Editing Encyclopedia:FAQ/Overview (section)

==<span id="RUIN"></span>How do you prevent people from ruining articles?==
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:''All'' changes to a page are registered in a "[[Help:Page history|page history]]", so any defacement can be replaced by an older version of the page by [[Help:Reverting|reverting]] it. And, in general, recent changes to [[Wikipedia]] are automatically listed on a [[Special:Recentchanges|special page for that purpose]].

:Some [[Wikipedia:Bots|bots]] automatically reverse obvious defacement immediately. Moreover, there are hundreds of people who spend a little time each day watching the list of recent changes on Wikipedia (see [[Wikipedia:Recent changes patrol]]). Any user interested in a particular page can add it to a personal [[Help:Watchlist|watchlist]], which shows when a page is updated and gives the user a chance to check that update. Readers who pass by can correct vandalism or erroneous information.

:The popular pages, which are the most likely to be defaced, are also those that receive the most attention from editors and readers.

:To stem a recurrent problem, an article can be [[Wikipedia:Protection policy|temporarily protected]] from editing and/or user names and IP addresses can be [[Wikipedia:Blocking policy|blocked]] from editing.