Wikipedia talk:Pending changes

Are pending changes reviewer notes visible somewhere?
Are pending changes reviewer notes visible somewhere? If so, IMO an explanation of that should be added to the page.

BTW one common situation where this arises is when someone reviews an edit which passes the pending changes criteria but which the reviewer disagrees with. I'll usually put that in the reviewer notes. If the disagreement is so strong somethings I'll revert the edit after approving it. But otherwise, since very few Wikipedians know otherwise, approving an edit simply for meeting the pending changes criteria looks like an overall approval/endorsement of the edit, which can be the opposite of the case. North8000 (talk) 17:28, 28 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Have you ever found the answer to this query? I reverted a pending edit, with an edit summary as to why, then the IP replaced it satisfying my rational, however my comment as to why I now have accepted it is no where to be found. See Special:Diff/1095582596. Just wondering if it's posted somewhere else. Thank you for your pending reply. Cheers, -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 06:17, 29 June 2022 (UTC)
 * There's a log, though it's not particularly easy to find. Best, Wham2001 (talk) 07:32, 29 June 2022 (UTC)
 * IMO it should be visible somewhere. Otherwise, for the 99% of editors who do not understand the difference, acceptance under pending changes criteria mistakenly appears to have been an endorsement of the edit. North8000 (talk) 11:00, 29 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree – feeling obliged to accept edits the merits of which are unclear is for me the most unpleasant aspect of reviewing pending changes. However (I don't have a diff for this statement, unfortunately) the code that supports pending changes is largely unmaintained, so improvements to the interface are unlikely unless they can be prioritized in a community wishlist survey.  My personal preference would be to get rid of pending changes entirely, since it adds editor work assessing (and often reverting) edits for negligible benefit to the encyclopedia, and either unprotect or semi-protect the currently PC-protected pages. Wham2001 (talk) 11:12, 29 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Exactly, especially when 2 minutes before you reverted the edit. Thank you for the link, exactly what I was looking for, I agree. I find it hard sometimes, because, who wants a barrage of "Why in the hell did you approve that edit". Again, thanx all. Cheers,  -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 20:35, 29 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I was against pending changes in the first place and mildly agree that we should get rid of it. It does some good, albeit with too much complexity.  Hearing that it unmaintained now that it's no longer  the shiny new thing reinforces that. North8000 (talk) 22:50, 29 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I too. I had a wiki right around when PC came out and was against adding the extension. I don't see the difference between a simple one click revert, semi-protec seems easier. -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 22:54, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

