The counter-vandalism training program is designed to help new and/or inexperienced users who wish to assist with maintenance tasks to understand the basic principles of countering vandalism on Wikipedia, and to introduce the various 3rd party applications and helper scripts available to users with sufficient experience.
The motto of the Counter Vandalism Unit is Civility – Maturity – Responsibility.
Experienced Wikipedians (or trainers in this instance) can "adopt" newer users, mentoring them along the way as they learn about Counter-Vandalism. It is hoped that this program will be able to inform new users about the ins and outs of vandalism and steer them away from making errors in the use of tools and incorrectly identifying vandalism.
If you are looking to contribute to Wikipedia but do not intend to remain active in vandalism reversion, then this program is not for you. C-V training is for users who intend to be long-term contributors and members of the community, so if you are simply here to work towards obtaining permission to use various tools that you will not regularly employ, see this page for help instead and do not request training.
Users who are neither new nor inexperienced, but who would still like to help maintain the quality of the encyclopedia, might like to consider patrolling new pages instead – an essential function that requires a high degree of knowledge of notability guidelines and deletion.
Check that you have already made sufficient mainspace edits (generally around 200) and that you have addressed any previous advice or warnings about your editing.
Find a user who is in your time zone or otherwise has student slots open and leave a message on their talk page to request training. If you don't receive a reply within 48 hours, please choose another trainer.
Participation
Students
Learning about Counter-Vandalism is easy and fun. If you'd like an experienced user to show you how, simply choose an active trainer from the list who is in your time zone and leave a message on their talk page.
Your chosen trainer should share your interests so that they can comfortably assist you while you learn under their tutelage. For more information on what you will be expected to learn, visit the Syllabus section.
Trainers
If you are an experienced user and have time to devote to being a trainer, visit the Trainers' resources section where you will find the minimum requirement for trainers, recommended practice, and teaching suggestions and examples. You may then wish to add yourself to the list of active trainers taking note of the page source comments.
You will be interested to know that occasionally some candidates for training may be university professors taking part in the Wikipedia Education Program.
Goals
If you're new and/or inexperienced, before embarking on a Counter-Vandalism training programme, you should be able to demonstrate that you have already mastered the basic principles of editing the encyclopedia and contributed at least 200 edits to MAINSPACE. If you have previously been warned or requested to follow guidelines, you should have demonstrated that you have addressed these issues.
When you have shown through training that you have mastered the principles of Counter-Vandalism and can apply them with accuracy, and can communicate correctly and effectively with new users of all kinds you may be able to apply for permission to use restricted tools, such as for example Rollback, that will enable you to semi-automate the process, while understanding that speed alone is not essential – the target is accuracy. When you have achieved these goals, you can display the {{User CVU0-en}} userbox on your user page.
The appropriate time to file a report to AIV, and when it is too soon to do so
Cannot describe all concepts at an in-depth level that demonstrates knowledge and proficiency with them
Does not understand the key purpose of reverting vandalism
Unable to differentiate the difference between vandalism and good faith edits
Does not understand why civility must be demonstrated at all times.
Cannot properly define Wikipedia's edit warring and 3RR policies, and the exemptions
Incorrectly describes when they should report a user to AIV, or demonstrates that they might do so too soon in situations
Can concisely describe each of these concepts in-depth and at a level where they show full understanding and proficient knowledge.
Correctly and concisely describes the importance of the assumption of good faith and consistently remaining civil - even in heated situations
Can describe the proper use of warning templates and how to correctly make an AIV submission, as well as when to do so.
