User:Hummerrocket/CVUA/Coryphantha

Hello, welcome to your Counter Vandalism Unit Academy page! Every person I instruct will have their own page on which I will give them support and tasks for them to complete. Please make sure you have this page added to your watchlist. Your academy page has been specifically designed according to you and what you have requested instruction in - for that reason, please be as specific as possible when under my instruction, so that I know the best ways to help you (and do not be afraid to let me know if you think something isn't working). If you have any general queries about anti-vandalism (or anything else), you are more than welcome to raise them with me at my talk page.

Make sure you read through Vandalism as that's the knowledge which most of the questions I ask you and tasks you do will revolve around.

This page will be built up over your time in the Academy, with new sections being added as you complete old ones. Each section will end with a task, written in bold type - this might just ask a question, or it might require you to go and do something. You can answer a question by typing the answer below the task; if you have to do something, you will need to provide diffs to demonstrate that you have completed the task. Some sections will have more than one task, sometimes additional tasks may be added to a section as you complete them. Please always sign your responses to tasks as you would on a talk page.
 * How to use this page
 * Once you graduate I will copy this page into your userspace so you have a record of your training and a reference for the future.

Furthermore, you may occasionally receive some feedback from, who will help me out, as I am a new instructor.

Twinkle
Twinkle is a very useful tool when performing maintenance functions around Wikipedia. Please have a read through WP:TWINKLE.
 * Enable Twinkle (if haven't already) and leave a note here to let me know that you have enabled it.

Good faith and vandalism
When patrolling for vandalism, you may often come across edits which are unhelpful, but not vandalism - these are good faith edits. It is important to recognise the difference between a vandalism edit and a good faith edit, especially because Twinkle gives you the option of labelling edits you revert as such. Please read WP:AGF and WP:NOT VANDALISM before completing the following tasks.


 * Please explain below the difference between a good faith edit and a vandalism edit, and how you would tell them apart.
 * Intent: sometimes by a new editor who doesn't understand how Wikipedia works or is sometimes a mistake, in either case it's their intent that matters. Vandalism occurs when the intent is to disturb WP, it is akin to graffiti done with spray paint. Good faith edits occur when a person actually wants to help make WP better and err because of a misunderstanding of how WP works, i.e. structure, layout, style or language. We don't want to scare away the newcomers because they are important contributors to WP, we were all new at one point. We want newcomers to feel welcome because they may someday by experienced editors. Civility is key.
 * ✅ That is correct. The biggest distinction is in the intentions. I like that you discuss civility, which is a bigger pillar of Wikipedia: to assume good faith. Hummerrocket   (talk)  12:17, 19 June 2018 (UTC)


 * Please find three examples of good faith but unhelpful edits, and three examples of vandalism. You don't need to revert the example you find, and I am happy for you to use previous undos in your edit history if you wish.
 * Good faith
 * This user is just trying to add information about the castle, even though it is unsourced and needs style editing.
 * This editor has added a an unsourced point of view comment which is not according to WP's manual of style.
 * This is an an unsourced fact not supported by any reference, it is also not mentioned in the article.


 * Vandalism
 * This user does not appear to like Buffalo, NY. The intent is not to help WP through editing, but is a personal opinion about Bussalo.
 * This user is trying to make a funny remark about Potato Patch, while the town does have a funny name, this is not a social media website where people can make funny remarks on any topic they desire.
 * Obviously this person doesn't like Dolly Parton and is not afraid to say so, WP isn't the place for this.
 * Coryphantha  Talk  21:46, 19 June 2018 (UTC)


 * I apologize for the unclear instructions. Can you also provide an explanation to each diff of why it is good faith/vandalism? (And in the future please sign your responses :) . Hummerrocket   (talk)  12:17, 19 June 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅ Good job on these first questions. Your next assignment is posted below. Hummerrocket   (talk)  22:07, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

Warning and reporting
When you use Twinkle to warn a user, you have a number of options to choose from: you can select the kind of warning (for different offences), and the level of warning (from 1 to 4, for increasing severity). Knowing which warning to issue and what level is very important. Further information can be found at WP:WARN and WP:UWUL.