How to alert pending changes reviewers to why the page has been protected?
Hi - I hope this is the right talkpage for this. It feels like such a trivial issue, but also one that should have an answer. Recently I requested semi-protection for Guiding Light because there's an obsessive IP user (range of IPs, but all from the same town in the midwest US) who keeps adding the same wrong info over and over again. Unfortunately, their pending edits keep being approved by pending changes reviewers. Is there any way of leaving a note for these reviewers about this specific pattern of disruptive editing? OsFish (talk) 05:16, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
 * The only existing way would be for the administrator to put those details into the protection log. However, the issue I notice is that some reviewers accept edits that aren't blatant vandalism but are unsourced and wrong. For example, one would know to reject a person's height of 9 feet, but might not reject an unsourced edit to change a height from 6'0" to 6'2".—Bagumba (talk) 15:25, 13 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Which is... well, perhaps not ideal, but it's not wrong at the very least, and pretty much how pending changes is designed to operate.
 * , If you look over the Reviewing pending changes guidelines, reviewers are supposed to be able to quickly scan over the proposed edits, and accept/reject them on face value. We're not meant to get involved in any editor drama, and using pending changes to effectively "take sides" in a content dispute is explicitly disallowed.
 * In short, if the reason why the page was protected matters, Pending Changes may not be the best form of protection. Getting the page semi-protected may be warranted, if the problem is severe enough, but otherwise it's expected that editors will use the article talk page and other avenues to reach consensus regarding the content of the article. -- FeRDNYC (talk) 10:17, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * One might argue that an unsourced edit can be quickly reverted, but they are often accepted so long as its not a sentence, say, about a person having sex with multiple Martians. YMMV.—Bagumba (talk) 10:31, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Apologies, I had my replies swapped around to the wrong users, in my first comment.
 * But, to (for sure this time) — no argument here. But, "must be cited" isn't the bar (except on certain specific articles, outlined here). If PC reviewers only accepted sourced edits, I estimate the accept rate would be around 0.1% and we'd probably have a riot on our hands. Some editors already take an extremely negative view when their edits are subjected to PC review at all.
 * If the article has a citation for the previous information that was edited, then it's easier to check that and reject for "conflicts with established sources" reasons. But if the old information is just as unsourced as the new, who's to say which one is The Wrong Version? -- FeRDNYC (talk) 11:16, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I can accept it as volunteer-quality work. However, the guidelines do not advocate lax accepts. The actual guideline WP:RPC says: For example, if information is modified without a new source, which may be sneaky vandalism, you should not presume vandalism but check whether the article has an existing source for it, which may have changed as well (e.g. number of YouTube views, box office results, etc.). If no source is provided, you may search for one and if none is straightforward but there are no reasonable reasons to believe the new edit is vandalism, it is acceptable, but if on balance you estimate that the edit is more likely to be vandalism, you should not accept and may revert. Even one of the "explanatory supplements"/essay that you referenced, WP:TPCR, advises: Don't forget, if you are unsure, you can always take no action and return to the queue, leaving the review for a more experienced reviewer.  Regards. —Bagumba (talk) 11:44, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * The issue here is not a meaningful content dispute insofar as the editor doesn't communicate, and the community has been clear both that these superficially innocuous edits are unjustified and that their obsessive insertion merits sanctions (alas, the IP changes constantly, although it's always the same midwest city.) Given that's the case, do I understand you that it was probably a mistake for an admin to semi-protect but allow pending changes? OsFish (talk) 10:21, 17 July 2021 (UTC)
 * If it's a single problematic editor, it's best just to block that editor or IP (range) and not restrict other potential good faith editors.—Bagumba (talk) 12:08, 17 July 2021 (UTC)

Pending Changes improvements
Hello,

A couple of years ago I helped put together a pending changes improvement proposal for the Community Wishlist Survey 2022 (that's this year's link for ease) on very short notice, and while it got some support, significantly under what it needed. It likely also wouldn't have been ideal.

Is there someone (including more than one someone) better at sculpting these things into a viable and interesting form? Nosebagbear (talk) 09:49, 11 January 2022 (UTC)

Concerns about reviewer's fitness for role
Hello,

I would like to raise concerns regarding whether @Gardenkur is suitable for their role as a pending changes reviewer. Gardenkur made these incorrect rejections on my edits, so I posted on their usertalk to explain the nature of the edits and request an explanation for the reverts. They responded on my usertalk instead, so the conversation continues there.

The initial explanation given for the rejection was the user name was confusing. To avoid discrepency and controversy I had to revert. which indicates that my (lack of) username was the primary reason -- showing inappropriate bias against IP users. No elaboration is given as to why my edits may be a "discrepancy" or "controversial", nor was there any attempt to engage with me regarding the explanation I had given. If they had read it and understood, they would have fixed the incorrect rejection. If they didn't understand, they could have asked for more elaboration, or sought help from someone else. Neither happened, I simply got brushed off.

I then challenged their use of "user name" as justification for rejection, but only got the vague excuse being safeside in response. This suggests that Gardenkur considers all edits by IPs to be somehow "unsafe" and that they can thus reject as a precautionary measure even when uncertain. This is unacceptable; if there is something that they don't understand, they could seek clarification, ask for a second opinion, or just leave it for someone else to take care of. There is no compulsion to handle any particular case, even moreso if it is something you don't fully comprehend.

Returning to the reverts themselves, the reason given in the edit summaries was "No reliable source", which does not make sense. My edits were of a technical nature rather than content-related, so that may be cause for misunderstanding, but I did leave meaningful edit summaries citing a Phab #. A visual comparison with the old revisions would have shown no content changed. A cursory check of the articles' histories would reveal two consecutive edits from me, constituting a self-revert. Clearly, none of this mattered, indicating there was a lack of care and a rush to jump to conclusions based on my unregistered status.

