Help:Wikitechnicians

This page gathers useful instructions for wikitechnicians.

Introduction

wikitechnicians are experienced users who place their skills at the service of Wikimini's other users to perform some special technical operations :

• delete pages
• block users
• protect pages
• merge pages

They also assist wikimoderators in moderating the website.

Delete pages

When ?

Generally, an article should only be deleted if it has a wrong titre (for example : "The giraffe" instead of "Giraffe" – read Wikimini:New article for all the rules concerning titles).

Although, before deleting an article, wikitechnicians should always consider if he could not first do something else, for example retrieving and preserving its content :

• rename the article with a similar title but in accordance with conventions (ex : "The giraffe" → "Giraffe")
  
• merge the article with an existing about the exact same subject
  
• move towards a new name better suited for the article's content.
  
• split the article into multiple different articles using the special function "Duplicate" (ex : "My garden's plants" → "Mint", "Lavender", "Raspberry", etc.)
  

Remark : If an article needs to be deleted and its content lost, it is important to leave a copy of the text to the author with a short (and nice) word of explaination.

The idea is to never waste valid content, and mostly to try to highlight wikiminauts' contributions as much as possible, especially new ones.

If a new article is created empty (or without any valid content), but it has a correct name, the wikitechnician doesn't delete said article. They can either add a special box available in the editor's toolbar or add themselves a short introduction, followed by "To be completed...".

Particular situations : Articles about subjects considered as inappropriate for children (ex : pornography) need to be deleted whatever their title or content are.

How ?

1. Go to the page you want to delete
2. Click on the "Delete" link in the "Views" menu
3. Indicate the reasons for deleting it, and confirm by clicking on the "Delete page" button

Recommendation : Before deleting the page, you can still check if there are any articles with links towards the page you want to delete ("What links here" function in the "Tools" menu). If it is the case, it would be preferable to first edit those links (for example by making them lead to another article).

Block users

When ?

It is possible to block an user who would would behave in an inadequate manner on the website. The blocked user will then no longer be able to write in Wikimini. Wikitechnicians can choose how long the user will be blocked.

Usually, blocking an user should only be a last resort. Wikitechnicians and wikimoderators should rather favour talking to troublemakers so that they don't do it again.

How ?

To block, proceed in the following manner :

1. Go to the user's personal page
   
2. Click on the "Block user" link in the "Tools" menu
   
3. Choose how long the user will be blocked and why

It is usually recommended to check both options allowing the creation of accounts and blocking the user's IP addresses.

Protect pages

When ?

It may sometimes be necessary to protect a page for different reasons, the most common one being when a page is the target of several acts of vandalism in a short time. The page can then be protected for a few days to avoid vandalism.

How ?

1. Go to the page you want to protect
2. Click on the "Protect" link in the "Views" menu
3. Indicate the reasons for protecting it, and confirm by clicking on the "Confirm" button

Merge two articles and their histories

When ?

It is possible to merge two articles when their about the same subject but with a different title.

You only merge two articles if they both contain useful informations to complete the other article. If not, you can just delete the article with less interesting informations or a wrong title. If you delete an article, you should warn the author and leave them a copy of the article suggesting them, for example, to complete the other article.

How ?

You want to merge two pages — P1 (wrong title), P2 (right title), and their histories — towards one final page.

Here are the successive steps :

1. Assemble both articles' texts together in one coherent text
2. Copy and publish the result in p1 and p2 (both pages will be identical)
3. Move p1 to p2 (agree to delete p2)
4. Restore p2 (all versions)
   
5. Delete p1 (now a redirection page) if you think its title is useless in the index.

The final page should now have P2's title, the text as you equalized it in P1 and P2 during step 1, and the merged histories of P1 and P2.

Split an article into two separate articles

When ?

If an article tackles too many different subjects, it is possible to split it in two separate articles.

In the end, the operation simply consists in duplicating the article.

How ?

1. Go to the special pages list (available in the "Tools" menu)
2. Click on the "Duplicate a page" function
3. Enter a title for the destination page (new page that will be an exact copy of the duplicated page)
4. Click on the "Duplicate" button

You will then obtain two identical articles but with different titles. Now, you just have to edit independently both of the articles so that each one is centered on a different subject.

See also

• Until this page is more complete, you will find a detailed guide on Wikipedia.
• Wikimini's rules : Wikimini:Rules