This page shows how to counter vandalism in Commons.

Good faith and vandalism edit

When patrolling for vandalism, you may often come across edits which are unhelpful, but not vandalism - these are good faith edits. It is important to recognise the difference between a vandalism edit and a good faith edit. Please read COM:AGF and COM:VAND.

Some good faith edits: 1, 2, 3

Some vandalism edits: 4, 5, 6

Make sure you keep in mind that some edits that seem like vandalism can be test edits. This happens when a new user is experimenting and makes accidental unconstructive edits. Generally, these should be treated with good faith.

Warning and reporting edit

There are several warning templates you can warn users for vandalism. They are {{Test1}}, {{Test2}}, {{Test3}} and {{Test4}}. They are from level 1 to 4, for increasing severity. After you noticed a user had done something wrong, don't forget to message the user about it. The user might improve his/her behaviour after reading a friendly notice. When a user receives a level 4 warning and vandalises again, you can report him/her at COM:AN/V.

Protection edit

At times, when a file or page gets heavily vandalised by many anonymous users, you can request for the page to be protected at COM:AN/P. Protecting pages are additional measures that can be used to prevent and deal with vandalism. Only an administrator can protect pages. However, anyone can request protection.

Deletion edit

Speedy deletion edit

When you notice a page or talk page which is vandalism, test page and etc, you can nominate the page for speedy deletion. Simply put {{speedydelete|reason here}} on top of the page. You can also nominate pages which are out of project scope for speedy deletion as well.

Regular deletion edit

Images that are out of project scope can be nominated for regular deletion. Examples include personal unused photos and files that are not educationally useful. The normal duration for regular deletion requests is seven days, though in some cases it would take longer than seven days.

Username policy edit

Commons has a policy which details the types of usernames which users are permitted to have. Usernames that are inappropriate for editing on Commons may be blocked. These names include an attempt to advertise, such as a company or group name, or names that are intended to disrupt. There are four kinds of usernames that are specifically disallowed:

  • Promotional usernames that are used to promote a group or company.
  • Disruptive usernames, this includes outright trolling or personal attacks, or show a clear intent to disrupt.
  • Misleading usernames that may give the impression that the account has authority it does not have. Usernames should not contain the terms "administrator", "bureaucrat", "steward", "checkuser", "oversight", "developer", "bot" or similar terms meaning the same thing like "admin", "sysop" or "moderator".
  • Offensive usernames that make harmonious editing difficult or impossible.

Note - Commons is a multi-lingual project. Names of users in one language may appear offensive in another language, but are perfectly acceptable if they make sense in the language of the user's speaking.

Please read COM:UPOLICY, which talks about usernames that are not allowed in Commons and how to deal with inappropriate usernames.

Tools edit

See also edit