Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum:Vandalism
Vandalism is the intentional editing of articles in a malicious manner with the aim of disrupting the Lexicanum or the work of its contributors. It includes the addition, removal, or modification of text, images or other material that is either "humorous", nonsensical, a hoax, or that is of an offensive, humiliating, or otherwise degrading nature. Removing large chunks of text without comment or intentional falsifying of information also counts as vandalism.
What to do if you find vandalism
If you find the work of a vandal or your own work has fallen victim to vandalism don't worry, all changes can be cancelled in less time than it took the vandal to do the damage. So while of course vandalism can be a minor nuissance, it is one that can be efficiently and harshly dealt with.
"Repair" vandalised articles
Each registered member of the Lexicanum can cancel/ revert vandalism by following these steps:
- Click on the article's tab called "history" (also known as "Revision history") at the top of the page.
- If no changes have been made to the article since it was vandalised simply click on "Rollback" at the end of the current version and you are done, the last pre-vandalism version has been automatically restored. You can also use the "Undo" function which will open the article page in editing mode, so you can manually change the affected paragraphs before manually saving the de-vandalised version.
- If (legitimate) changes have been made to the article after a vandalism incident you first have to locate a version without the vandalism in it by clicking on the dates prior to the vandalised version. Then click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the page and copy the unvandalised paragraphs of the text you need and edit them in in a new version of the article (i.e. you overwrite the vandalised parts). ATTENTION: If you get a warning message saying: "NOTE: You are working on an older version of this article. If you store all newer versions will be overwritten." you are trying to edit an old version of the article. Saving this old version would overwrite all later changes, including the legitimate ones and should therefore be avoided (unless you really know what you are doing).
- It is enough to write Vandalism as the editing summary, but you can write more like "Reverted to version of 12:34, 31 July 2008 Vandalism" or "re-established last changes by User: User name".
- Click 'Save page'
It is often a good idea to also check the pages linked to in that article, as vandals are often lazy and just follow these links. In addition - since only registered users are allowed to actually edit articles - the other contributions of the "vandal" should be checked. These can be easily found by clicking on "contribs" behind the User name in the Revision history overview.
Before or after "repairing" the vandalized articles you should report the vandal to a Lexicanum Administrator or a Bureaucrat who will swiftly and harshly deal with the offending user. The quicker you report vandalism, the quicker it can be stopped and the less temporary damage a vandal is able to do.
Sometimes users (be it new or old hands) unintentionally damage articles - be it because they do not yet know how to correctly edit an article or simply by clicking on a wrong button - accidents do happen! In these cases it can make sense to first ask the suspected "vandal" if he/ she is aware of what he/ she has done (click on the User name and then the discussion tab). This obviously only makes sense if there really is reason to assume their acts were unintentional - when in doubt, just check the user's contributions, it should be quite easy to identify real vandalism.