Protection policy

Protection policy refers to a set of guidelines and procedures used by administrators on Wikipedia to restrict access to editing or moving certain pages within the encyclopedia. This policy is implemented to prevent vandalism, edit wars, or to protect highly sensitive pages. The protection can be applied to any page but is most commonly used on high-traffic pages, such as the Main Page, or on pages that are prone to controversy.

Types of Protection

There are several levels of protection that can be applied to Wikipedia pages:

• Full Protection: This level of protection prevents everyone except administrators from editing or moving a page. It is typically used in cases of severe vandalism or edit warring, or to protect highly sensitive pages.

• Semi-Protection: Semi-protection allows only registered users who have been with Wikipedia for at least four days and have made at least ten edits to edit a page. This level is often applied to combat persistent vandalism by new or unregistered users.

• Extended Confirmed Protection: This level requires users to be registered for at least 30 days and have made at least 500 edits. It is used for pages that are highly susceptible to disruption.

• Pending Changes Protection: Under this protection, edits by new or unregistered users are not visible to the public until reviewed by an established user. This is used for articles that are prone to frequent but not severe vandalism.

• Move Protection: This prevents a page from being moved to a new title except by administrators. It is often applied to prevent disruptive page moves.

Criteria for Protection

The decision to protect a page is not taken lightly. Administrators follow a set of criteria before applying protection:

• Evidence of Vandalism or Disruption: There must be clear evidence of ongoing vandalism or an edit war that cannot be resolved through normal editing processes.

• High Traffic: Pages that receive a high volume of traffic, especially during specific events, may be temporarily protected.

• Sensitive Content: Pages containing highly sensitive content that could be targeted for vandalism may be protected.

Requesting Protection

Users can request page protection by posting on the Requests for page protection page. The request must include a rationale for the protection, including evidence of the issues leading to the request.

Controversy and Criticism

The protection policy has been a subject of controversy and criticism. Critics argue that it goes against Wikipedia's founding principle of being the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. However, supporters contend that it is necessary to maintain the quality and integrity of the encyclopedia.

See Also

• Wikipedia:Vandalism
• Wikipedia:Edit war
• Wikipedia:Administrators