Critical Thinking
The ability to locate relevant logs and edit histories of pages regarding past situations
The ability to follow contributions, edit histories, and relevant logs and links in order to gather information and a timeline about a past event
The ability to correctly and properly review and compare past edits, reversions, diffs, logs, and subsequent actions
The ability to identify whether such edits were correctly identified as vandalism or good faith edits, or misidentified as something else
Cannot locate a page's logs, edit history, an editor's contributions, public logs, or activity
Cannot demonstrate how to review and compare diffs, page histories, logs, and put together a series of events
Cannot correctly follow contributions and links in order to gather all relevant information at a consistent level
Does not correctly or fully piece together an event's timeline, or misidentifies or incorrectly draws conclusions from the information gathered
Can identify information, as well as navigate to page histories, logs, contributions, and public data
Shows proficiency with taking an edit, log, or contribution, and piece together all details and relevant information to form a timeline of events
Correctly describes an event from start to finish and using accurate and relevant information and evidence that they retrieved from logs, contributions, and histories
Correctly identifies whether the edit was vandalism or bad-faith, or if it was not - and if the situation was appropriately handled and followed relevant policies and guidelines
Communication
The importance of effective communication with other editors regarding reversions, and how to do so
The importance of backing up statements and supporting them with relevant diffs and references to relevant policy
The importance of taking responsibility for one's actions and mistakes
How to respond in a positive manner and offer users help when necessary - even in heated and angry situations
Communicates inconsistently with editors via talk page comments or in response to editors who question or challenge their reversions
Fails to reference relevant diffs or Wikipedia policy pages in responses that refer to past edits or that state a policy
Does not demonstrate civility in all situations; gives defensive, dismissive, or accusatory replies instead of offering to help
Refuses to apologize or correct any mistakes that were made
Jumps to conclusions in responses to criticism; is not open to feedback or opportunities to improve communication
Does not use effective or helpful methods to diffuse heated situations or solutions to conflict
Communicates in a polite and professional manner with other editors at all times
Avoids biting other editors and harsh comments or unnecessary criticism
References and provides links to diffs and appropriate policies in responses where they are mentioned or referred to
Apologizes when mistakes are brought to their attention, and correctly rectifies the mistake when possible
Does not make accusatory statements, and gains relevant information to make responses instead of making assumptions
Application
Effectively applies the concepts and tools of vandalism fighting in a productive and proficient manner.
Is inconsistent in use of warning on user talk pages or uses incorrect warning templates
Has reverted fewer than 50 instances of vandalism in the two weeks prior to graduation – or – has reverted more than 50 instances of vandalism with a high degree of incorrect reversions.
Demonstrates proficiency in performing reversions, either manually or with a tool (Twinkle, etc.).
Consistently leaves the correct messages on vandal's talk page explaining the reversion, and is able to further explain to the vandal their reasoning behind the reversion if prompted.
Has accurately reverted at least 50 instances of vandalism in the two weeks prior to graduation.
Welcome! I'm happy to help you started with counter-vandalism, an important aspect of keeping Wikipedia as clean and neutral as possible. Feel free to leave a message at my talk page.
I am active in counter-vandalism and can teach you a lot about different tools, how to warn users, and how to identify vandalism. I also enjoy teaching others. Happy editing!
Trainers' resources (for trainers only)
General Practices
Academy Page
It is recommended to create student's own "academy page", as a subpage of your talk, i.e. User talk:Example/CVUA/Example.
You are free to teach however you like – the goal is that the student will have demonstrated knowledge and use of all the points in the syllabus
What should you do if a user who has received a level 4 or 4im warning vandalises again?
Please give examples of three warnings that you might need to use while vandal patrolling and explain what they are used for.
Find and revert some vandalism. Warn each user appropriately, using the correct kind of warning and level. Posts the diffs of those warnings below.
Find an edit which could be a test edit and revert it. Warn the user with the most appropriate template, then post the diff below.
Report 2 users to AIV and post the diffs below. Be sure to follow the guidelines and only report users where necessary; do not report simply for the sake of this task.
Why do we deny recognition to trolls and vandals?
How can you tell between a good faith user asking why you reverted their edit, and a troll trying to harass you?
In what circumstances should a page be semi-protected?
In what circumstances should a page be fully protected?
In what circumstances should a page be speedy deleted?
Correctly tag one page for speedy deletion and post the diff below.
Correctly request the protection of one page (semi, salt or full); post the diff of your request (from WP:RPP) below.
Adopt-a-User A mentorship program for new users who are interested in learning more about Wikipedia.
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