Changes

{{policy}}There are basically to two types of vandalism -- manual and automated. Because this wiki is regularly maintained and Admins frquently frequently check the [[Special:RecentChanges]], manual vandalism typically gets taken care of very quickly. What we are more concerned about is vandalism automated by vandalbots. A vandalbot is a script which automatically performs some kind of edit or similar operation to the wiki. Because of the speed with which they work, they can do a lot of damage, and this damage can take time to fix. It is a sad fact that as our traffic and popularity has increased so have the automated attacks.

The first step is notification. If you notice an automated attack occuring occurring and are not a Sysop, please let one of the [[Special:Listusers/sysop|Sysops]] know immediately, either by leaving a note on their User_talk page, or, for quicker results, by clicking the "E-mail this user" link on their user page.

'''Nov. 5, 2005''' - Prompted by another attack, we've begun using the [http://www.ioerror.us/software/bad-behavior/ Bad Behavior extension] for MediaWiki. We've also instituted open-proxy blocking. Please (please see [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proxy_blocking this page] for more information) and set up the [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/SpamBlacklist_extension SpamBlacklist extension]. These have been wonderfully effective in limiting the damage a vandalbot can do. We've had some reports of legitimate users being blocked by these methods. If you are having a problem with this, let us know so that we can unblock your IP address and give you access to edit pages.

==Patrolled EditsSpoofed Accounts==One tool which side effect to OrthodoxWiki's handling of international character sets is the ability of accounts to be spoofed. That is, someone can be helpful for the Sysops register a name that looks similar to another account name and impersonate another user. For example, someone registered an account as "FrJ%D0%BEhn" and proceeded to leave a mean message in policing [[User:FrJohn|FrJohn]]'s name to one of our contributors. On the wiki for "ordinary" or manual vandalism, the names and user pages looked identical. '''However, if you check the URLs in your browser's address bar, they will look different.''' Unfortunately, this kind of impersonation is common in online communities of all types. If someone appears to say something out of character, it's definitely worth checking to make sure that the name is exactly the same as well as inappropriate additionstheir real account and that their account has not been hacked. Fortunately, we have a vigilant community. If you suspect someone has impersonated you, etclet us know right away. is  ==Page Histories==Occasionally, a vandalism attempt may leave offensive material in the comments on the use page's history or in old revisions of "Patrolled Editsan article." You can read more about these If you spot something like this, please notify a [[httpCategory://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Patrolled_edit hereSysops|sysop]]. When something has been marked as "patrolled," other sysops who can be saved the tedium of redundant inspectionsclean this up.