Template:Protect
Any page on GTA Wiki can be protected from editing. When a page is protected, only administrators can edit it.
Pages are protected for one of three reasons:
- If the page is an important page, such as the Main Page, it cannot afford to be allowed to be vandalised, so should always be protected.
- If a page, image or template is transcluded (included) into a lot of other pages, any vandalism would affect a large proportion of the site, so these are often protected.
- If a page is repeatedly vandalised, then temporary or permanent protection can help stop that.
Any administrator can protect any page, except Special and MediaWiki namespaces. However, pages should only be protected when there is good reason. This site is a wiki, so having a lot of pages only editable by Staff defeats the object of community participation.
Users may request that their user page, or some of its subpages, be protected. A decision will be made on an individual basis as to whether this is appropriate.
Protection Template
When a page is protected, Template:Protect should be used in one form or another. This template does not protect the page, it merely explains that it is protected. Using any of these templates will place the page in Category:Protected.
The preferred method of showing that pages are protected is to use {{protect|small=yes}}, which displays the small padlock in the top right corner of the page. This is not an invasive box, and it still links to this page if people notice the icon.
If a page is protected because of vandalism, a more visible message is often required. Using {{protect}} in its raw form will output the following:
Template:Protect
For pages protected due to vandalism, a temporary expiration can be initiated. Using the notation of: {{Template:Protect|expiry={{#time:F j, Y|+2 months}}}}, we can specify a date that is (for example) exactly two months from the current time. When that date has passed, the page will be moved into Category:Expired Protected, so that a passing Staff member knows that those pages should be unprotected.
Template:Protect
An alternative method is to specify a time period by using {{subst:#time: instead.
The expiry time on a page is at the discretion of the Staff member applying the protection. If the vandalism is happening quite often on a large important article, such as Grand Theft Auto IV, the protection should probably be long-term. If the vandalism is only by one user, that user should be suspended or banned instead of the page being protected.