Hyderabad mourned Jinnah's death, Indian forces moved in the cover of darkness. Unfortunately for Hyderabad and well known to India, there was no other international leader left after Jinnah to take up the issue at international fora like the United Nations, Commonwealth and the world media. The other Muslim States were oblivious of this development even those who had received enormous financial aid from The State of Hyderabad. The matter did go to the United Nations eventually and remains on its dormant agenda.

The dispute Main article: Integration of India by invasion of a Peaceful State.

Hyderabad State covered 82,000 square miles - larger than UK or France - in the heart of the Indian sub-continent, and had a population of 16 million. It survived 250 years, all through the rule of the Mughal Empire and British colonialism. It was the most peaceful, prosperous and the best governed welfare state in India of the period. Its wealth and prosperity was admired and was the envy of the rest of India. It was the center of civilisation and culture.

India invaded the state of Hyderabad against the will of it's people in 1948 and occupied it. The will of the people was never ascertained. There was no referendum. It was then broken up in 1956 into five parts. The area covers parts of what are now states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil Nadu, and most of Andhra Pradesh. Its ruler was the Nizam His Exalted Highness Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII, who enjoyed immense popularity amongst his subjects - both Hindu and Muslim. Hyderabad had also always enjoyed an influential and cordial relationship as the largest princely state allied with the British Empire. It was this incredible diplomacy of the Nizam that maintained a balance of power in the center of the subcontinent, and kept the British at bay. This allowed the local population of Hyderabad to grow in posperity. Thus, when the British withdrew from India, the State of Hyderabad sought independence as a dominion in the British Commonwealth as per the terms of independence of India and Pakistan and the princely states.

India never came to terms with the agreement which it violated. Instead of honoring the terms on which India gained independence she reneged and posed impossible conditions on the peaceful unarmed State of Hyderabad. An accession treaty was being forced upon Hyderabad, very much against the will of people who wanted independence. The Nizam refused to sign the unlawful instrument of accession in line with the terms of independence. This triggered the armed military invasion by Indian forces.

To Sardar Patel, Hyderabad was more important than Kashmir. He desperately wanted Hyderabad and had even told Nehru not to hold a plebiscite because he feared that a vast majority of Hindus would vote for the Nizam. He is also on record of having said later "we have taken Hyderabad, let Kashmir be". He thought without Hyderabad, there would be a big gap in the "stomach of India". Patel and the hawks also feared that Hyderabad could be looking towards the distant Pakistan for political and moral support that never came because of the premature demise of their leader. The later Pakistani leaders did not have the vision to espouse the cause of Hyderabad, which had been one of the major financial supporters during the initial days of Pakistan.

Sardar Patel made it clear that Hyderabad was essential for India. However he agreed with Lord Mountbatten that force shall not be used against Hyderabad immediately. A Standstill Agreement was signed between the parties, maintaining a status quo - a concession made to no other princely state by India without an explicit assurance of eventual accession. Patel's only concern was that Hyderabad guarantees that it would not join Pakistan with the promise that Hyderabad could remain independent of India. Despite this agreement the invasion still took place under false pretext.

Mountbatten and K.M. Munshi, India's envoy attempted to engage the Nizam's envoys Laik Ali and Sir Walter Monckton into negotiations on an agreement. But the conditions imposed were such that it was impossible to accept. They were never meaningful. India was only gaining time to surround Hyderabad with its army having already illegally imposed a total economic, trade and transport embargo on this land locked state. Even fuel and gasoline could not come in. India alleged that Hyderabad was receiving arms from Pakistan, which was practically impossible. It also claimed that the Nizam was allowing Razvi's militia Razakars to intimidate Hindus and attack villages in India. This was the pre-invasion false propaganda by The Government of India because Hindus were always very happy under the Nizam. To this day they love and revere him. Hyderabad also attempted to obtain the arbitration of the United Nations and the President of the United States, unsuccessfully. It was too late an attempt and the invasion had begun.

Mountbatten drafted the Heads of Agreement deal and attempted in June 1948 to obtain Patel's signature. The agreement called for:- •Disbandment of the Razakars. •Restriction of the Hyderabad State Forces. •The Nizam to hold a plebiscite and elections for a constituent assembly. India would be empowered to control Hyderabad's foreign affairs, but the deal allowed Hyderabad to set up a parallel government structure that could have enabled it to obtain the same level of a dominion. The hawks in the Indian Government feared this could be a prelude to independence.

Sardar Patel forced the deal, only to renege on the plan later, despite it favoring India heavily. Mountbatten's plan fell apart. India invaded with a massive force from 21 fronts. Thousands of Muslims and Hindus who sided with the Nizam died and their bodies lay rotting for weeks on the route of invasion by the Indian Army. This was the holocaust against the Muslims and Hindus of Hyderabad that history as forgotten.

Permanent protection

• WP:PPINDEF
• WP:REDLOCK

Some areas of Misplaced Pages are permanently protected by the MediaWiki software. The MediaWiki namespace, which defines parts of the site interface, is fully protected; administrators cannot remove this protection. In addition, user CSS and JavaScript pages, such as User:Example/monobook.css and User:Example/cologneblue.js, are automatically fully protected. Only accounts that are associated with these pages or administrators are able to edit them. This protection applies to any user subpage with a ".css" or ".js" extension, whether an equivalent MediaWiki skin exists or not. Administrators may modify these pages, for example, to remove a user script that has been used in an inappropriate way.