 * Please answer the following questions:
 * Why do we warn users?
 * To remind good-faith test editors to use the sandbox for test edits, or to discourage vandals with bad faith disruptive edits from continuing, and help them understand why their edits were unacceptable.
 * ✅ The goal is to educate the vandals and make sure that they understand the policies of Wikipedia. Many "vandals'" first edits are often test edits to see if they can actually edit Wikipedia, to which we inform them of the policies. Hummerrocket   (talk)  23:56, 19 June 2018 (UTC)


 * When would a 4im warning be appropriate?
 * Unsourced defamatory content in biographies of living persons
 * Blanking pages
 * Creating an inappropriate page
 * Adding defamatory content
 * Adding a spam link
 * Adding an inappropriate image
 * Malicious page moves
 * Personal attacks on other editors
 * Blatant unencyclopedic image
 * These are all good examples, but keep in mind that a 4im warning is for especially egregious or extreme vandalism. If a user makes a non-constructive edit listed above but isn't particularly extreme, then a 4im would not be appropriate. Hummerrocket   (talk)  23:56, 19 June 2018 (UTC)


 * Should you substitute a template when you place it on a user talk page, and how do you do it?
 * Unsubstituted templates are subject to transclusion (templates that are edited), it is better to use a substituted template that will not display updated text, but rather the text that was displayed at the time and date of the edit.
 * Add "subst:" to a template, i.e. Example >
 * ✅ Hummerrocket   (talk)  23:56, 19 June 2018 (UTC)


 * What should you do if a user who has received a level 4 or 4im warning vandalises again?
 * Block the editor
 * In cases of spam editing the spam link may be blacklisted
 * Just to let you know, only administrators can block users. As non-admins, you would have to report the vandalism, and then an admin will block the user. What page would you go to in order to inform them? Alternatively, what feature of Twinkle would you use to to notify administrators of vandalism that warrants a block? Hummerrocket   (talk)  23:56, 19 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Coryphantha  Talk  23:07, 19 June 2018 (UTC)
 * In order for a user to be blocked it has to be reported to Administrator intervention against vandalism. They have to have had repeated warnings (except in cases of 4im) of vandalism and spam that has not been resolved by those warnings. Also, there need to be further grounds to believe they may vandalize again in the immediate future. An admin will then block the user after review. The Twinkle feature that is used to report a user to an admin is the "ARV" tab at the top of a user's talk page. Coryphantha   Talk  23:07, 14 July 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅ Hummerrocket   (talk)  17:00, 23 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry for the delay; the last few days have been quite unexpectedly active for me. Your next assignment is below. Hummerrocket   (talk)  17:00, 23 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Please give examples (using ) of three different warnings (not different levels of the same warning and excluding the test edit warning levels referred to below), that you might need to use while recent changes patrolling and explain what they are used for.


 * Article This warning is to gently let the user know that their test edit has been reverted and to encourage them to use the sandbox for test edits.
 * Article This warning is to let the user know that their edits need to be sourced and not come from personal knowledge on the subject, or edits based on their opinions.
 * Article This warning is to gently let the user know that they shouldn't remove content without explaining why in the edit summary.
 * Coryphantha  Talk  22:17, 29 July 2018 (UTC)

Make sure you keep in mind that some edits that seem like vandalism can be test edits. This happens when a new user is experimenting and makes accidental unconstructive edits. Generally, these should be treated with good faith, especially if it is their first time, and warned gently. The following templates are used for test edits:, and.

I just wanted to make sure you know about Special:RecentChanges, if you use the diff link in a different window or tab you can check a number of revisions much more easily. If you enable Hovercards in the Hover section of your preferences, you can view the diff by just hovering over it. Alternately, you can press control-F or command-F and search for "tag:". some edits get tagged for possible vandalism or section blanking.
 * ✅ Next assignment is below. Take your time on this one.  Hummerrocket   (talk)  18:45, 5 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Find and revert some vandalism. Warn each user appropriately, using the correct kind of warning and level. Please include at least two test edits and at least two appropriate reports to AIV. For each revert and warning please fill in a line on the table below