Wikitroid:Patrollers

RC patrolling is a system which provides a last defense against spam and vandalism, requiring that edits be reviewed for spam and vandalism and either be approved or reverted.

The patroller userright allows users to take advantage of the RC patrolling system (administrators have this ability included in their "sysop" userright). The two specific permissions the patroller userright adds are:
 * 1) Ability to view the list of edits that have not been patrolled (called the "patrol queue") and the ability to mark edits and new pages as patrolled.
 * 2) Users with the patrollers userright automatically have their own edits patrolled


 * Note: Some content on this page may apply to both administrators and patrollers, as opposed to just patrollers. This will be noted if this is the case.

Minimum Requirements
Because the patroller userright can be abused (for example, edits that are marked as patrolled are generally not checked by other patrollers or administrators), its use is more strictly controlled. To gain the patroller userright, you must:
 * 1) Have been an active editor for at least three months (to ensure at least basic familiarity with wiki policies)
 * 2) Have at least 500 edits (for the same reason)
 * 3) Must not have any recent significant policy violations or blocks (at the discretion of the bureaucrat reviewing the request for patroller permissions)
 * 4) Must have the rollbacker userright (if you don't already have this, it will be granted if you are granted patroller rights)
 * 5) Must demonstrate consistent use of proper English spelling and grammar (see the list of things patrollers should do, below)

Patrolling

 * This section contains information that pertains to patrollers and administrators.
 * Patrollers are welcome to update/clarify/enhance/edit these instructions as they see fit.

Patrollers have two best friends. Their first is Special:RecentChanges. This is the interface from which most edits will be patrolled. There are many ways one could go about patrolling, but here is a good method. (This method assumes that you have enabled Enhanced Recent Changes (this is recommended) in your preferences under the, well, Recent Changes tab (look for the Use enhanced recent changes (requires JavaScript) checkbox).)

First, an introduction to understanding Enhanced Recent Changes (if you already use ERC and are familiar with it, you can safely skip this part): Enhanced Recent Changes groups multiple edits to a page together, sorted in chronological order, with the most recently edited page appearing first. Under Enhanced Recent Changes, a single edit to a page looks like this: " ! 01:09  Ripper‎ (diff; hist) . . (+88) . . 24.131.88.103 (Talk) (→ Trivia: )" There's nothing very special about this. Clicking "diff" takes you to the edit's diff, "hist" takes you to the page's history, etc.

And a group of edits are collapsed together like this: "http://images.wikia.com/common/skins/common/images/Arr_r.png ! 00:47  Talk:K.G. Misawa‎‎ (4 changes; hist) . . (+986)  . . [Dazuro‎ (2×); Dr.Pancake‎ (2×)]|undefined" Now, this is where users new to Enhanced Recent Changes may get confused. They see the "4 changes" bit, but only see one entry. That's because the four changes have been collapsed together. First, a little explanation of what this means: This shows that the page Talk:K.G. Misawa has been edited four times, twice by User:Dazuro and twice by User:Dr.Pancake, and that the most recent edit took place at 00:47. Clicking the link "n changes" (where n is the number of edits being grouped together, in this case 4) shows an aggregate diff displaying the difference between the page before the edits and after the edits, skipping all the edits made in between. And, of course, aggregate diffs cannot be patrolled, as they encompass multiple edits and may not tell the whole story. Note that the red exclamation point here indicates that one or more edits in this group have not yet been patrolled.

To expand a group of edits, all you have to do is click the http://images.wikia.com/common/skins/common/images/Arr_r.png button, which results in something like this: http://images.wikia.com/common/skins/common/images/Arr_d.png ! 00:47  Talk:K.G. Misawa‎‎ (4 changes; hist). .  (+986)  . . [Dazuro‎ (2×); Dr.Pancake‎ (2×)]

 !  00:47 (cur; prev). . (+215) . . Dr.Pancake (Talk | contribs) (→ No screen time: )

 !  00:43 (cur; prev). . (+178) . . Dazuro (Talk | contribs) (→ No screen time: )

 ! </tt> 00:31</tt> (cur; prev). . (+322) . . Dr.Pancake (Talk | contribs) (→ No screen time: )

 ! </tt> 00:06</tt> (cur; prev). . (+271) . . Dazuro (Talk | contribs) (→ No screen time: ) Now you can patrol the individual edits by clicking the "prev" links which takes you to the edit's diff. Also note that clicking the timestamp in one of the individual edits takes you to the page as it was immediately after that edit.