All this worried me enough to take a look at Gardenkur's edit history, where a quick sampling of recent rejections (mostly ignored BLPs) turned up several more problematic rejections:


 * uncontroversial capitalization fix: "correction improper"
 * copyedit, mostly unobjectionable comma addition: "incorrect revision"
 * grammar: "incorrect revision" (to be fair, this one is subtle and the mistake is understandable)
 * addition with research article cited (albeit with a bare URL): "No reliable source" (Context: second attempt by editor, after previous edit was rejected by a different reviewer, who helpfully pointed the user to WP:CITE and WP:RS.)
 * factually correct addition, non-BLP, easily verifiable by web search: "No reliable source"
 * factually correct, minor addition of game score, non-BLP, easily verifiable: "No reliable source" despite the whole paragraph originally being already unsourced.
 * replacing a picture of a bus with a similar one: "No reliable source"

And a few examples which should indeed have been rejected, but the reason given was faulty:


 * good faith addition of a link to "See also" section not needed, as subject already covered in the article. "No reliable source"
 * good faith addition of item to disambiguation page (×2). Band has no article and likely not notable, but easy to verify that it exists. "No reliable source" -- disambig pages don't require citations.
 * obvious vandalism, but rejection reason was "No reliable source" rather than something about vandalism

Gardenkur favors rejection reasons like "correction improper", "not corrrect", "incorrect revision", "No reliable source", using them in bulk. I understand the need for having standard responses for common situations, but these are particularly terse and unhelpful to new and inexperienced editors, in contrast to other examples where I've seen reviewers write a tailored edit summary or include links to relevant guidelines. No attempt is made to contact users whose edits have been rejected or reverted, welcome new users and help them learn the ropes. Combined with the examples above of incorrect rejections for faulty reasons, it gives the impression of a rote rubber-stamping approach without paying enough attention to each case. Furthermore, Gardenkur may be overreaching beyond the scope of pending changes (BLP, vandalism, copyvio), for instance trying to enforce verifiability, which is not required by WP:RPC. Reviewers may check at their discretion, but RPC does state if information is modified without a new source [...] you should not presume vandalism but check [...] existing source [or] search for one. Examples above show that Gardenkur does not give pending edits a fair chance, even in non-BLP contexts. Their instinctual response seems to be to delete, rather than consider making corrections or applying maintenance templates like citation needed.

Gardenkur said I will be careful in future but given their safeside remark I don't feel reassured that they actually understand why I find their approach objectionable. They've offered to approve my edits if I resubmit again, but that seems odd. Is there some technical impediment that prevents simply self-reverting the rejection?

Lastly, broadly speaking, looking at their Gardenkur's contribs and userpage does not inspire confidence that they have an adequate grasp of Wikipedia policies and guidelines to serve as a reviewer.