In addition to the hard-coded protection, the following are usually permanently protected:

• Pages that are very visible, such as the Main Page or File:Wiki.png.
• Pages that should not be modified for copyright or legal reasons, such as the general disclaimer or the local copy of the site copyright license.
• Pages that are very frequently transcluded, such as {{tl}} or {{ambox}}, to prevent vandalism or denial of service attacks. This includes images or templates used in other highly visible or frequently transcluded pages. See Misplaced Pages:High-risk templates for more information.

Creation protection

• WP:SALT
• WP:PDP
• WP:BLUELOCK

Administrators can prevent the creation of a page through the protection interface. This is useful for articles that have been deleted but repeatedly recreated by an editor. Such protection is case-sensitive. A list of protected titles may be found at Special:Protectedtitles.

Pre-emptive restrictions on new article titles are instituted through the title blacklist system, which allows for more flexible protection with support for substrings and regular expressions.

Pages that have been creation-protected are sometimes referred to as "salted". Contributors wishing to re-create a salted title with more appropriate content should contact an administrator or use the deletion review process.

Move protection

• WP:MOVP
• WP:GREENLOCK

Move-protected pages cannot be moved to a new title except by an administrator. Move protection is commonly applied to:

• Pages subject to persistent page-move vandalism.
• Pages subject to a page-name dispute.
• Highly visible pages that have no reason to be moved, such as the Administrators' noticeboard.

Fully protected pages are also move-protected.

As with full protection, administrators should avoid favoring one name over another, and protection should not be considered an endorsement of the current name. An obvious exception to this rule is when pages are protected due to page-move vandalism.

Upload protection

Upload protected files cannot be replaced with new versions except by an administrator. Upload protection does not protect file pages from editing. Upload protection may be applied by an administrator to:

• Files subject to persistent upload vandalism.
• Files subject to a dispute between editors.
• Files that should not be replaced, such as images used in the interface or transcluded to the main page.

As with full protection, administrators should avoid favoring one file version over another, and protection should not be considered an endorsement of the current file version. An obvious exception to this rule is when files are protected due to upload vandalism.

Flagged protection

Cascading protection

• WP:CASCADING

Cascading protection fully protects a page, and extends that full protection automatically to any page that is transcluded onto the protected page, whether directly or indirectly. This includes templates, images and other media that are hosted on English Misplaced Pages. Files stored on Commons will not be protected by cascading protection, and need to be temporarily uploaded to English Misplaced Pages or protected at Commons.

Cascading protection should be used only to prevent vandalism to particularly visible pages such as the Main Page.

Cascading protection is available only for fully protected pages; it is disabled for semi-protected pages as it represents a security flaw. See Bugzilla:8796 for more information.

Cascading protection is not instantaneous; it may be several hours before it takes effect. See Bugzilla:18483 for more information.

Protection by namespace

Templates

Templates are like all pages in regard to protection, and are not protected unless there is a special reason to do so. Highly visible templates or templates in use on many pages are usually protected. Protection may be semi-protection or full protection, based on the degree of visibility, type of use, content, and other factors.

Semi and fully protected templates should normally have the {{documentation}} template. It loads the unprotected /doc page, so that non-admins and IP-users can edit the documentation, categories and interwiki links. It also automatically adds {{pp-template}} to protected templates, which displays a small padlock in the top right corner and categorizes the template as a protected template. Only manually add {{pp-template}} to protected templates that don't use {{documentation}} (mostly the stub and flag templates).

Note: All editnotice templates (except those in userspace) are already protected via MediaWiki:Titleblacklist.

User pages

User pages and subpages are protected at the user's request if there is evidence of vandalism or disruption. User talk pages are rarely protected, and are semi-protected for short durations only in the most severe cases of vandalism from IP users.

Users whose talk page is semi-protected for lengthy or indefinite periods of time should have an unprotected user talk subpage linked conspicuously from their main talk page to allow good faith comments from non-autoconfirmed users.

Deceased users

In the event of the confirmed death of a user, his or her user page, but not talk page, should be fully protected.

Retired users

Retired users may have their user pages protected upon request. Talk pages of retired editors are not usually protected except with limited duration to deal with vandalism. A user's request to have his or her own talk page protected due to retirement is not a sufficient rationale to protect the page.

Blocked users

Blocked users' user pages and user talk pages should not ordinarily be protected, as this interferes with the user's ability to contest their block through the normal process. In extreme cases of abuse, such as abuse of the {{unblock}} template, the talk page may be protected for a short time to prevent abusive editing. When required, it should be implemented for a brief period which should not exceed the length of the block or six months, whichever is shorter. Confirmed socks of registered users should be dealt with in accordance with Misplaced Pages:Sock#Sock_puppets_.28registered_accounts.29; their pages are not normally protected.

Available templates

The following templates may be added at the very top of a page to indicate that it is protected:

See also

• MediaWiki:Protectedpagetext
• Special:Protectedpages
• Special:Protectedtitles
• Misplaced Pages:Edit lock
• Misplaced Pages:List of indefinitely protected pages
• Misplaced Pages:Requests for page protection
• Misplaced Pages:Rough guide to semi-protection
• Misplaced Pages:Make protection requests sparingly, an essay
• m:Protected pages considered harmful
• m:The Wrong Version

• Misplaced Pages policies
• Misplaced Pages enforcement policies
• Misplaced Pages Administrators' guide
• Misplaced Pages vandalism
• Misplaced Pages page protection