Dealing with vandalism
Angela Beesley's wiki
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[edit] What not to do: block unregistered users
The very common method of block unregistered users does not work.
Unregistered users are often referred to, wrongly, as anonymous users. Getting rid of anonymous users is an interesting tactic, but blocking unregistered users has nothing to do with that. A logged in user may still be anonymous. Worse, a logged in user may be impersonating another person by using someone else's real name or pseudonym. Forcing registration makes the problem worse since logging in hides your IP, making you more anonymous. So, I'm taking the opposite approach to many wikis and I'm disabling registered users instead of unregistered ones.
On my personal wiki, editing is open to everyone. Making an account is not. I also allow access to the rollback tool to everyone.
If you edit, your IP will be visible. If the privacy aspect of that bothers you, please contact me for an account.
You can write on your user page who you are and you can add that information in edit summaries if you want some attribution (though this wiki isn't GFDL so don't assume you'll keep that attribution).
A useful side-effect of blocking account creation is that since by default only registered users can move pages, you immediately prevent page move vandalism without needing to make any special settings in your wiki for this.
[edit] The effect on spam
Will forcing registration prevent spam? No. Spam bots can create accounts on MediaWiki sites. It is much easier for a bot to make an account than a human, so if I see spam on a wiki and that wiki forces me to log in to remove the spam, I am much less likely to remove that spam. Meaning you end up with more spam.
If you don't force registration, it is very unlikely the spam bots will log in. This makes it easier to find their spam since you can choose to view recent changes of unregistered users only. This also helps with finding drive-by vandals who won't log in if they don't need to, but will log in if they do need to. The spammers and vandals have time to register an account. Drop in visitors wanting to make a quick improvement do not.
[edit] Removing registration leads to more and better posts
- "Topix.net forums on fire" is a great article on how the quality and quantity of forum posts on Topix.net increased when they removed registration.
Is there similar evidence for wikis yet?
[edit] How to block account creation in MediaWiki
I don't really recommend this for most wikis since it prevents any community developing, but for personal wikis where you'd welcome improvements but you're not too bothered about a regular editing community forming, this is better than disabling editing.
Simply add this line to your LocalSettings.php file:
- $wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;
Only admins will be able to make accounts. You should explain at MediaWiki:Loginprompt how people without accounts can get them if they need them.
MediaWiki help: Preventing Access.
See also Allowing access.