Thanks, 2406:3003:2077:1E60:C998:20C6:8CCF:5730 (talk) 03:47, 2 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Hi 2406:3003:2077:1E60:C998:20C6:8CCF:5730. I had a detailed look to your response here. I thank you for the research and time you took to understand the background. We do everything in the interest of Wikipedia as platform and many edits I saw were just a passing content without mention of the source. I cant point my action for each decision I took. I requested for apolgies and will be more caution for future. Every edit of mine comes with lot of thinking whether in my articles or any others. I too face lot of challenges in my articles whether in part or full but we have to work as team. I take every article of Wikipedia as ours and every editor as a team. However if a small issue is causing a big harm I leave it at the dicretion of good faith of administrators. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gardenkur (talk • contribs)
 * It's less specific mishits that concern me, but certain underlying bases. For example,, I would still like more detail on the but the user name was confusing and your refusal on those grounds being safeside. What specifically about the username made you feel it necessary to be especially cautious, as opposed to an edit from any other username that you don't recognise? Nosebagbear (talk) 10:53, 2 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Hi Nosebagbear. Thanks for your message. There are notices to me earlier 1. when an edit is made to increase counts 2. Edits not made through accounts 3. Edits which were controversial. Need to keep many things in mind while approving edits. Wikipedia being open and global platform as approver face risks both for approving and not approving. Appreciate if everyone understands. Thanks. Gardenkur (talk) 11:10, 2 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Apparently rejections can be self-reverted, and Gardenkur has done so after I'd raised the possibility ... but for only one out of the three edits in question. It feels like we're talking past each other and making little progress, so I've gone ahead and submitted undo edits for the other two cases, even though I would have really preferred not to (among other reasons, it might be mistaken for engaging in a revert war).
 * "I too face lot of challenges in my articles": @Gardenkur, this being the case, may I suggest you take things one step at a time, and focus on working on getting better at that with the help of your mentor first, before trying to take on more roles in patrolling and maintenance.
 * @Nosebagbear, I should probably have mentioned that four of the specific examples listed involved registered users. I think it shows a wider pattern of haphazard rejections that extends beyond only IP editors.
 * There are notices to me earlier... Sorry, I'm having difficulty parsing this due to a possible language barrier. Gardenkur, did someone (who?) tell you that pending changes reviewers are supposed to guard against these specific offences? Because I don't see anything like that in the PC reviewing guideline. If Gardenkur is using faulty criteria, and being too quick to ascribe bad intentions to editors that fit a certain profile in their mind, it would certainly explain how failed to properly assess changes before rejecting.
 * Question: is there a way to list accepted changes by a reviewer? Edit: found it.2406:3003:2077:1E60:C998:20C6:8CCF:5730 (talk) 10:36, 5 July 2022 (UTC)
 * — 2406:3003:2077:1E60:C998:20C6:8CCF:5730 (talk) 15:08, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Hi 2406:3003:2077:1E60:C998:20C6:8CCF:5730. Nice to see your reply. It will be a risky affair for anyone to approve edits if there is no good faith on approvers. I check every edits in details before approving or rejection. However, if iam not believed I cannot convince. I am not ascribing bad intentions to any editor or content but just was caution in doing so. As senior I can understand your regrets and leave it to you how you want me to proceed further. Thanks and have a nice day. Gardenkur (talk) 15:17, 4 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Okay, I found the review log, made a quick survey of a block of roughly ten accepts dating from around the time this thread was started, and spotted these issues:
 * New facts added to BLP lead with no source
 * Unexplained photo removal (repeat attempt after several prior reverts)
 * Copyvio, added material was lifted from the cited source
 * In an article that consistently uses US spelling "vapor", accepted change of one instance (out of over 20) to "vapour"
 * Addition of rumors not supported by preexisting source, no new source
 * LHT/RHT are defined at start of article and used throughout; replacing with left/right alters the meaning of captions. Removal of "Southern African Development Community" from caption removes important context.
 * I understand that reviewers do not take responsibility for the correctness of edits they accept, but up to four of these are precisely the things that PC is supposed to protect against. The other two are lesser issues, out of scope for PC, just examples that I believe could have been better handled differently. Comparing with the rejections listed earlier for "no reliable source", the examples of unsourced additions accepted here reveal a lack of consistency. Earlier, I'd thought there might be overreaching beyond the scope of PC but now it just looks a bit haphazard across the board.
 * @Gardenkur, it feels like we are continuing to experience barriers to communication here. You appeal to AGF, but no one has accused you of malicious intent or deliberately causing harm. I raised concerns about your reviewing, and this is an opportunity to discuss the reasoning behind your actions, but we've not been getting much to work with. In response to Nosebagbear's question regarding why my username warranted extra caution, we got a list of three broad criteria "notices to me earlier", two of which don't even apply to the situation. My query seeking clarification about the origins of those criteria has not been answered.
 * Unlike ordinary editors who don't hold maintenance or administrative roles, being a pending changes reviewer confers account privileges and comes with responsibilities. It is reasonable to expect that reviewers know certain policies and follow the reviewing guidelines. Sure, the policies can be complex, no one is expected to be perfect, and mistakes may happen from time to time. However in this case rather than an isolated mishap there may be a pattern and as Nosebagbear said certain underlying bases may be of concern.
 * Gardenkur, you've promised more caution for future multiple times, but it is difficult to be reassured by that since you've apparently already check every edits in details and put in a lot of thinking, yet made iffy judgement calls on the premise of just was caution in doing so or being safeside. That is why it is important for us to gain more clarity on what it means for you to "use more caution" or "be more careful". So let me try one more time:
 * Where did those notices to me earlier come from? Can you provide a link to them, so we can see why these are things that a reviewer should be cautious about?
 * Can you please elaborate in more detail on how you plan to do things differently in future?
 * — 2406:3003:2077:1E60:C998:20C6:8CCF:5730 (talk) 11:12, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Hi 2406:3003:2077:1E60:C998:20C6:8CCF:5730. Thanks for your detailed remarks above. Let me assure you of following below guidelines with more attention

