User:Tonywalton/Reporting vandals
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Reporting vandalism
[edit]Hi. I see on occasion you've reported instances of vandalism, and I thought I'd let you know what the usual procedure is, in case you need to report vandalism by anyone else.
User warning templates
[edit]First of all, take a look here. You'll see a grid of warning templates, with the nature of the vandalism (for instance "page blanking" or "vandalising a userpage") down the side and a range of severity of the warning across the top. Generally the range starts with "Please don't do that" up to "Do that again and you'll be blocked", for instance {{test}} through {{test4}} or {{drmspeedy}} through {{drmspeedy4}}. Inappropriate edits should be reverted (or tagged for speedy deletion) and an appropriate warning template placed on the talkpage of the editor who made the edit. A second instance within a reasonably short time gets the next template in line, and so on. This is not set in stone; for instance sometimes a user's very first edit deserves a {{test2}}.
For obvious, repeated edits in a short time which are all vandalism there's a special tag: {{blatantvandal}}.
What if they don't stop?
[edit]If vandalism continues within a short time of the final "carry on and you'll be blocked" tag the user should be reported here. Please don't report vandals who either haven't reached the final warning or who have only started vandalising again a long time (probably days) after the final warning. This is especially important in the case of anonymous users (IP addresses) as it's possible that the address is being used by a totally different person, unrelated to the vandal, after some time has passed. Use common sense about whether you think someone has started vandalising again and whether reporting or starting again with warning templates is appropriate. Admins keep an eye on that page and will examine the user's contributions. If appropriate a block will be issued.
Have they been blocked already?
[edit]Take a look at the user's contribution page (go to the user's page or talk page and click "User Contributions" on the left. That link is there even if the userpage and/or talkpage don't exist). At the top of the list of contributions (if any) you'll see "Block log". Click on that to see the user's block/unblock history.
Hope that helps, and Happy Editing!