Instructions for patrolling:
 * Note: It is recommended that you patrol edits in a separate browser window.


 * Open Special:RecentChanges, of course


 * 1) To patrol the backlog, at the top of Special:RecentChanges, first select Hide patrolled edits, then select 500 for Show last (which will display up to 500 edits per page of Special:RecentChanges. Once this is done, disable AJAX Recent Changes by unchecking the AJAX box at the top of the page (it only gets in the way when clearing the backlog).
 * 2) If you're using Enhanced Recent Changes, expand all the grouped edits on the page by clicking on all the http://images.wikia.com/common/skins/common/images/Arr_r.png s
 * 3) To patrol edits, click on the "diff" or "prev" link associated with an edit. Review the diff, then find the [Mark as patrolled] button towards the top of the page on the right side, or use the [rollback] button to revert vandalism.
 * Note that you should only edit the page, using rollback or otherwise, after you have patrolled all the revisions to the page, and make sure you are editing the most recent revision of the page, which is easily ensured by opening the article itself then clicking the Edit button. Be wary of the "You are editing an old revision of this page. If you save it, any changes made since then will be removed." warning, as it means what it says.
 * 1) Remember to correct grammar on a page and perform other checks (see below).
 * 2) To patrol page creations, which are denoted by a bold N on Special:RecentChanges:
 * 3) If the page creation is the only edit to a page, click the page's title, review the page, then find and click the small [Mark page as patrolled] link at the bottom of the page. If the page creation is not OK, mark the edit as patrolled and follow standard speedy deletion procedures.
 * 4) If the new page is subsequently edited, it will appear as part of a grouped edit. After expanding it, click on the timestamp of the entry of the page creation (denoted with the bold N) and follow the same steps.
 * 5) Repeat until all edits are patrolled. Then, refresh Special:RecentChanges, and repeat the entire process again until there are no edits left.

Patrolling current edits works much the same way. Essentially, after the backlog is cleared, just patrol edits as they are made (note that you should check the AJAX box at the top of RecentChanges to reenable AJAX Recent Changes when you're doing this, as this is what AJAX RC is very convenient for). Patrollers can also monitor the IRC RecentChanges feed for edits. Edits in the feed that need to be patrolled are marked with a red exclamation point, like this (note that colors rendered by your IRC client may vary slightly): "" And, of course, this is a live feed: Edits appear in the recentchanges IRC channel as they happen, and one can simply click on the diff link to patrol that edit.

It is also strongly recommended that patrollers and administrators coordinate their efforts in our main IRC channel. This helps prevent wasted effort on patrolling the same edit multiple times, and makes the job easier and faster. You can also see who is patrolling edits by looking at the RecentChanges IRC feed for "patrol" log entries (which you will recognize when you see one), and the bot will send messages to the main IRC channel when someone starts or stops patrolling edits (for example,  and

Job Description

 * This section and all sub-sections contain information that pertains to patrollers and administrators.

Patrollers are expected to make certain checks, and asked to make other checks when patrolling edits.

'''Remember that patrolling is a time consuming process. If you are not willing to spend this time patrolling, do not request the patroller userright (note that administrators are given more leniency in this respect as patrolling is the only aspect to being an administrator, although it is still important). Patrollers are expected to clear the patrol queue of edits waiting to be patrolled and are expected to patrol thoroughly, and not just patrol the five or six edits at the top of the queue.''' It is recommended that patrollers attempt to coordinate their efforts with other patrollers and administrators on IRC. It is always recommended that patrollers patrol older edits before newer ones.