1. Observing article edit changes.

2. Guidelines issued for us as reviewer.

3. General Wikipedia policies on Notability, reliable, independent, secondary sources.

4. Any other observations as the situations may warrant in the interest of Wikipedia.

Its not planning things differently but exercise of attention while reviewing.

If you have some suggestions to share, kindly do which can help me improve. Thanks again. Gardenkur (talk) 11:37, 5 July 2022 (UTC)


 * This answer mainly just restated what any reviewer should have been doing to begin with (points 2, 3), but Gardenkur's problematic reviewed changes (both accepts and rejects), as well as their own contrib history, are not indicative of an adequate understanding of relevant guidelines and policies. The additional line (point 4) other observations as the situations may warrant in the interest of Wikipedia is vague and seems to allow latitude for freestyling; which is worrying because of prior decisions that were made based on some arbitrary, unwritten criteria just to be safeside — this key concern still has not been addressed. Question about the provenance of the three "notices to me earlier" criteria has also yet to be answered. Seems like they just won't engage on the specifics (can't say I haven't tried).
 * Meanwhile in the past few days they've attracted the ire of another IP editor,, , as well as accepted 4 other dubious quality edits (out of 5 accepts in the past two days) that have had to be undone or reverted by others. If more caution or more attention has already been applied since the start of this discussion, I'm afraid I'm not seeing evidence of it.
 * If you have some suggestions: Yes, I have already suggested that you take things one step at a time and focus on working on dealing with your "face lot of challenges in my articles" for now. To put it very bluntly: that means to give up the reviewer role. You may be sincerely trying to help, but honestly, I don't think you are ready to take on maintenance responsibilities yet. It is not helpful if you keep making mistakes and other people have to take the time to fix it, or when you create a bad impression on new and unregistered editors. Concentrate on writing and editing for now, and gradually gain a better understanding of the policies first.
 * I have nothing else useful to add for now; seeking more input from third parties. @Nosebagbear or anyone else — please do chime in, because I just don't seem to be getting through.
 * I will wait a few more days but will consider petitioning AN regarding permissions removal if this discussion remains stalled.
 * Regards, —2406:3003:2077:1E60:C998:20C6:8CCF:5730 (talk) 16:03, 8 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi IP - I didn't come to a clearcut decision on whether to yank PCR (the specific decision by them to deny your changes based seemingly purely on a higher threat level ascribed to IP editors I do view as incorrect, however). By all means take it to AN/ANI for a broader audience and a specific request. Make sure to follow the rules for notification. You can also reference this discussion including my engagement if you're nervous that you'd get a complaint about taking it to AN. Nosebagbear (talk) 19:39, 8 July 2022 (UTC)

I worked extensively with them in 2022. They were very cooperative, well-intentioned, active, and not well-versed on how Wikipedia works. I've not watched them lately but circa 2022 IMO they shouldn't be doing PCR. North8000 (talk) 17:20, 13 September 2023 (UTC)

Quick query
When working PC, is 3RR in effect? Meaning can a reviewer conceivably deny 4 of the same edits? - FlightTime  ( open channel ) 18:36, 12 March 2023 (UTC)
 * You don't typically 'deny' an edit. You revert or undo it. That would be 4 reverts. -- zzuuzz (talk) 18:51, 12 March 2023 (UTC)
 * OK, not the best wording, so you say yes it applies .  -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 19:01, 12 March 2023 (UTC)

