User:Thorncrag/Vandalism

van·dal·ism n. Willful or malicious destruction of public or private property.

Abstract
Wikipedia vandalism is a major problem when it comes to its credibility. In many people's minds, the first thing people think of when they think of Wikipedia is its unreliability, often because they have witnessed incidents of vandalism. Public opinion in this manner has not seemed to improve and in that respect we have failed to succeed. In fairness, with so many people and bots patrolling vandalism, it is rare that vandalism remains on articles for longer than a few moments. Still, that does not mean the issue has been put to rest by any means.

Zero Tolerance
I personally have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to vandalism. Remember that the definition of vandalism requires that it is willful and intentional. This policy does not apply to cases where the defacement was undesired. In that respect, I am skeptical as to whether edit tests actually fall into the category of vandalism whether in spirit or definition.

In determining vandalism, it can often be established that someone is attempting to vandalize after just the second edit.