User:Azuris/Guide to reverting vandalism or spam

Yes, I know there's probably a help page for this kind of stuff, but I feel like typing up a guide in my own words because I'm bored - so don't bug me because of that Feel free to change this page in any way that you think will help in reverting vandalism

What is reverting?
Reverting is basically removing a user's edit and replacing it with the past revision of the page that someone edited. It's very easy to do and everyone can do it.

How do I revert a bad edit?
First, when you see an edit a recent changes feed, you click one of these depending on what page you use for the feed:
 * Special:RecentChanges - simply click on the link that says "diff" near the recently changed link.
 * Special:MyHome/Special:WikiActivity - click the image on the right of the recent changes feed. The usual image is this: http://images.wikia.com/common/__cb28226/extensions/wikia/MyHome/images/diff.png?28226 (once you click that, you will be brought to the diff.

Once you are at the diff of an edit, click the "undo" link and you should be brought to the edit page, click save, and you have successfully undid an edit.

How can I tell vandalism from a normal edit
Vandalism is an obvious change to a page that is made with the intentions of ruining the page. Vandalism can vary from just adding offensive language purposely to blanking pages. Vandalism is usually just edits like adding "OMG THIS WIKI SUCKS" or "this page is for fags" or anything of that sort.

Bad edits are usually just grammar/spelling mistakes that can be easily fixed. Sometime adding false information could be a bad edit because they got it from a site that they didn't know was not trusted. This can be solved with a simple message telling the user to use proper grammar/good spelling and not a vandalism warning.

Assume good faith
Remember to assume good faith before reverting, because most edits can be simple tests for new users (and those edits should result in a message from you telling them to make a sandbox subpage or test edits on their user pages/talk pages).

Assuming bad faith is reverting an edit that doesn't look like obvious vandalism and then reporting it to an administrator, or just reverting any edits that you would think are bad - this can lead to troubles between you and the editor that you're reverting.

Help with reporting a vandal
If a vandal has vandalized more than twice, you can tell that he is here to vandalize, and you should contact and administrator (preferably via Special:ListAdmins) so they can block the vandal.

What to do if there are no active administrators
If no administrators are active on your wiki, and the vandalism continues, you should contact a member of the Spam Task Force (via their talk page or their IRC channel: #wikia-vstf) so they can block the person who is vandalizing. Remember that's it a better choice to contact the Spam Task Force after you have reported a vandal to an administrator and haven't gotten a reply.

How can I assist in helping revert vandalism?
You can help reverting vandalism on Wikia by going to the Wikia counter-vandalism channel: #cvn-wikia, where an IRC counter-vandalism bot displays the recent changes of every wiki on Wikia. It's very useful in reverting vandalism.