User:Durova/Wikisleuthing
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
Wikisleuthing is critical examination of the Wikimedia Foundation page histories and related archives. The wikisleuth seeks to determine who did what and whether the actions were compliant with site policies and accepted standards. Wikisleuths normally present evidence of their findings in a format known as page diffs.
Under GDFL copyright licensure, Wikipedia is required to maintain an accurate log of contributions with authorship notations. Authorship is recorded as the editor's username or, if unlogged, the editor's IP address. Page diffs tell the reader which editor performed a specific action, provide a time stamp for the action, and include any edit summary the user may have added.
Wikipedia's history files are accurate back to December 2001. Most histories are fully available to all readers. Exceptions include the page histories of deleted articles and individual edits deleted by ordinary sysops or the Oversight function. The latter actions are normally undertaken to protect personal privacy from attempted disclosure. Overall, deletion of edits is rare.