There were some tell-tale signs of trolling.

What happened here?! by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2023-11-30 08:55:33 UTC Serious business Reply

The page for Luxury is vandalized and every single revision of it is overwritten, so I can't revert the change. The question is how did this happen? How can someone just retcon the entire history of a page?

Re. wiki and vandalism, does anyone object to me admin-locking the various Help and Template pages? by Neshomeh on 2023-12-16 21:17:10 UTC Reply

These are low edit, but high vandalism articles (relative to our overall pretty infrequent vandalism). For example, the "How to Make a Character Page" article has been vandalized several times now. I don't think it will hurt anything to restrict editing those types of pages to admin-only. Updating them in any major way is probably a matter for community discussion first, anyway.

(Before anyone asks, we probably are moving at some point and we will have more options to choose from then, but I don't intend to discuss that further until after the holidays. {= P )

~Neshomeh

Done. by Neshomeh on 2023-12-19 20:55:53 UTC Reply
The following pages are now admin-only:
- Wiki Rules
- Permission
- How to Make a Character Page
- How to Use Sources and References
- Posting New Mission Reports
- Template:Infobox PPC Agents
- Template:Infobox Department
- Template:Infobox PPC Enemies
- Template:Infobox Flower
- Template:Infobox Mary Sue
- Template:Infobox Minis
- Template:Infobox Nursery Child
- Template:Infobox OFUs
- Template:Infobox PPC Staff
- Template:Infobox User
Additionally, based on past history, "Protectors of the Plot Continuum" may now only be edited by auto-confirmed users. We'll see if we need to bump that up to admin-only later.

Now we wait and see what the spammers do next. I admit I'm legitimately curious—I mean, maybe there will be some kind of pattern to detect; could be good info!—but I hope I have to wait a long time to find out.

~Neshomeh
Good idea to lock them, yes. (nm) by doctorlit on 2023-12-18 14:46:49 UTC Reply
That seems a sensible precaution, I'm in for it. (nm) by Sergio Turbo on 2023-12-17 09:54:07 UTC Reply
I don't mind. Like you said, those don't get major updates without a communal discussion anyway. by Zingenmir on 2023-12-17 06:32:16 UTC Edited Reply
Since I suggested it. by Linstar on 2023-12-17 02:35:44 UTC Reply

I'll just add that I am on board with this.

--Ls

Update: Holy Smaug every single agent page is vandalized by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2023-11-30 08:58:45 UTC Reply

Which I discovered by going to Agent Kaguya's page. I don't know if I should be scared or be happy that something I wrote is vandalized for the first time XDDD

Yeah, someone vandalised the infobox template. by Huinesoron on 2023-11-30 09:24:16 UTC Reply

I've just rolled it back, problem solved.

hS

And it happened again! I reverted, but they will probably just continue until they're banned. (nm) by Linstar on 2023-12-01 23:49:33 UTC Reply

They are now banned. (nm) by Neshomeh on 2023-12-01 23:56:14 UTC Reply

You know, I wonder why these things happen. by OrangeFox on 2023-12-02 04:10:28 UTC Reply

Was it intentional trolling, or an attempt to interact with the community without knowing how it works? Shame we'll prolly never know, but it's interesting food for thought.

There were some tell-tale signs of trolling. by Neshomeh on 2023-12-02 16:31:28 UTC Reply

For starters, you kinda have to know where to look to find a template page. It's not something a casual search will show you. I also don't think it's random that they overwrote the most-used infobox on the wiki.

Second, they added several lines, one of which was "Favorite food: burger." I've seen that before, whether just "burger" or "cheeseburger." It seems to be some kind of troll meme? I don't know why, but it's a definite pattern.

And finally, in this particular case, I actually blocked this account last month for the same behavior. They came right back and did it again as soon as the block expired, having made zero attempt to communicate with anyone.

Overall, this is not the behavior of a person acting in good faith, so the block is now indefinite.

Why this form of trolling and why us, though—those are questions I'd love to have answered!

~Neshomeh

The "terribly written OC profile" form of trolling/spam/vandalism is pretty common, though. by Linstar on 2023-12-02 19:07:33 UTC Edited Reply

I do wonder why. Is it because random netizens see "oh, look, they have OC pages" and decide to make their own? Or are they trying to make a point about how "see, look, their wiki sucks, too. Their OCs are bad too!111". The former seems more likely to be genuine, whereas the latter is definitely trolling.

I wonder if it's the same person who keeps doing this under multiple accounts, or at least if it's something done by the same person multiple times.

--Ls

I also wonder why Hermione's page is targeted so badly by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2023-12-05 03:47:46 UTC Reply

while pages for other HP characters aren't.

Hermione is the female lead of Harry Potter. by Amina/Amian/Damian Darkbrighte on 2023-12-11 12:02:39 UTC Reply

Trolls are not known for their stellar views on gender.

I somehow doubt it was just sexism. It seemed to be one person. by Linstar on 2023-12-11 15:19:24 UTC Reply

With multiple accounts, solely hating Hermione, for weirdly personal reasons. Not saying that couldn't be it, but I don’t think that's the only reason someone would repeatedly vanadalize a wiki page.

--Ls

Also, why is the top search term on the wiki "Loli"? Whyyy

Hermione articles/images have been specifically targeted across multiple wikis, too. by Neshomeh on 2023-12-16 21:31:09 UTC Reply

I also think it's someone with a very weird, sad, personal grudge, and I hope someday they get help resolving their issues.

Re. "Loli," beats me. We had someone(s) determined to correct our explanation of the term for a couple years, too. I had to edit a topic I don't care about at all to explain that sometimes, two words that share a stem end up shortened the same way. As if English doesn't do that all the time. Sheesh.

~Neshomeh

Apparently the top search term is now Ocotillo by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2023-12-17 10:16:27 UTC Reply

and I apologize for making this discussion longer than it should be.