Semi-protection level for pages

I'm assuming that means that the limit on editing goes away after one's account reaches a certain age?

From what ccoa said in ATT when a new account encountered what I assume is the new measure, yes.

That would seem the logical conclusion. Otherwise it would be no different to simply locking the page.

Y'know, thinking about it this would be rather handy to have. Some new guy who comes in and makes a bunch of edits that are bad would be completely different to someone who makes bad edits and should by rights know better. Another reason why having semi protection is a good idea.

The trolls keep targeting pages that are not locked. What can be done about putting in the semi protection?

We should just plain old lock frequent troll targets.

Agreeing with FE here.

Although some don't need a permanent lock either.

But that's the problem. Trolls target pages that are not locked. Unless we want to keep half the wiki from editing that isn't going to get us anywhere.

Trolls are a very small proportion of our new accounts, and we have restrictions on the degree of damage they can inflict before they are noticed. The last attack that I saw was a mere 3 articles. That's no harder than cleaning up a natter or grammar mess.

We want to avoid the kind of attack that results in hundreds of articles being vandalized. No "soft protect" system would work against that unless you soft locked every article on the site.

Okay. Since Mass Effect 3 seems to be the big issue might it be an idea to purge it from the pages targeted?

No. Look, people are allowed to talk about ME3. We aren't erasing it from the wiki because one disturbed individual got his panties in a wad over it.

So just to clarify then, we are not going to implement semi protection?

• Edit: Just noticed this. You just said on Broken Aesop that we cannot discuss Mass Effect 3 because it's too controversial. So are we allowed to discuss it or arn't we?

edited 15th Jun '12 4:37:08 PM by tsstevens

It was an edit war target unrelated to the troll. I'd have done that whether we had a troll or not. Maybe someone can write up a single neutral example that can be put in with a mod warning.

Semi-protection is a possibility but I would not work on the assumption that we're going to put it in.

edited 15th Jun '12 4:57:20 PM by Fighteer

I just said my piece on that in the discussion page. I'm not a complete expert but maybe that will open the door for further insight, so we can hopefully resolve the matter there.

I have one last question on pages that keep being vandalized. Suppose, the targeted pages keep being attacked with sock accounts and they are eventually locked. Then the troll responsible moves on to other pages that are unlocked, relevance to the topic unimportant, and attacks them with twenty sock accounts a day, forcing those pages to be locked as well, so they make more sock accounts and target further pages they can attack. The problem is less prevalent than it was, but if he's starting up again is the solution to just lock all the pages that are continually assaulted?

I highly doubt someone's gonna have the time, proxies, and inclination to make 20+ socks a day, and if someone is really that dedicated to vandalizing the website, then we'll just do what we always do: Revert, ban, and then forget it. The more attention he's given the happier he'll be, after all.

I doubt that the exact numbers of socks matter. This "move on to next target" thing is already happening. (ME 3—>Know The Staff—>Discussion pages—>Fallen Creator)

You know, it might have been something I brought up before, but I had an apostraphy. Lightning had struck my brain. This vandal, he really hates Mass Effect 3 and the endings. We might actually like the game and appreciate the end for what it's worth. By acting the way he's acting however he's turning everyone else against them as well.

This vandal is actually more of a Fan Hater. He claims to like the ending and is trying to remove all negativity about it. Whether he genuinely believes this or is trolling it as well as us is something that I don't care about.

Is this still wanted? We currently have better tools for dealing with persistent sockpuppeteers, so maybe not.

Creating semi-protection would encourage more pages to be locked and tighten restrictions on new users. Which is bad.

It would also encourage partial unlocking of some pages and reduce the need for other restrictions on new accounts. Which is good.

Once semi-protection is in place, possible new suspension options could be created, where some users are restricted only against editing protected pages. Which is against site philosophy.

If better warnings and notifiers were delivered, one could conceivably eliminate full protection entirely. semi-protection+educated users could solve everything.

I am highly divided on this issue. It could be incredibly good, or incredibly bad for the site.