What Patrollers MUST Do
This is a list of checks a patroller MUST make when patrolling edits. MUST means MUST, patrollers must make these checks or else they may lose their patrolling rights.
 * Check the edit for vandalism or spam
 * If the edit is spam or vandalism, use the rollback function to revert the edit(s). Note that rollbacking will automatically mark the reverted edits as patrolled.  Remember that rollback is not to be used if the edit(s) being reverted are not spam, vandalism, etc..
 * If a new page is created that is entirely vandalism or spam, patrollers should patrol the page creation (and subsequent edits) and blank the page and tag the page for speedy deletion if not already done so (remember that when blanking a vandalism-only page, the speedy deletion tag should not be removed). Patrollers should remember to include Vandalism or Spam as the reason for requesting speedy deletion (e.g., using {&#123;d|Spam-only page&#125;} or {&#123;d|Vandalism-only page&#125;}.  Administrators may simply delete these pages outright instead of patrolling them or edits to them.
 * Check for edit warring. If edit warring is taking place on a page, ask the editors that are warring to stop and use the talk page.  If they do not stop, ask an administrator to protect the page, but remember to keep patrolling edits, preferably as they happen, which is less stressful than letting them build up for patrolling later.  Adminsitrators may simply protect the page at their discretion.
 * For new pages, check to see if the page is fanon. If it is, tag it for speedy deletion with "fanon" as the reason, or if you're an administrator, simply delete the page.
 * If you notice an article category being added to a userpage (e.g., Category:Characters), remove it*

* Ok, this is listed as a required check, because you really should do it, but it's not like you'll lose your patroller rights if you miss it. Patrollers are merely in a very good position to do this. Usually, it's safe to focus on user page creations that include an infobox, such as Template:Infobox Character.

What Patrollers SHOULD Do
This is a list of checks a patroller SHOULD make when patrolling edits. Patrollers are recommended to make these checks; however, patrolling is not intended to substitute for editing of other users, so these are not absolutely required.
 * Check the edit for proper spelling, grammar, structure, etc.
 * Check the edit for Manual of Style errors (such as italicizing game names and bolding the subject's name in the first sentence) and POV errors
 * If you recognize the edit as plagiarism, it can usually be safely reverted, with a request for the user to indicate the source of the writing made on the user's talk page.
 * If you recognize the edit as fanon, you may revert it. However, do not edit war over this.  If the user reverts your revert, ask them on their talk page or ask another experienced user.

What Patrollers CAN Do
This is a list of checks a patroller CAN make when patrolling edits. Patrollers CAN make these checks; however, they can take some time, and they may not always be performable. Again, regular user interaction with articles is not to be substituted by patrolling.
 * Check the edit for accuracy, but only if you're knowledgeable in the field.
 * If the edit is baseless speculation, remove it

Process
Any Bureaucrat is able to grant and revoke the patroller userright. However, a user must request it on this page before it can be granted to them.

Any editor in good standing may request the patroller userright on this page. Remember that you must meet the minimum requirements. To request patroller rights, type  Your Username </tt> under "Current requests", below. Please do not copy and paste from existing requests.

Any editor may comment on the requests.

Requesting removal of rollback
If a user is using their patroller rights in an inappropriate manner (e.g., marking vandalism as patrolled and then leaving it), any Bureaucrat can remove the patroller right (and should most definitely contact the user in this sort of situation).

If you wish the patroller userright to be removed from your own account, just ask any Bureaucrat.

Bureaucrats

 * These are instructions for bureaucrats reviewing requests for the patroller userright.


 * 1) First of all, make sure that the user requested the userright correctly. Examples of incorrect requests are placing their request in the "Archived requests" section (as opposed to the "current requests") section and improperly filling out the template.  If the user did not request the userright correctly, the request should be denied.
 * 2) Make sure that the user has fulfilled the minimum requirements for having the userright.
 * 3) When grating the patroller userright using Special:UserRights, remember to grant the user rollback if they do not already have it.
 * 4) When reviewing requests, remove completed requests (granted or denied) to the Archived Requests section indicating your decision, and notifying the requesting user on their talk page.

The RfP template has several parameters that are to be used by Bureaucrats. When reviewing a request:
 * 1) Set the  argument to yes if the user meets the age minimum requirement.
 * 2) Set the  argument to yes if the user meets the number of edits minimum requirement.
 * 3) Set the  argument to yes if the user meets the "no recent blocks or major policy violations" requirement.
 * 4) *If you want to explain your answer to, set   to your reason for indicating that the candidate either passed or failed the no blocks requirement (for example, "the recent block is small enough to be ignored", etc.)
 * 5) Set the  argument to the resolution (indicate whether or not you granted the patroller right here, and also sign using four tildes here).