Heroes Wiki talk:Patrollers

Backlogs

6/16/08 backlogs: my edits and potentially spoilery material that I dont want to touch.--SacValleyDweller (talk) 01:03, 17 June 2008 (EDT)

7/8/08 Backlogs: My edits and spoilers --SacValleyDweller (talk) 02:15, 9 July 2008 (EDT)

• Ok, purged the edits that weren't mine.--MiamiVolts (talk) 03:01, 9 July 2008 (EDT)

8/2/08 backlogs: Everything but the kitchen sink: Theory pages potentially holding spoilers, GN and Webisode updates, user page and talk page edits, etc... --SacValleyDweller (talk) 02:11, 3 August 2008 (EDT)

• We sure are getting backed up with unpatrolled edits, guys! -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 21:19, 30 October 2008 (EDT)
  • Ok, I went through and purged most of the talk namespace (aside from my own comments) as a start. That was a whole lot, but there's still many more.--MiamiVolts (talk) 03:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)
    • Thanks, Miami. I hate to sound like a nag because I understand we're all volunteers. Any help people can give is truly appreciated. Thanks! -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 08:00, 31 October 2008 (EDT)
      • No problem, the "Graphic Novel", "Graphic Novel talk", "Image", "Image talk", "Template", "Template talk", "User" and "User talk" namespaces are patrolled now as well. Sometimes rl creeps up on everyone at once. Very understandable. Happy Halloween!--MiamiVolts (talk) 15:31, 31 October 2008 (EDT)
        • Thanks, Miami. FYI, one namespace that I visit very rarely is the Theory namespace. There's a bunch of unpatrolled edits in that namespace. On a related note, I'm looking for somebody I can promote to a patroller to primarily patrol the Theory namespace. There's a lot that needs to be cleaned up there. It should be somebody who has a good grasp of grammar, spelling, etc., a working knowledge of Heroes in general, and a good understanding of Heroes Wiki policies and procedures. If there's a user anybody thinks should be nominated, let me know so I can take a look at their contributions. Because there's a chance they might not be promoted after being nominated, it's probably best to keep nominations private. If there's anybody you'd like to nominate (including yourself), email me at ryangibsonstewart at heroeswiki dot com. Thanks, all! :) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 22:23, 31 October 2008 (EDT)
          • "Theory" and "Theory talk" namespaces are all caught up for patrolling now. It takes a bit longer to patrol theory pages than other pages as they tend to have more formatting errors.--MiamiVolts (talk) 18:16, 3 November 2008 (EST)
            • I'm a firm believer that if a set of pages is correctly formatted, people will make less mistakes on them. Mistakes will still happen, but less of them....Thanks for patrolling the often-tedious-to-patrol Theory pages. Better you than me! -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 21:14, 3 November 2008 (EST)
          • No problem, Ryan. Only the "Spoiler" and "Spoiler talk" namespaces are left for October now. Can you or someone else patrol them? I've been keeping myself spoiler-free this volume.--MiamiVolts (talk) 00:54, 7 November 2008 (EST)

Patrols

Hey, I noticed a hand full of y'all are making some edits but not patrolling. If you could patrol some of the more recent edits when you're on here, that'd help out alot. I'm trying to take care of the older ones little by little. Thanks.--Bob (talk) 17:43, 12 August 2008 (EDT)

