Wiktionary:Rollback feature

This page is a soft rule on Wiktionary. Many editors agree with acting this way. It is a good idea to follow it, but it is not a hard rule. Feel free to change the page as needed, but please use the talk page to suggest any big changes.

Simple English Wiktionary's rollback feature is a user group given to vandal fighters. It is given to administrators as part of their work. It is a way to quickly undo vandalism made by the last user to change the page.

Rollback can also be given to people who are not administrators. You may ask for rollback at Wiktionary:Requests for permissions.

Rollback is available to 3 Wiktionary administrators, and there are 52 users with the rollbacker permission. Apart from them, global rollbackers and stewards also have access to rollback.

Using rollback

Rollback is a tool used only on obvious vandalism. This is because it does not let you leave a change summary. Instead, the summary reads, "Reverted changes by X to last version by Y". It is done at once and does not need you to make sure you are doing it, which is different from the undo feature. Unhelpful changes made in your userspace can be rolled back. If you are not sure whether to use this tool on a single change, please use the undo feature. If you make an obvious mistake, or you need to revert your changes quickly, using rollback on yourself is also allowed.

When not to use rollback

Rollback must not be used to remove good-faith changes by other users. If the tool is used wrongly, it will be quickly removed by an administrator.

How it works

Rollback is the fastest way to undo vandalism, and does not put much pressure on the servers. If the vandal made one change, the rollback button will change back to the older change just before the vandal. The rollback button will undo every change by the top user, so if the vandal changed it 6 times in a row, all six changes will be removed. If another user changed after the vandal, the rollback feature will change back to that user's changes, and will not undo all the changes by that user.

The feature leaves an automatic change summary, for example:

m Reverted edits by Example (talk) to last version by Example2

Because it is only for vandalism, the software automatically marks the change with an m, meaning "small" or "minor".

Getting rollback

You may ask for rollback at the Wiktionary:Requests for permissions, or on an administrator's talk page. Please note these few rules:

• You must have an account. Rollback can't be given to IP editors.
• You must not be blocked or banned when you ask.
• You need to make lots of changes. Usually to show that you fight vandalism. If you have rollback elsewhere, or admin rights elsewhere, the threshold for meeting this requirement is lower. So if you are already a rollbacker or admin on another Wikimedia Foundation project, please mention it in your request and it will be taken into consideration.
• If you have been blocked recently, it is unlikely that you will be given rollback.
• If you have vandalized before, you may not be given this tool for a while. Administrators can choose if they want to give it to you, but only if you have shown a clear change in your behaviour.

The Simple English Wiktionary is a small set of regular users, and does not get vandalised often, so a long history of regular vandal-fighting will not be needed to receive rollback. You just need to be trusted, and should show that you know what vandalism is, and more importantly, what it is not.