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Forums: Index > Rin's Travel Agency > Archive > A flood of vandals.


Red13
60px-Gregorio.jpg

If we blocked anyone without a user account, fewer new users would show up. Hell, when you first came here did you create an account immediately? Or did you just toy around with it has an anon before deciding if it was worth it? Such a thing would repel casual editors. Exdeath64 08:31, December 19, 2009 (UTC)

Anons are the people who read the wiki. They find the errors, they find the vandalism, they correct the wiki. IPs also create the vandalism. But if users are any good at watching RC, at least one user will check each IP edit. Sometimes multiple people do one, other times edits go unnoticed. Meh.

IPs help the wiki. They also destroy it. But then humans help other people, and other humans kill people. Should we kill the human race?  ILHI 11:53, December 19, 2009 (UTC)

New Idea. Zero vandalism tolerance. One act of vandalism = permaban. Good idea? FaythOfFenrir 18:38, December 19, 2009 (UTC)

No. ミランダウエツド 18:45, December 19, 2009 (UTC)

Nah, that would just piss people off. Besides, not all new users know the rules and may accidentally violate some of our policies. As for destroying humanity, if you can waste six billion people all at once, more power to you. Exdeath64 20:10, December 19, 2009 (UTC)

Okay. How about permanent bans for certain types of vandalism? Things like Blanking a page and replacing content with something like "This game sux lolololo". FaythOfFenrir 22:52, December 19, 2009 (UTC)

There are a number of reasons we don't do that. Blanking can be caused by simple error, or as part of rewriting an article. We also try not to bite the newbies for their mistakes. A policy of permabanning people for a single act of vandalism makes the wiki seem unwelcoming. Finally, IPs may be used by one person, and it would be unfair to ban all of them after only one act.
A permanent ban seems a little much for a single act. A warning or short ban would discourage those who weren't driven only to vandalise, while those who have joined simply for the sake of vandalising are easily spotted and will be banned quite shortly.
ILHI is right about anons: they represent the majority of our readers, and often help fix up mistakes. Stopping them from editing "a wiki anyone can edit" discourages people from signing up. Furthermore, I find that the most annoying vandals are those with accounts (HAGGER?, anyone?). In the event of vandalism, you revert and move on, contacting an admin or Wikia if needed. Why the fuss? — YuanSalve!Acta 23:19, December 19, 2009 (UTC)
Yes. IP vandals are usually passers by who just make one vandalism for a cheap laugh. People who sign up to destroy the wiki are clearly not just passing by. Users like HAGGER?, and there are quite a few more who I forget the names of, are WikiVandals, who are famous upon many wikis for vandalising. So by signing up they have an identity and a connection to the legend they are everywhere else. Though most wikis (or at least good wikis) are on Wikia and Wikia end up banning them across the entirety of Wikia.  ILHI 00:02, December 20, 2009 (UTC)
These current IPs are obviously the same guy though. Diablocon 14:21, December 20, 2009 (UTC)
I don't think we should ban the IPs for an infinite amount of time, though. This spammer has access to seemingly unlimited IPs, so a permaban on one is not going to inhibit his (or her) ability to continue spamming. I'd suggest a 1-3 month long ban; hopefully the string of spamming will cease by then. 8bit 18:08, December 20, 2009 (UTC)

I've noticed that we have locked some pages, such as Terra Branford and Tifa Lockheart, so that only registered users can edit them. This is just a crazy thought, and I doubt that the FFWiki will experience such circumstances as these, but if the number of committed acts of vandalism goes down across the site, can we release the User-only lock on some of the pages? I know that they are there for a reason, but it doesn't seem fair that we are punishing the anonymous users who are not vandals or trolls. Violetmage♥ 15:27, December 21, 2009 (UTC)

Commander Kain Highwind
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