• I don't mean to start anything, but I've noticed that patrolling tends to get very backed up when I do not do it. If I do not sign in for several days, there's usually several full days worth of patrolling to do. I've been very busy the past two weeks, and as noticed the amount of unpatrolled edits was 500+ (if not much more) until just recently. I'm not saying the others aren't patrolling, but going through three or more days of edits just to "clean up" the edits is quite tedious and quickly becomes not worth my time. -- Lulu (talk) 01:58, 18 August 2008 (EDT)
  • This might show patrol traffic. I left all the theory edits untouched because I don't deal with them normally (as was stated when we recruited some patrollers). Ryan and I knocked out a ton, mainly Ryan. My topic was started because we were backed up for several weeks of unpatrolled edits, but today and yesterday I did about 200 patrols, and Ryan did about 200 today. I was hoping people would help out so I could get to some of my other to-do's, but it appears we knocked out all of em. Like I said, whenever you're online, just knock out a few patrols. We're not backed up for a while, but in the future we will be. Thanks agian.--Bob (talk) 02:43, 18 August 2008 (EDT)
    • I normally don't patrol when I am at work or on a laptop, so I haven't been doing as frequently as I have before. There was a week or so that nobody else was doing any, I think several people were on vacation or at camp. I would sit for hours just patrolling. -Lөvөl 13:04, 18 August 2008 (EDT)
      • It does become frustrating when there's a bunch of unpatrolled edits, but there's not a lot of reason to worry about it. The point of patrolling is really just to make sure that every single edit is reviewed by somebody responsible. Whether or not the edits actually get patrolled or not is less important than the fact that they're reviewed. This becomes a bigger issue when the episodes start airing again and it's impossible for one, two, or more people to look at every edit. With a bit of good fortune, our traffic after September 22 will be so great, and the number of unpatrolled edits will be so high that we will have to recruit some more patrollers. That's a good thing. :) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 20:39, 18 August 2008 (EDT)

I hate to do this again, but can we please get some more people to do patrols? Not that many people are patrolling, and the unpatrolled ones are all the theory edits. One of the main reason we recruited more patrollers was to deal with the theory page edits, and they're not being patrolled. I have no idea about the quality of the edits being done on these pages, so if someone could start working on these, that'd be great. --Bob (talk) 16:26, 24 November 2008 (EST)

Sorry!

Sorry I haven't been patrolling for a while, but I went on a three-week vacation, and then there hasn't been much to do since I got back - it's done when I get on! But I haven't forgotten, and I'm not neglecting my duties. ;)--  Lost Soul   talk  contribs  04:35, 24 August 2008 (EDT)

• No worries, no worries. You do what you can when you are able. Life comes first. :) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 10:29, 24 August 2008 (EDT)
  • Just an update guys - the reason I haven't been patrolling is because we've been two episodes behind you here in the UK. However, thanks to your election, we're now up-to-date, and now, as far as I'm aware, we will only be two days behind you guys. So, basically, what I'm saying is that I'm going to be able to do some more patrolling now. :)--  Lost Soul   talk  contribs  03:49, 9 November 2008 (EST)

Guidelines for patrolling

Since we're coming up on a very busy time with the advent of the third season, may I make a few suggestions regarding patrolling. Please take these as guidelines and suggestions, and not as accusatory charges of wrongdoing or blame-placing.

1. The point of patrolling is not to clear a list of unpatrolled edits, but to quality check every edit made to the wiki.
2. Patrollers should be checking such things as accuracy of facts, spelling, grammar, punctuation, layout, style, tense, perspective, etc. They should also make sure that polices are adhered to, such as no spoilers on non-spoiler pages, and removing speculation and theories from regular pages.
3. Once an edit is patrolled, it cannot be undone. Therefore, if you are not sure of something, do not patrol it. Either leave the edit for somebody else to patrol, or bring up your question or concern on the talk page.
4. Patrol only when you have time to dedicate to editing. If you don't have time to edit something at that moment, that's fine--but don't patrol the edit then. A trap people often fall into is thinking that they'll remember to fix an edit later on. Don't fall into that trap--leave the patrol for somebody else.
5. Patrol patrollers' edits. Don't fall for the fallacy that just because a person is a patroller, their edits are perfect. (It also helps to go back and check your own edits as you scroll through the recent changes.)
6. Likewise, patrol administrators' edits. This is tricky because an administrator's edits are automatically patrolled. We are not infallible--please check our edits as much as you would check anyone else's edits.
7. If a situation arises where you need to address a contributor either on an article's talk page or on the user's talk page, please do so in a kind and professional manner. State the facts, but do so in a way that is not overly aggressive. Leave judgmental language or anything that might be perceived as offensive out of your comments. This goes for edit summaries too, of course. Just remember that we all start somewhere, and the last thing we want to do is scare away newbies or casual contributors. Go easy when explaining policies, and remember that you might have to explain the same thing a million times, and that's okay.

