No two people are alike, and the same goes for wiki contributors. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Wiki has been created and edited by a wide range of individual contributors who come from a wide range of backgrounds and temperaments. Despite any differences we may have, we all share the same desire: to make the best possible historical resource of information for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and related Macy's Special Events. To ensure a successful wiki, we need to work in collaboration to make sure that we maintain a healthy relationship among the userbase.
Like any relationship, a key component of that is communication; it's also important to lay the ground rules on what to do when editors fail to work together amicably, and how to deal with vandalism, refusal to adhere to wiki policy, and blocking users from editing.
Vandalism[]
Vandalism is an edit produced by a user in bad faith in an attempt to deliberately "ruin" a page, which can include blanking pages, adding nonsense to articles and adding obscene content. Misguided or incorrect attempts to not count as vandalism, and can often be improved through negotiations with admins or simply getting better over time.
Vandalizing pages is a violation of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade policy. If you are caught intentionally messing with a page, it will result in an immediate ban. We won't waste our time with people who are only here to wreak havoc.
Fix vandalism[]
When you see that a page has been vandalized, please revert the page to the previous version. Reverting the vandalism quickly helps to protect the wiki, and it sends a message to the vandal that his or her efforts have been wasted.
- Click the history tag on the page, and you'll see a list of all of the previous versions of the page.
- You can see any version by clicking on the date. Click on the version of the page that was vandalized.
- Revert the changes by selecting the "rollback" option.
Don't tease the vandals[]
Vandalism is irritating, especially when you can tell that it's the same vandal who's come back more than once. Please resist the urge to let the vandal know how annoyed you are. Don't write anything in the edit summary except "vandalism", and don't post anything on the contributor's talk page, except for admins who leave ban notices.
Vandals are looking for two different kinds of satisfaction: the pleasure of defacing our work, and the pleasure of watching us get angry about it. When you revert the vandalism and ignore the vandal, you take all the pleasure away; the vandal will get bored and hopefully move on.
Blocking[]
We, the admins, run the Wiki in our spare time as a hobby. We take our work relatively seriously, and we strive to protect the integrity of our content with an iron fist. We're also here to enjoy ourselves and share our love for the Parade's history. We hope to work harmoniously with a community who's willing to follow the established rules and help make the Wiki a better resource for everyone. Us admins, as well many other fellow contributors, are always more than happy to assist beginner editors in becoming better contributors, but we're not in the business of allowing obvious trolls to run rampant.
The wiki has been around for over a decade, and we've gotten very good at identifying signs of an individual who's not willing to be a part of the team. These cases often lead to being uninvited to the party to make room for those who are productive members.
Basic principles[]
- Nobody said collaborative writing was easy. More people = more problems, but opening up the Wiki for anyone to edit; more people = exponentially more information.
- Every new contributor is a potential new friend, and we should treat them that way, and with respect, as much as possible. With some exceptions, we should assume that everyone who edits the wiki is only trying to help.
- Nobody likes spam. We're frustrated by the returning vandals, and want to get rid of them as efficiently (and calmly) as possible. We don't want to "give people chances" when we know who they are, and they're just wasting our time and energy.
- The biggest reason that people don't contribute to wikis is that they're afraid they'll mess something up or make a mistake. Everyone who actually clicks the edit button for the first time is taking a leap of faith.
People who contribute for the first time don't know our rules and formats, and we shouldn't expect them to. If they stick around, we can teach them how things work.
Situations[]
- Returning vandal — Someone we've seen before, an obsessive kid who keeps doing the same dumb things over and over.
- Immediate block, and revert all edits. If someone's used the same IP address for multiple accounts, we can block the IP address. (If you're not an admin: revert all edits, and let an admin know.) IP blocking is slightly less effective given the rise of dynamic IPs and the widespread use of VPNs, but it's an option.
- New vandal — Someone we haven't seen before. Does something obviously terrible, like fill the page with curses.
- Immediate block, and revert all edits.
- New helpless mistake — Does something pretty bad, like blank a page or screw up headings, which could be vandalism or could be a helpless newbie mistake.
- Revert. Leave a message on their Message Wall telling them that you reverted the edit, and asking if you can help them figure out how to edit the wiki. If they don't respond and do it again: block.
- Adding fake content — Intentional or not, rumors run rampant in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade community. As a result, we often see pages of balloon or floats that have yet to be confirmed by Macy's themselves. The creation of these articles can be either vandalism or a helpless mistake.
- Delete the page. Leave a message on their Message Wall telling them that you deleted the page, and ask them to not add any unconfirmed Parade units. If they don't respond and do it again: block.