FamilySearch Wiki:Patrolling

Patrolling New Pages

 * When we “patrol” an article, it means that we read it to see if it contains appropriate content. We are not looking to see if subject matter is correct or if it is well written. We expect the contributor to do this. Patrolling is done on new pages added to the wiki in all namespaces.


 * We review the content to ensure that it is in line with the following:


 * Guidelines
 * Policies
 * Purpose and Appropriate Topics

Instructions

 * See Help:Patrolling new pages for instructions regarding how to patrol articles.

Common Problems

 * The most common problems relate to pages with:


 * Content on a person's own genealogy, or biographies about specific individuals.
 * LDS-specific doctrine or information that is not research related.
 * Inappropriate content, such as offensive language.
 * Derogatory statements about people, things, etc.


 * Additional things to watch for are:


 * That Sandbox pages are in the User namespace
 * That pages are assigned to the correct namespace
 * That categories are assigned to the page

Handling problematic content

 * Problems with the content will be:


 * Tagged by adding the appropriate Maintenance Template to the page
 * Resolved by working with the contributors to help them become successful in the wiki.


 * Small pieces of inappropriate content within an article


 * If there is a concern about small bits of text within an article - a sentence or even a paragraph - it can be deleted with an explanation in the summary.
 * If the information to be deleted is more extensive, it would be good to put an explanation on the talk page.


 * Entire articles outside the scope of the Wiki


 * If the entire article is about a topic related to genealogy but is outside the scope of the Wiki, such as an article or page about a specific ancestor, or LDS-specific doctrinal information, it will be vitally important to work with the individual to help them understand the purpose and scope of the Wiki, and to help them in the future be able to make valuable contributions to the Wiki.

Patrolling Talk Pages

 * On Talk pages, after ensuring that the policies and guidelines are followed, we are also looking for:


 * Questions that patrons ask
 * Problems, concerns, or other issues that may need to be resolved
 * Trends that may indicate larger concerns or issues to resolve


 * See Help:Patrolling new pages for additional instructions.

Patrolling Recent Changes

 * Recent Changes are patrolled for the same reasons as patrolling new pages. However, with the quantity of edits made to the Wiki, patrolling is only done for recent changes to Talk pages. Again, we are looking for:


 * Questions that patrons ask
 * Problems, concerns, or other issues that may need to be resolved
 * Trends that may indicate larger concerns or issues to resolve

Instructions

 * See Help:Patrolling recent changes for instructions on how to patrol recent changes.