Declining?
So just how do I decline a pending edit? I didn't see anything on the document page on how to do this. Clicking Undo doesn't seem right, since it hasn't been published. Why isn't the answer to this in the FAQ? It seems like something editors would ask. Thanks. Praemonitus (talk) 04:47, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Only users with the pending changes reviewer user right can accept or decline pending edits (see the lead paragraph of the page). Reviewing pending changes has more details on the procedure for reviewing pending changes. Any editor can undo a change, of course, as part of regular copy editing. Pending changes are published in the sense that they are visible in the article history and are shown in the actual article to logged-in users. isaacl (talk) 05:22, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Then I should just ignore a pending change when it shows up in my watch list? In this case it was subtle vandalism. Praemonitus (talk) 14:19, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * If you think that the change was vandalism, you should revert it. Deor (talk) 14:58, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Sure, but for a normal editor like me I either wait for it to be reviewed then do a revert if necessary, or else I hit the undo and everybody sees it on their watch page. I think this should be made clear in the documentation. Praemonitus (talk) 15:22, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * If you undo a pending change, in other words revert back to a reviewed version, then the 'pending' bit goes away (from watchlists etc). Isaacl says above that only those with the PC rights can decline a pending change. This is a bit misleading - when someone with the rights declines a change, it is virtually indistinguishable from clicking on 'undo'. If you undo a pending change, you're declining the change. -- zzuuzz (talk) 15:37, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the clarification; I was only thinking of the workflow through the pending changes UI. If there were other edits by confirmed/autoconfirmed users after the one by a non-logged-in user, and the non-logged-in user's edit is reverted, will the subsequent edits also be accepted? isaacl (talk) 15:54, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * It's a good question and I don't know the answer. I want to say yes, but I'd want to see it in action before doing that. -- zzuuzz (talk) 16:18, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Regular editors should just edit the page in the same way they would edit any page, as if pending changes didn't exist. Whether or not you wait for the change to be reviewed doesn't alter the edit history: the reviewer would also be undoing the edit in order to decline it. (Reviewers have an extra responsibility when editing a page under pending changes protection, as any edits they make will automatically accept preceding pending changes.) isaacl (talk) 15:48, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Declining?
Maybe I am mistaken, but as an IP editor I've noticed a decline in use of WP:WHITELOCK in favor of WP:SILVERLOCK, over the last couple of years. Can anyone confirm this, are there page counts for these two by year? This is a shame, because it makes Wikipedia less open and less inviting; there seems to be a growing divide between IP editors and (auto)confirmed registered users. --2001:1C06:19CA:D600:7BB1:ECF5:7FBE:B5A1 (talk) 08:38, 2 September 2023 (UTC)


 * I completely agree, though I don't have any additional information. NotAGenious (talk) 13:51, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 *  Millows!  &#124; 🪧 16:29, 13 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Huh, odd. Trying to paste something into the editor on mobile view makes it not show up. Anyway,

As of the time of writing, there are: In 2018, there were: (2019)
 * 3,689 pages under pending changes protection (pc)
 * 14,065 pages under semi-protection (sp)
 * 3,477 pages under pc
 * 8,656 pages under sp
 * 3,477 pc
 * 8,656 sp

(2020)
 * 3,559 pc
 * 10,987 sp

(2021)
 * 3,921 pc
 * 12,919 sp

(2022)
 * 3,921 pc
 * 13,378 sp

On average, 1,055 new pages become semi-protected every year (excluding this year), and 44.4 new pages become under pending changes protection. As for why it's preferred to semi-protect, I have no idea. I think pending changes should be preferred, in order to allow the encyclopedia to be free for anyone to edit, while still having protection.  Millows!  &#124; 🪧 16:33, 13 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Protected articles that use pending changes really have become rare. It's almost all semi-protected now. This concept seems to have more or less failed, unfortunately. --62.166.252.25 (talk) 14:27, 26 April 2024 (UTC)