Wikipedia:Counter-Vandalism Unit/Vandalism studies/Types of vandalism

Articles

The following are types of vandalism to articles:

1. Article blanking: removal of all contents of an article

1.1 Non-offensive: Replaced with nothing, or with non-offensive text
1.2 Offensive: Replaced with vulgarities, slurs, offensive images, etc.

2. Section or selective deletions

2.1 Nothing: Replaced with nothing
2.2 Non-offensive: Replaced with non-offensive text

Example: Deleting the lead paragraph and replacing it with "LOL" or "Vandalman was here!!!"

2.3 Offensive: Replaced with vulgarities, slurs, offensive images, etc.

3. Offensive insertion: insertion of vulgarities, slurs, offensive images, etc., or replacement of existing text with such offensive content
4. Junk: insertion of text unrelated to the page topic

Example: Insertion of "Hi mom"; insertion of lengthy copy-and-paste of the Gettysburg address (Lincoln's speech) into the article on Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

5. Idiosyncratic copy: adding text that is related to the topic of the page but which is clearly one-sided, not of general interest, or inflammatory

5.1 Meta Idiosyncratic: Something that looks like a legitimate use of an offensive word in the project namespace, but is really an excuse to add that word. For example: shit-balls.

6.1 Falsification: Adding content or replacing text with content that is clearly false but not necessarily obvious as such to all readers.

Example: in the article George Washington, changing the article to state that he was the 5th President of the United States, or that he was born in 1832 rather than 1732, or that he was the first person to receive a smallpox inoculation in the U.S.

6.2 Blatant Falsification : Adding content or replacing text with content that is clearly false but obvious to 99.9% of readers.

Example: in the article Antarctica, placing "Moses was the first man to go to Antarctica".

7 Move Vandalism : Moving the page to something unrelated or to HAGGER??? (Page name) ON WHEELS!

Articles

See also