User talk:NotAGenious/CVUA/Comintell

Hello, and welcome! Here is where I will help you become a vandal fighter. When I post an assignment, please respond under the assignment (or in a table, if there is one). In some exercises I will ask you to provide "diffs". See Help:Diffs for how to do this.

Tools
Before we start, I wanted to show you some useful tools for counter-vandalism work which can be used by any editor. You can use all of these, none of these, or some of these. I don't mind, these links are just for your convenience. You may have already installed some of these in the past. Recent changes patrol includes a more total list, if you'd like to discover more tools available.

Twinkle
Twinkle is a very popular gadget which is helpful for a variety of tasks. To install it, go here and tick the box that says Twinkle. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "save". When you refresh the page, a "TW" tab will be available on every page, next to the "More" tab. Scrolling over the TW tab will show a list of modules you can use on the particular page. Twinkle has a large number of useful modules, including but not limited to, one which can be used to warn users, one which can be used to request page protection, one which can be used to suggest a page is deleted, and many many more helpful features. It also adds a non-admin "rollback" feature on all diff pages. I highly suggest you enable Twinkle, as it's incredibly useful and poses no risk of harming your account.

IRC channels
IRC is an internet chat program. There are several channels on IRC that can be used to monitor vandalism. is probably the most useful. Visit IRC/Tutorial for information on how to connect to channels.

Navigation Popups
Navigation popups allow you to hover over links and see a brief preview of the page being linked to. One feature of navigation popups is that when you're at recent changes and hover over "diff" links, you'll have the ability to revert the most recent edit, useful for undoing vandalism. To install navigation popups, go here and tick the box that says Navigation popups. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "save". Refresh the page and navigation popups will be enabled.

'''Now that you've read these, reply below with which scripts you installed/what you signed up for. I don't mind how many you installed, or if you installed none, it's just so I know and can set tasks using those scripts.'''

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 recognize the difference between a vandalism edit and a good faith edit, especially because many tools give you the option of labeling 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.


 * 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


 * Vandalism

Good Faith VS Vandalism
A good faith edit is when a user performs an edit they genuinely to be helpful OR appropriate. It could look like someone adding a primary or non-WP:RS source to a page, not really knowing better. A good faith edit could also look like adding original research or facts to a page without adding citations. Even some things that seem malicious, like gibberish being added, may have been done unintentionally in good faith by new and inexperienced users.

Vandalism is malicious edits made on purpose. From blanking a page, or adding intentionally false or misleading statements. Typically a blatantly obvious bad faith edit will look something like going on the Wikipedia page for Jesus Christ, and adding things like "Jesus Christ was hulk hogans boyfriend and xyz".

Both good and bad faith edits may be ascertained by looking at a combinations of the diffs, and the contribution history of the user. Has the contributor made any helpful edits? Are they new? IP/User? The answers to such questions may help determine good or bad faith on cases of Vandalism aren't easy or obvious to rule out at first glance. Comintell (talk) 00:17, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅ Correct! Thank you for the in-depth answer.

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?


 * When would a 4im warning be appropriate?


 * Should you substitute a template when you place it on a user talk page, and how do you do it?


 * What should you do if a user who has received a level 4 or 4im warning vandalises again?


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