Wikipedia:Rowback

Rowback is a featur o the MediaWiki saftware that runs Wikipaedia. It allaes the last uiser's eedits on a gien page tae be unduin wi a single moose dab. On Wikipaedia, rowback is uised tae undae problematic eedits sic as vandalism.

An editor wi rowback richts sees a rowback button next tae relevant reveesions on thair watchlist, in page histories an in certain ither places. A single click on this button reverses the eedit in question, as weel as ony ither consecutive precedin eedits made bi the same uiser.

Rowback is available tae aw admeenistrators an can be gien tae ither uisers on request, subject tae the approval o an admeenistrator. A uiser that haes been assigned this richt explicitly is cried a rowbacker. There are currently 3 admeenistrators an 15 rowbackers (18 tot), nae includin global rowbackers that hae been assigned the richt across aw Wikimedia projects.

Staundart rowback mey anly be uised in certain situations – editors that misuise staundart rowback (for example, bi uising it tae reverse guid-faith edits in situations whaur an explanatory eedit summary woud normal be expectit) mey hae thair rowback richts removed. Syne rowback is pairt o the core admeenistrator tuils, an admin coud be stripped o their admeenistrative privileges in order tae remuive thae tuils.

Hou it wirks

Uisers wi rowback hae extra "rowback" airtins next tae revisions on the recent chynges page, page histories, diffs, uiser contreibution pages, an thair watchleet:

• 21:49, 2 September 2010 (diff | hist) Foobar (talk | contribs) Wikipedia:Rowback featur (892,876 bytes) (this is an example) (tap) [­rowback­]

Clickin ane o the airtins restores the page tae the maist recent revision that is nae made bi the reveesion's author. This appears in the page history wi a generic summary that leuks lik this:

s Revertit edits bi Uiser A (talk) tae last version bi Uiser B

An airtin tae the revertit uiser's contreibution history is gien, sae that it micht be easily checked for further problematic eedits. It disnae appear gin ye are revertin contreibutions duin bi a uiser whase uisername haes been removed, the result bein:

s Revertit eedits bi (uisername removed) tae last version bi Uiser B

Note the follaein:

• The rowback button appears anly next tae the maist recent revision o a page.
• Gin the page is eeditit again afore ye click the rowback airtin, ye will get an error message insteid.
• Ye cannae wale whilk reveesion will be restored. It is aye the last revision nae made bi the author o the maist recent reveesion. This revision micht be problematic too, sae be carefu.
• If thare are multiple consecutive eedits tae the page bi the same author, thay will aw be revertit. Tae remove anly some o them, ye maun revert the chynges manually.
• Ye cannae uise rowback on a page which haes anly been eeditit bi ane person, as thare would be naething tae revert tae.
• Ye cannae uise rowback tae restore a revrrsion that haes been deletit. Attemptin tae dae sae will display an error message.
• Rowback happens immediately; thare is no confirmation or preview (altho a page is displayed allaein ye tae see the chynges ye hae made).
• Rowbacks are automatically marked as a "smaa eedit".

When tae uise rowback

Staundart rowback is a fast way o undaein problematic eedits, but it haes the disadvantage that anly a generic eedit summary is generatit, wi no explanation o the reason for the chynge. For this reason, it is considered inappropriate tae uise it in situations whaur an explanatory eedit summary would normally be expectit. Rowback micht be uised:

• Tae revert obvious vandalism an ither edits whaur the reason for revertin is absolutely clear
• Tae revert eedits in yer ain uiser space
• Tae revert eedits that ye hae made (for example, eedits that ye accidentally made)
• Tae revert eedits bi banned uisers that are nae allaed tae eedit (but be prepared tae explain this uiss o rowback when asked tae)
• Tae revert widespread eedits (bi a misguided eeditor or malfunctionin bot) that are judged tae be unhelpfu tae the encyclopaedia, providit that an explanation is supplied in an appropriate location, sic as at the relevant collogue page

Uiss o staundart rowback for ony ither purposes – sic as revertin guid-faith chynges that ye happen tae disagree wi – is likely tae be considert misuise o the tuil. Whan in doubt, uise anither method o reversion an supply an eedit summary tae explain yer reasonin.

The abuin restrictions apply tae staundart rowback, uising the generic eedit summary. If a tuil or manual method is uised tae add an appropriate explanatory eedit summary (as descrieved in the Addeetional tuils section ablo), then rowback mey be freely uised as wi ony ither method o revertin.

As wi ither methods o reverting, when uising rowback tae restore text tae a page, ensur that the text restored disnae violate Wikipaedia policies.

Admeenistrators mey revoke the rowback featur or issue a block in response tae a persistent failur tae explain reverts, regairdless o the means uised. Houaniver, thay shoud allae the eeditor an opportunity tae explain thair uise o rowback afore takin ony action – thare micht be juistification o that the admeenistrator is nae aware (sic as reversion o a banned uiser). Seemilarly, editors that eedit war mey lose the privilege regairdless o the means uised tae eedit war. Admeenistrators that persistently misuise rowback micht hae thair admeenistrator access revoked.

Requestin rowback

Tae request rowback, ask at Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Rowback.

While thare is nae fixed requirement, a request is unlikly tae be successfu wioot a contribution history that demonstrates an ability tae distinguish well-intentioned eedits wi meenor issues frae unconstructive vandalism.

Accidental uise o rowback

Acause rowback anly taks a single click, wioot askin for confirmation, even experienced uisers micht at times accidentally click rowback whan (for ensaumple) merely attemptin tae click on the page in order tae scroll up or doun. Gin this occurs, simply revert yer eedit manually, wi an eedit summary lik "Self-revert accidental uise o rowback".

If rowback is uised accidentally instead o undae tae revert a guid faith eedit, simply mak a dummy eedit, wi an eedit summary lik "Accidental uise o rowback - raison for reversion".

Note: it is possible tae hide the [rowback] airtins at Special:Watchlist, which is the soorce o maist accidental uises, whilst leavin [rowback] airtins available in ither locations (eg diffs). See here for instructions.

See an aa

• Help:Revertin#Rowback
• Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Rowback
• Leet o uisers wi rowback richts
• {{Rowback tapicon}} a top icon template tae indicate ye hae rowback permission.
• {{Uiser wikipedia/rowback}} a uiserbox template tae indicate ye hae rowback permission.