Wikipedia:Revised vandalism warning system

The following is my idea of a revised system of administering warnings for vandalism:

If a user engages in simple but clear vandalism (e.g. page blanking; adding obscene words to articles), then the following warning should be issued:


 * [[Image:Stop hand.svg|left|30px]] Welcome to Wikipedia. We invite everyone to contribute constructively to our encyclopedia. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing. However, unconstructive edits are considered vandalism. If you continue in this manner you will be blocked from editing without further warning. Please stop, and consider improving rather than damaging the work of others. Thank you.

In the case of more serious vandalism (e.g. posting obscene images on pages; extreme page-widening; adding false but probable information to articles), then the following warning may be issued instead:


 * [[Image:Stop_hand.svg|left|30px]] This is the only warning you will receive. Your recent vandalism will not be tolerated. The next time you vandalize a page, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia.

If in the case that either warning is issued, the user ignores the warning and continues to vandalize, the user should be either blocked or reported to WP:AIV without any further warnings needing to be issued. In the case of newly-registered users, block the account indefinitely, or if you are a regular user, report it to Administrator intervention against vandalism as a vandalism-only account. There is no need to bother with multiple temporary blocks if an account's only contributions are vandalism. In the case of IPs or registered users with a significant history of good edits, the time of the block should be left to the administrator's discretion (based on the severity of the vandalism and/or the user or IP's past history of vandalism), though administrator’s should be familiar with Blocking policy.

If in any case, a user (whether newly-registered, IP, or established) makes an unconstructive edit which does not appear to be blatant, intentional vandalism; basically any edit which shows more of either a lack of familiarity with editing or with policy (e.g vanity policy) than an intent to vandalize, then that user should be issued the following warning before either of the above:


 * Welcome to Wikipedia. While this may not have been your intent, your recent edits have been unconstructive and have been reverted or removed. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia, or if you simply want to practice editing, please use the sandbox. If you need any assistance, please contact the one who left you this message.

If, after receiving this warning, the user continues in similar activity without discussion, then it is safe to assume that they are intending to vandalize Wikipedia. If they are a newly registered user, then a block or report to WP:AIV without further warning is in order. If they are an IP user or an established user, then one of the first two warnings should be administered be for blocking or reporting.

If you believe an editor to be confused about some aspect of Wikipedia, then you should consider giving them a personal message about what they are having trouble with instead of the above warning, though if they ignore it, the above process should be followed just the same.