Guild Wars Wiki:One-revert rule
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This page is an official policy on the Guild Wars Wiki. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow. |
The one-revert rule (1RR) is a policy intended on preventing edit warring:
Each editor may not perform more than one related revert on any given part of a page, or the entirety of narrowly focused pages, until a consensus is reached.
Note that a different editor can still revert that part of the page once, but tag-team reverting (having a friend do an extra revert for you) is discouraged as it does not constructively help the wiki. Aside from obvious exceptions (see below), discussion on the talk page should take priority over reverting. In the case of multiple reverts by different editors, it is strongly recommended to take the issue to the talk page to search for consensus. All reverts, but especially re-reverts, are encouraged to include an explanation in the summary and/or on the talk page.
What is a revert?[edit]
A revert, in this context, means undoing, in whole or in part, the actions of another editor or of other editors. This includes both removing something an editor has added and adding back in something an editor has removed, but not changing, rewording, rearranging, or consolidating information that is not a change to a previous version, nor adding something new to the page. Undoing page moves ("move warring"), recreating deleted pages, and similar activities are also considered reverts.
Reverting two separate sections of a page once each does count as different reverts, and is not forbidden by this policy. Similarly, if a new and separate dispute on the same page/section occurs after the first dispute has been resolved, each editor may revert once regardless of whether they participated in the previous dispute.
Reverts are generally marked in the edit summary as "revert," "rv," or "undo" in order to prevent misunderstandings, however there is no obligation to do so. An unmarked revert still counts as a revert.
Exceptions[edit]
Since the rule is intended to prevent edit warring, reverts which are clearly not such will not breach the rule. Exceptions to the rule include:
- Reverting your own actions ("self-reverting").
- Reverting simple and obvious vandalism, such as graffiti or page blanking. This only applies to the most simple and obvious vandalism. Calling an edit you personally don't like "vandalism" cannot be used to circumvent this rule.
- Reverting clear copyright violations or clearly libelous material;
- Reverting actions performed by banned users.
- Reverting by a user within their own user space (within normal circumstances).
Even in these circumstances, if a revert may still be controversial, at least provide an explanation, and consider discussing the issue before reverting anyway. When in doubt, do not revert; instead, engage in dispute resolution or ask for administrative assistance.
Enforcement[edit]
As with all policies, users who break the one-revert rule should be made aware of this policy. Additionally, sysops can use administrative action. When the situation warrants, a sysop may choose to protect a page from further edits; remember before getting into a revert war that the page is just as likely to be protected in the version you don't like as the one you like.
Apparent breaches of the rule may be reported to any administrator at the admin noticeboard.
I've violated 1RR. What do I do?[edit]
If you've broken 1RR by mistake and now realize it, or if another user has left you a talk page note pointing out that you've broken 1RR, then you should self-revert your change back to the "other version," even though you may not like the previous version, and then go to the page's talk page to discuss the dispute and attempt to reach a consensus.
Resolving disputes[edit]
When discussing the disputed edits, remember to always follow Guild Wars Wiki:No personal attacks and other relevant policy. If the person who made the other revert doesn't respond on the page's talk page after a reasonable amount of time (remember not everyone spends all their time on the wiki), consider leaving a polite note on the user's talk page pointing to the relevant section of the page's talk page. If you cannot reach consensus, you can also post on Guild Wars Wiki:Requests for comment to draw attention from the rest of the community.
If, after trying and trying to reach a consensus one way or the other, the only thing both sides can agree on is that you can't agree, the best course is usually to let the page reflect both, when possible. In the end, this lets the reader decide what to think. If the disagreement is over how to interpret some bit of lore, put both (or all) interpretations into the page with a link to the ambiguous text. If it's about the most effective walkthrough for a mission or quest, call them Strategy #1 and Strategy #2 and put them both in. This is not a license to let people hold out to get clearly poor information into the article, but acknowledgement that sometimes perfectly reasonable and informed people can still disagree without a clear "right" or "wrong".
Disputed content[edit]
If the edits under disagreement may contain potentially misleading information, users may opt to include a {{disputed}} tag near the relevant section. The user who adds the {{disputed}} tag is expected to outline their objections on the talk page clearly for other users. Other users are encouraged not to remove a {{disputed}} tag until a consensus has been reached and the page reflects that consensus.
