Wikisource:Protection policy

Administrators are users who hold the ability to both protect and unprotect pages from use by normal Wikisource users. A protected page is one which cannot be edited, overwritten, or moved to a new page name and is to protect pages from vandalism, edit wars, or preservation of integrity.

Uses of protection

Vandalism

Like all Wikimedia projects, Wikisource is open to edit by any user, whether registered or not. Because of its open nature, some users will take advantage of this and attempt to vandalize pages through means of link spamming, posting adult content, moving pages, etc. During times when a user is continually vandalizing the same page(s), it may be beneficial to protect those pages until the vandal has been dealt with and an admin can revert the pages to its best version.

Edit wars

Wikisource, unlike other Wikimedia projects (notably Wikipedia), does not suffer from edit wars. But should one happen to break out, an admin can protect that page until the edit dispute has been solved on the article's talk page.

Preservation of integrity

Due to the nature of Wikisource, almost all of the documents contained on these servers are not meant to evolve forever. Wikisource collects material that has been published in the past; such documents are not meant to be "fixed" forever--what was published by the editor is what Wikisource will collect (including any and all typographical errors and historical inaccuracies). As such, in order to protect the integrity of these documents, at some point they must be protected from edit by users, even those who have good intentions. More will be discussed concerning this topic later.

Pages to be protected

There are numerous types of pages on Wikisource which are to be protected for various reasons:

1. System messages: All pages which carry the "MediaWiki" namespace are to be protected from all users. These pages are Wikisource's system messages which are seen across the project. Flagrant editing of these pages could result in much confusion if the editing gets out of hand. Protection of these pages is consistent with the other Wikimedia projects.
2. Proofread/verified texts: Once a text has reached the 75% level (i.e. been proofread by one user) or the 100% level (i.e. been proofread by multiple users) and has been deemed to be very reliable, it is to be protected for integrity preservation.

Pages not to be protected

There are numerous types of pages on Wikisource which are not to be protected unless to solve vandalism or edit wars:

1. Talk pages: All talk pages on Wikisource are not to be protected. These pages serve as the only way to communicate about/propose corrections to its accompanying article. Should an error be noticed in an actual text that has been protected, a notice should be posted here.
2. "Wikisource:" namespaces: Pages with the "Wikisource:" namespace should not be protected unless they absolutely need to be. As these pages are not texts, there is no integrity to preserve. And many of these pages (e.g. Scriptorium, Proposed deletions) are to be used by all users for discussion and to help keep Wikisource maintained.

Procedure for protecting pages

1. Texts are to go through the steps laid out at Wikisource:Text quality up to the 75% stage.
2. Once a page has reached the 75% level, i.e. when checked against a hard copy of the material by one Wikisource user, a protection request can be made at Wikisource:Protection requests. The proofreader's signature should also be placed in the appropriate places on the Text info template which will be located on the article's talk page.
3. If the page has not been changed since the protection request was made, and the page has been issued with the relevant links (author link etc.), category and infotemplate, then an admin is to protect the page and indicate that it is in the 75% level.

   If the text has been changed since the protection request was made, then either the requesting user must approve of the changes or the text must be reverted before it can be protected.

4. A request for unprotection of a protected page can be made for proofreading purposes by a Wikisource user at Wikisource:Protection requests.
5. An admin can then unprotect the page so that the requesting user can proofread and correct the text.

   If work on the text has not started one week from the unprotection the page is to be re-protected.

6. When the proofreading is done, the proofreading user should place his/her signature at the appropriate place in the Text info template and make a request for re-protection at Wikisource:Protection requests.
7. An admin is then protect the page and indicate that it is in the 100% state (proofread by more than one user).