Discussion[]
Hi everyone! I shared this in K6ka's talk page originally and was advised to share this via the forums also - so I'm going to copy my original message there.
I was hoping to gather some general feedback from the wiki regarding a change that may be coming to Fandom soon. We have been considering ways to lower the instances of vandalism that happen on all wikis in general. One of the changes being considered is turning off anonymous / logged out editing across the entire platform, potentially as early as next week depending on the feedback we receive.
This is being considered mainly because it lowers the risk of vandalism considerably, reducing moderation burden placed on admins/mods, despite the good faith edits that may happen. It also presents a good opportunity to promote registration, more communication (as anons currently can't be notified of new messages), and protects user privacy (since anon edits always expose IP addresses).
Most wikis already have logged out editing turned off by admins (via a toggle that exists in Special:AdminDashboard - an admin-oly page). However, Sims Wiki is one that still allows those. Ahead of that change, we'd like to know if anonymous editors are important to this wiki, and whether it's a fair trade off to reducing vandalism / easing the moderation burden. Is this a change that makes sense from this wiki's point of view?
Any feedback on this would be appreciated. –ReverieCode 08:24, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
- On wikis I have seen, turning off anonymous editing reduced vandalism by more than half to almost completely. I think this would be the case on this wiki, that I have seen on this wiki most vandalism is dealt with in part by other users and in part by admins, mostly anon and only some sockpuppets.
- If you see for example K6ba's past 500 contributions from about Jan 13th till now, 1/3 was reverting/undoing anon edits. And I'd hazard a guess k6ba is, admin wise, the one who reverts vandalism the most on this wiki. It may not be a highly vandalized wiki but still 1/3 reverting that could have been completely avoided.
- It also doesn't help when edits that look questionable we can't message anons to confirm. It is also better to see a name and not an IP address, I don't know how many/any people can associate an anon user by their IP address numbers. Not to mention most sites these days don't really have anon commenting/participation anymore anyways, so it isn't like it is a lot to expect to have an account to participate.
- As far as regular users reverting vandalism, I'd say it is mostly all anon vandalizing they are reverting, and maybe every other day when these vandalisms are noticed/found by admin or regular users. But I do notice a decent portion of regular users also taking the vandal reverting burden on. Removing this burden and making sockpuppets the worst vandal threat to a wiki is good move to a wiki.
Hollowness | Talk | Contr 16:23, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
- As far as I know, anon messaging was disabled by Fandom themselves, so wouldn't re-enabling that solve that issue in a better fashion? I don't like the idea of forcing people into accounts just to fix a spelling mistake. I don't mind reverting vandalism if the intelligent IPs get to do their things. It's just maintenance, which I already dabble in outside of the "undo" button. I'm openly opposed, although I'm not 100% sure how much value my feedback has. I’m K.P.! Toss me a message if you need help! 17:40, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
- If edits like these are being made, I don't think IPs should be disallowed from editing. I’m K.P.! Toss me a message if you need help! 20:52, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
- I think that local wikis should continue to have the choice of whether to allow anon editing or not. Reducing vandalism by turning off anon editing is something that could cause more harm than good. I joined the wiki as an anon editor, before I registered my account, and I'm sure my experience is not at all unique. I worry that turning it off will reduce the number of new editors joining the project, leading to further stagnation. Finally, vandalism is something that affects any public wiki, The Sims Wiki being no exception, but I don't think it's a particularly severe problem here. In short, my response to this idea, especially in regards to how it affects TSW is, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." -- LostInRiverview talk · blog · contribs 01:52, 14 October 2024 (UTC)
- Update on this: after going through the feedback (from this and other wikis), there will be no change happening after all, so this will continue to be an option that can be on/off depending on the wiki's preference. Some other wikis may be advised to disable it if we see that there is no moderation happening (mainly as not everyone seems to even be aware that having it "on" or "off" is a choice), but for any wiki that can vouch for its own moderation efforts or the edits not being a burden, it really is a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" scenario. Thank you all for taking the time to share your views on this!
- Regarding anon messaging, I can always share the feedback on that, but being honest: I wouldn't expect that to change any time soon. I don't think it's a simple as "enabling it" again, as the option doesn't really exist anymore - it would require time and effort that is going towards other features being released. (I always say "never say never" when it comes to updates, but for right now, it's not really something the team can prioritize.) –ReverieCode 08:29, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
Wiki Wide Update on Anon-Editing[]
| “ | Starting next week, anon editing is disabled on wikis where the admins/content mods have not edited for at least 7 days. This measure is taken to limit higher-risk edits to moderated wikis. When an admin returns to the wiki, they can re-enable anonymous editing via a toggle on the Admin Dashboard. Right now, only a little over 10,000 wiki (or 4% of all wikis) have anonymous editing turned on, most of our biggest wikis not being among them. | ” |
Just in case no one reads the staff blogs, you might want to read this^.
Conclusion[]
As this discussion was about a specific change that Fandom was considering, and as Fandom has already implemented the changes it has deemed necessary, this thread is no longer relevant. If there is a desire to discuss disabling anon editing in general, it would make sense to have that conversation in a new thread. Closing. - LostInRiverview talk · blog · contribs 01:00, 19 November 2024 (UTC)