SysopEdits

Moderator Page

I thought that perhaps the moderators should have somewhere to discuss certain guidelines, particularly with respect to blocks/bans etc. In my opinion this is better than all of us having different views on what to do!

Any thoughts? Add them below if you want. I've made it so that only sysops can edit this page - it may also be an idea to add it to your watchlist so you can easily see what's going on.

Blocks/bans

These should only really be used in serious circumstances, such as vandalism. In HowToEdit it clearly states that "Anyone posting derogatory, offensive or blatantly insulting comments will be banned for one day", which I think is clear enough. For 'serial offenders' three days may be better. Also, reasons should be given for blocking someone.

Blocking someone for making blank pages does seem slightly harsh, so a warning is often better in my opinion. Furthermore there is a warning on the main page so there's no excuse I guess!

Chris 14:08, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Blocking people for making one bad edit (which they may not even know is wrong) is just going to force people away. I've tried to ask people to stop (see here); and they usually do. Obviously this is harder with an IP; but then just put it as a note on the Main Page.

You can easily see how many times someone's been blocked too; so just use your judgement.

Also, I've made this page as a draft for users to request moderators to do anything - what do you think before it's copied over?

Jonny 17:10, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

It's a good idea but personally I don't imagine it'll get much use - I've never been asked to reinstate a page so I doubt anyone would pay it much attention. But you could certainly stick it on the main page and prove me wrong! Chris 17:16, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Ha, well, I was only thinking of the future :P (amazing I know!) I'll put it on then and see how many views it gets. Jonny 17:21, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Guidelines

I had a think of this while I was at parent's evening tonight. How about if we say (using 'vandalism' as an umbrella term for everything we don't want):

• For minor vandalism (i.e. moving pages, blanking pages, creating blank pages etc.) from a user, we firstly ask them to stop, then secondly warn them they'll be banned if they continue then ban them for 1 day/3 days/1 week/and so on...

• For minor vandalism from IP addresses, we rollback the first one then if they do it again (easy to check what contributions they've made) block them in escalating bans, this time starting from 3 days.

• For major vandalism (i.e. pages that insult people, changing redirects to different pages, attacking "important" pages like the main page etc.) from a user, we do a one-day ban immediately and leave a message on their talk page for when they're unbanned. Then the bans just escalate normally.

• For major vandalism from an IP address, it's a straight 3 day ban and then from there to one month if they do it again.

What I was thinking was: if you're changing redirects or creating insulting pages, you obviously want to disrupt the wiki; whereas blanking pages or moving them could just be a mistake by someone not familiar with the software. And let's be honest, it doesn't take more than about five seconds to rollback a page or move it back; so there's no big work invovled.

Obviously there's grey areas here; but it's not hard to use your judgement.

Jonny ^{talk • mod} 20:41, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

How to make your signature awesome

I only just realised you could do this.

1. Go to 'Preferences'
2. Check the 'Use raw signatures' box.
3. In the 'nickname' box, type your name + a link (as you want it to appear). e.g [[User:Jonathan Parton|Jonny]]
4. Follow it with <sup> .
5. Put something like [[Special:Listusers/sysop|mod]]. Or whatever you want to appear.
6. Type </sup>.
7. Press save.
8. Whenever you sign, it now comes up like this: Jonny ^mod 17:37, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Genius! Chris ^mod