User:Matt/AdminToolOpinions

These are my opinions on admin tools, and where/how they should be used.

Blocking

Blocking should be done only for repeat vandals. If there is a new account (< 1 day, or just over the 4 day limit) vandalising articles rapidly, I believe in short term (30-60 min) blocks, to deter them. Otherwise I agree with warnings before blocks. If they continue, I believe blocking should be done for a period of a day or so. Vandals that immediately come back after blocks to vandalise more should be given one more ~1week block as a final warning, and should receive longer blocks (1-X months). Except in the case of obvious vandal only accounts or sockpuppets, I do not like blocking indef.

Deleting

In clear-cut cases (not necessarily all CSD's) I believe in deleting immediately. In a large number of cases, attempts to fix should be done. Foreign language article should be moved to the appropriate wikis (if language is known and exists), bios should be moved to Wikipedia, etc.

Protecting

Protection should only be applied on high-use and high-risk templates, or pages subject to heavy vandalism. If only one user is causing the vandalism, they should be blocked. If multiple new accounts vandalise, they should be autoblocked, and preferably a checkuser done on them. If autoblocks dont help, checkuser is inconclusive, or its a revert war between established users, I believe protection is appropriate.

Unblocking

For non-VOA's and established users (here or on another wiki), I will unblock if they apologise and promise not to do again. If they redo what they were doing or vandalise again, I will block for a longer period than the original block starting again as it is obvious they need a break, and/or will cause more damage if unblocked.

Undeleting

If a user wants to make an attempt to improve a deleted article, I will be happy to undelete. If I or another admin made a genuine mistake, I will undelete. For other pages I will rely on community consensus.

Unprotecting

If vandalism has stopped or a consensus has been reached on the talk page between warring editors, I will unprotect a page. If it continues, I will reprotect until it is sorted out.