This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Luna Santin (talk | contribs) at 03:20, 6 March 2007 (Reverted edits by Wolf120 (talk) to last version by Blainster). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 03:20, 6 March 2007 by Luna Santin (talk | contribs) (Reverted edits by Wolf120 (talk) to last version by Blainster)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | 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. | Shortcut
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Pages that are semi-protected cannot be edited by unregistered users or accounts less than four days old. A page can be semi-protected by an administrator in response to vandalism from multiple anonymous or newly-created accounts, where blocking them individually is not a solution. It can also be used to stop banned or blocked users who are using multiple IPs or accounts from editing an article. Semi-protection is usually a temporary measure, and lifted once the problem is likely to have passed.
Semi-protected pages are indicated with {{sprotected}} or {{sprotected2}} and listed at Misplaced Pages:Protected page#Semi-protection and Category:Semi-protected.
Semi-protection can be requested at Misplaced Pages:Requests for page protection or, if a particularly fast response is required, the incidents noticeboard. To request that semi-protection be lifted, leave a note on the protecting administrator's talk page, on the attached discussion page, an existing thread on Misplaced Pages:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents, or Misplaced Pages:Requests for page protection.
When to use semi-protection
Semi-protection should be considered if it is the only reasonable option left to deal with vandalism on a page or to stop a banned or blocked user from editing it.
Like full protection, it is usually not a preemptive measure. However, Jimbo Wales has suggested semi-protection may be used in cases of "...minor biographies of slightly well known but controversial individuals..." which are not widely watchlisted, if they are "...subject to POV pushing, trolling, vandalism." In such cases, semi-protection "...would at least eliminate the drive-by nonsense that we see so often."
When not to use semi-protection
Semi-protection should not be used:
- As a preemptive measure against vandalism before any vandalism has occurred.
- As a response to regular content disputes, since it may restrict some editors and not others (see the protection policy for how to deal with this).
- In the case of a static IP vandal hitting a page (blocking is preferable to semi-protection).
- To prevent vandalism on the day's Featured Article. Semi-protection for a very brief period is acceptable to remove excessive vandalism from the page, or to combat an unusually high level of vandalism from multiple IPs or accounts. For a rationale of this, see Misplaced Pages:Main Page featured article protection. Other pages linked from the Main Page may be protected if under attack, though more leeway should be given with these than with most articles. Please note that this policy is currently disputed. For more information see the talk page of that policy.
- To prohibit anonymous editing in general.
Cascading semi-protection
At this time, cascading semi-protection should not be used under any circumstances, as it passes full protection to transcluded pages and enables non-sysops to fully protect pages by transcluding them on cascading semi-protected pages .
Talk pages
Article talk pages may be semi-protected if they are being disrupted, though semi-protection in these cases should be used sparingly to allow discussion from new users and anons.
User/user talk pages
Userpages are not encyclopedic articles and are exempt from many mainspace-specific policies (Ownership of articles and the three-revert rule, to take two examples). Userpages may be semi-protected regardless of whether there has been any previous vandalism to the page, and need not be unprotected unless the owner wishes it.
User talk pages should be kept unprotected as much as possible to allow communication from new users. This is especially true for administrators. User talk pages may be semi-protected for short periods of time if the user is being subject to harassment or trolling.
See also
- Misplaced Pages:Protection policy, which deals principally with full-protection, but contains much of Misplaced Pages's philosophy regarding protection.
- m:Protected pages considered harmful.
- Template:Editprotected, process for protected edit requests applicable to protected pages of any level.
- While the recent history of an article should be checked before semi-protecting, this tool is useful for tracking vandalism on a particular page over a longer period. It can be misleading, however; for instance, it will show a high vandalism rate if a low-traffic page gets just one instance of vandalism per day.
Notes
- ^ "Proposal: limited extension of semi-protection policy", Jimmy Wales, WikiEN-l, May 19, 2006
- includes articles, but not templates