User:K6ka/Becoming a vandal fighter

A lot goes into Wikipedia. Most people like to write, expand, proofread, and/or copy-edit articles. There are also people that like to perform maintenance work on Wikipedia. These people may fix technical issues with articles (such as a broken template), correct wiki syntax, and operate bots that can automate this work. Then there are the people that defend all of this. They monitor the latest actions on the wiki and set about reversing harmful ones. They work to combat the ones that want to destroy or damage Wikipedia. We refer to these people as "vandal fighters."

We have a Counter-Vandalism Unit that serves as an organized project dedicated to this important task of protecting Wikipedia. We also have a Counter-Vandalism Academy that serves to train and educate new fighters to join the project.

I strongly suggest you go there and ask for an instructor first. This is just my own personal analysis and my own set of instructions for how to become a vandal fighter. Note that this sort of "training" is not a requirement to becoming a vandal fighter. There are no formal requirements to joining the force.

First and foremost — what is vandalism?
Vandalism is any deliberate action made with the intention of damaging, destroying, or defacing Wikipedia.

What is vandalism?
Using the definition above, we can identify some examples of vandalism:

Inserting nonsense/gibberish into pages
Cases like these are almost always vandalism as they consist not of complete sentences, but patent nonsense with no meaning at all behind it. Nonsense can be inserted after content, embedded into content, or replacing content.

Examples of nonsense/gibberish:

Original:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Vandalized versions:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.DJDJFJDJDJDJDJDJDJJDJDJDJDFHSKDKFHSJKDFHKSDF

The quick bdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsjiown fox jumps over the lddddddddddddddddzzy dog.

EIIEIEIEIEIEIIEIEIEIIEWRWIRHKUAHFKAHFJKAHFJKSFHUIY8O759812759801459

Blanking or removing content
This is very straightforward — an edit that removes helpful content from pages. Note that not all edits that remove content are necessarily unconstructive. An edit that removes vandalism, unsourced material, content that doesn't belong (e.g. an image of the Statue of Liberty on an article about frogs), etc. may not be considered vandalism. Also, someone who removes material with a valid reason in the edit summary may not be considered vandalism.

Examples of content removal:

Original:

He said I was average, but he was just being mean. LOLOLOLOL. He was also a high school dropout.

Vandalized versions:

(Blank)

LOLOLOLOL. He was also a high school dropout.

e was just being mean. LOLOLOLOL. He was also a high school dropout.

Versions that are NOT vandalism:

He said I was average, but he was just being mean.

(Blank) with edit summary: Removing unsourced material -- the citation given has nothing to do with this subject

Using templates/media inappropriately
This is where the user may add or use templates or media inappropriately on an article. Examples may include using templates such as Done, Talkback, Uw-vandal1, etc. (none of these templates see use in articles), or adding tons and tons of example images. Note that the addition of example images may not necessarily mean vandalism. They are often a sign of a confused new user and should be approached with good faith.

Examples of inappropriate media usage:

Original:

In 1967, John left the military and took up a role as a stand-up comedian.

Vandalized version:

In 1967, John left the military and took up a role as a stand-up comedian.✅ u stink :p