Vandalism: Difference between revisions

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    *[[Sysop vigilantiism]] and [[developer vigilantiism]] are power abuses but they are not vandalism.  They are more likely to involve [[libel]] against a person than damage to pages themselves, though they prevent some people contributing.  
    *[[Sysop vigilantiism]] and [[developer vigilantiism]] are power abuses but they are not vandalism.  They are more likely to involve [[libel]] against a person than damage to pages themselves, though they prevent some people contributing.  


    It is a common political tactic to call [[trolls]] "vandals", e.g. as [[Tim Starling]] and [[M. R. M. Parrot]] do, although there is a clear distinction between the two concepts:  one tells a vandal based on what ordinary end users would distinguish about the material;  a troll on the other hand is a person whose view is merely offensive to someone in a [[sysop power structure]];  Both labels are used as simple insults and the use of neither has anything to do with the material's bias or even accuracy necessarily:  calling someone "a troll" is a common [[usurper]] tactic, e.g. employed heavily by [[Auntie Angela]], [[Erik Moeller]].  [[Trolling]] and '''vandalism''' are ontological distinctions, not operational ones - one cannot tell they have occurred based on responses or excuses or vigilantiism that they appear to "cause".  It's a social question.
    It is a common political tactic to call [[trolls]] "vandals", e.g. as [[Tim Starling]] and [[M. R. M. Parrot]] do, although there is a clear distinction between the two concepts:  one tells a vandal based on what ordinary end users would distinguish about the material;  a troll on the other hand is a person whose view is merely offensive to someone in a [[sysop power structure]];  Both labels are used as simple insults and the use of neither has anything to do with the material's bias or even accuracy necessarily:  calling someone "a troll" is a common [[usurper]] tactic, e.g. employed heavily by [[Auntie Angela]], [[Erik Moeller]], as a prelude to censorshipImportant to realize:
     
    [[Trolling]] and '''vandalism''' are ontological distinctions, not operational ones - one cannot tell they have occurred based on responses or excuses or vigilantiism that they appear to "cause".  It's a social question, and thus must be resolved politically, e.g. by [[faction]]s.
     
    Highly political [[large public wiki]]s like [[OurAnswer]] are pioneering ways to deal with vandals that do not rely on [[usurper]] cliques as [[Wikimedia]] has.

    Latest revision as of 19:17, 6 May 2004

    Vandalism is a problem on all large public wikis. It consists of making a page drastically less useful and reliable for the average end user, typically by inserting profanity or personal comments or provably false statements, "defacing" it, blanking it, reverting it to contain already-corrected errors, or other things that an editor would recognize as "damage". The word should be used only for cases of clear or simple vandalism.

    Sometimes removing critical links and references, big blocks of text, or reverts to material which is not false but perhaps controversial is called vandalism, but this is highly political and subject to much systemic bias and other community point of view issues; There are several cases which each need their own terminology:

    It is a common political tactic to call trolls "vandals", e.g. as Tim Starling and M. R. M. Parrot do, although there is a clear distinction between the two concepts: one tells a vandal based on what ordinary end users would distinguish about the material; a troll on the other hand is a person whose view is merely offensive to someone in a sysop power structure; Both labels are used as simple insults and the use of neither has anything to do with the material's bias or even accuracy necessarily: calling someone "a troll" is a common usurper tactic, e.g. employed heavily by Auntie Angela, Erik Moeller, as a prelude to censorship. Important to realize:

    Trolling and vandalism are ontological distinctions, not operational ones - one cannot tell they have occurred based on responses or excuses or vigilantiism that they appear to "cause". It's a social question, and thus must be resolved politically, e.g. by factions.

    Highly political large public wikis like OurAnswer are pioneering ways to deal with vandals that do not rely on usurper cliques as Wikimedia has.