Maintenance work is a vital part of keepingWikipedia running optimally. Most of these tasks can be done by any user. Below are administrative pages used for themaintenance of the English Wikipedia project, including; cleanup pages, maintenance reports, to–do lists, information pages, and related collaboration groups. For a list of jobs and tasks to be completed that is easy to understand, there is theTask Center. Maintenance tasks of the most pressing importance can be found at theBacklog page. (Seeopen–tasks and backlog below.) New to Wikipedia? See thecontributing to Wikipedia page for everything you need to know to get started.
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Editors are entrusted with the responsibility of upholding the integrity of Wikipedia while adhering tointellectual property rights, such asavoiding plagiarism, respectingcopyright laws, and presentingappropriate citations for article content. Particular care should be observed whenadding information about living persons to any Wikipedia page. Wikipediashould not be used as a platform for activism, recruitment, promotion, advertising, announcements, or otherforms of advocacy.
Editors interested in identifying and resolving copyright violations may enjoyCopyPatrol, a tool fromCommunity Tech. Handling of suspected violations of copyright policy depends on the particulars of a given case. If you suspect a copyright violation but are uncertain if the content is copyrighted or whether the external site is copying from Wikipedia, you shouldat least bring up the issue on that page'sdiscussion page. In that case, please tag the page{{copypaste|url=insert URL here, if known}}, unless your concerns are swiftly resolved. Others can then examine the situation and take action if needed. The most helpful piece of information you can provide is a URL or other reference to what you believe may be the source of the text. You may also make a note of your concerns atWikipedia talk:Copyright problems.
If you have strong reason to suspect a violation of copyright policy and some, but not all, of the content of a page appears to be a copyright infringement, then the infringing content should be removed, and a note to that effect should be made on the discussion page, along with the original source, if known.{{subst:Cclean|url=insert URL or description of source here (optional)}} has been created for this.
SeeWikipedia:WikiProject Copyright Cleanup for details.
Upon discovering vandalism,revert such edits, using the undo function or ananti-vandalism tool. Once the vandalism is undone, you shouldwarn the vandalizing editor. Notifyadministrators at thevandalism noticeboard of editors who continue to vandalize despite warnings. Users whosemain or sole purpose is clearly vandalism may be blocked indefinitely without warning. SeeWikipedia:Counter-Vandalism Unit andWikipedia:Recent changes patrol.
To make vandalism reverts easier you can ask for therollback feature to be enabled for your registered Wikipedia account. This feature is only for reverting vandalism and other obvious disruption, and lets you revert several recent edits with a single click. SeeWikipedia:Requests for permissions.
Identifynew articles which do not meetthe criteria for inclusion and/or to tag them for any glaring issues that need attention. Most critical arecopyright violations anddefamatory material aboutliving persons, followed closely by pages whose creators seek to exploit our voluntary work forfinancial gain. Reviewing new pages needs a thorough knowledge of deletion andnotability guidelines. SeeWikipedia:Page Curation/Help for details.
For pages listed onWikipedia:Pages needing translation into English, theWikipedia:Embassy member of the Wikipedia that relates to the language the article is in should be contacted and invited to move the page to their own Wikipedia or to help translate it. There is also a list of translators atWikipedia:Translation. If a page remains untranslated after two weeks, or if someone who speaks the language it is written in states that it is not worth translating, then article should be moved frompages needing translation toarticles for deletion. The boilerplate text on the article should be changed from {{notenglish}} to {{subst:afd}}.
Contribute your opinions toWP:Noticeboards in order to have a say in decisions and help come to consensus on certain issues. Posting a message to a noticeboard can also be an appropriate early step inresolving disputes on Wikipedia. Noticeboards are best used for simple and urgent matters. There are many pages inCategory:Wikipedia dispute resolution which could use help in resolving various kinds of disputes. If an editor needs a more complex response, and is willing to wait for it, theWP:Requests for comment process may be more suitable.
TheDashboard provides an overview of the various discussions and requests taking place throughout English Wikipedia.
Even new users can help answer factual questions on theWikipedia:Reference desk, which serves the same purpose as areference desk you might find in your local library. (You might also think of it as the Wikipedia version ofQuora orAnswers.com.) You do not have to be an expert on Wikipedia because:
If you already have some experience, your assistance in one of the manyWikipedia help forums, includingWikipedia:Help desk andWikipedia:Teahouse, would be a valuable contribution. See also,Category:Wikipedians looking for help.
Welcoming people using one of the standard user greetings is a great way to send a positive vibe. New users can be found by looking for red talk page links on recent changes or by querying the database or checkWikipedia's account creation log. You can go toWikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates for a full list of welcome templates, or toWikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates/Table for a visual gallery of welcome messages. The two most commonly used are {{subst:Welcome}} and {{subst:W-graphical}}. See alsoWikipedia:WikiProject Editor Retention.
Thetechnical section of the village pump is used to discuss technical issuesabout Wikipedia. Bug reports and feature requests should be made inPhabricator (seehow to report a bug). Bugs withsecurity implications should be reported differently (seehow to report security bugs). For the technical workings of Wikipedia, including software and hardware, seeWikipedia:FAQ/Technical for details.
Helpful editorial maintenance tasks include:reviewing new pages,creating requested articles,responding to edit requests,fixing spelling and grammar errors, and assisting withtranslation requests. Other essential maintenance tasks include:fixing unreferenced statements,fixing original research,fixing vandalism,integrating articles into the encyclopedia,welcoming newcomers,link recovery,categorization, and numerous behind the scenes tasks likemoving free images to Wikimedia Commons andhelping others.
Overviews
Lists
SeeMaintenance WikiProjects for a complete list ofWikiProjects that deal with Wikipedia's maintenance systems.
You can help improve the articles listed below! This list updates frequently, so check back here for more tasks to try. (SeeWikipedia:Maintenance or theTask Center for further information.)
Help countersystemic bias by creatingnew articles on important women.
Help improvepopular pages, especiallythose of low quality.
This week'sarticle for improvement is:
Click any linked number for that category's articles prioritized by their number of incoming links.
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