On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:30:49 -0500, "Parker Peters" onmywayoutster@gmail.com wrote:
Not really. Page blanking is counted as simple vandalism, suitable for use of rollback. We really mustn't lose sight of the fact that this is the only instance thus far presented where page blanking without summaries by a new account with no other edits was anything other than vandalism. Is it really so hard for a new user to find out how to correct a problem, contact the office, attract attention or in some other way fix the issue? It may be that it is.
It is. Nobody bothered sending a welcome message, or any other form of talkpage message, to the user. Nothing was generated automatically to help them become an effective editor or help them learn now to work within the system.
So, based on your review of all the new accounts which have started off with page blanking, how many have you discovered that have gone on to be valuable contributors? How many are drive-bys? How many are subsequently blocked as vandalism-only accounts?
"Hard cases make bad law".
And it's poor attitudes like yours that I've been seeing for the past few months that make our problems worse. Instead of taking two minutes to look at the reason for an action, instead of assuming good faith, you just go off on your "vandal-fighting" attitude where all ill-advised behavior and collateral damage is OK in the name of "fighting vandals".
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to patronise me.
Is vandalism a significant problem on Wikipdeia? Yes. Is reversion of valid blanking by accounts newly registered to fix a problem, but without the knowledge to comment, request help elsewhere, or include an edit summary, a significant problem on Wikipedia? We have, to date, one example. Let's try to maintain a sense of proportion, shall we? Bear in mind that I actually take the time to userfy egregious vanity from single purpose accounts if the username matches the subject, because in the end newbies *do* matter, but demanding that every vandalism edit be accompanied by the planting of a shrubbery on the user's Talk page does not seem to be based on any realistic assessment of the problem. I'd have no problem with the vandalbots doing this automagically, but I'm not intending to bother just yet. With over ten thousand articles on my watchlist, many of them vandal magnets, I really don't see it as a productive use of my time. Feel free to sue me.
Guy (JzG)