I think you guys are all doing a fantastic job of keeping the wiki up-to-date, accurate, and consistent. Keep up the good work, and enjoy Season Three! -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 20:54, 19 September 2008 (EDT)

• Thanks, Ryan! Do you mind if I expand the project page to incorporate some of your guidelines? There's already some guidelines listed, but you just listed some new ones that may be helpful. BTW, I think you are doing a great job as an administrator and I intend to enjoy Season Three. :)--MiamiVolts (talk) 21:10, 19 September 2008 (EDT)
  • Good guidelines, and many of y'all do an excellent job at watching our edits. I appreciate any clearing up after I screw something up, so thanks! I remember after the first hiatus in Season One and then the premiere of Season Two that there will be TONS of edits, and that was before we grew so large. So just keep in mind that there will be a lot of red marks on the recent changes page. Just be patient and go through the history. The worst thing that happens is the constant edit-conflicts. Good luck to everyone.--Bob (talk) 21:54, 19 September 2008 (EDT)
    • Just so you guys know, I'm from the UK - therefore, starting Monday, I won't be able to come on the wiki, as Season Three doesn't start over here until Wednesday, October 1, by which point we'll be three episodes behind. Just wanted to let you guys know. But thanks for the guidelines! :)--  Lost Soul   talk  contribs  04:26, 20 September 2008 (EDT)
      • That sucks. Yanno, you can always patrol GN edits or other edits if at all possible. Doesn't mean you can't come here, but I understand your hesitance. --Bob (talk) 04:45, 20 September 2008 (EDT)
      • Sorry, Lost Soul. I had thought that this season BBC was going to air episodes the same week. I guess something happened to change that.--MiamiVolts (talk) 04:51, 20 September 2008 (EDT)
  • Miami, I don't mind if you want to update the page, of course. :) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 09:14, 20 September 2008 (EDT)

A couple questions

Hey, just a couple of quick questions this time around...

1. How do we patrol talk page edits. Do we still correct spelling/punctuation/etc, or do we just make sure no inappropriate content is posted, and answer any questions asked?
   • For the talk pages I don't worry about spelling. I do watch out for inappropriate content and also I look out for unsigned messages. When I find an unsigned one I manually create a signature at the end based on the time of the user's edits. (Admin 18:43, 20 October 2008 (EDT))
2. A question about standard layout I can't seem to find...when stringing gallery picture descriptions together, do we use ellipses on each side of the comments (that is, at the end of the first gallery picture comment and at the beginning of the next)?

Thanks. Stevehim 18:29, 20 October 2008 (EDT)

• 1. I wouldn't edit anything a user posts on a talk page, unless it creates a red link we don't want, or it's a spoiler (in which case you can use template:spoilertext) or it's completely foul or disgusting in some way. I don't think I've ever really come across too many of that last example--and most of them seem to have been on my talk page!
     • As for spoilers, it's sort of your discretion whether you use the spoilertext (which I despise) or whether you remove the content entirely. Spoilers don't go on non-spoiler pages and the spoilertext is a hack that only sometimes works. (Admin 18:46, 20 October 2008 (EDT))
  2. Ellipses go at the end of the first picture and at the beginning of the second picture.

• I love Evan...
  I love Evan...
• ...and I love Griffin...
  ...and I love Griffin...
• ...and Oscar too!
  ...and Oscar too!

• -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 18:40, 20 October 2008 (EDT)
  • 1. As Ryan said, for talk pages, it's mainly a matter of making sure no inappropriate content is posted (i.e. spam, bad language, spoilers). But you can also check that people remember to post their signatures. As for typos and grammar, people should normally be left to express themselves as they see fit when posting their comments.
    2. When doing descriptions for gallery images, if you end with an ellipse then you should begin the next description with an ellipse as Ryan pointed out. However, it is not necessary to always string the images together. You should find plenty of examples of non-stringing in the "Examples of <ability>" pages.--MiamiVolts (talk) 18:50, 20 October 2008 (EDT)
    • Thanks guys (for both the answers and the welcoming). I figured that to be the case (though hadn't considered the 'unsigned' aspect), but I wanted to make sure, especially about the ellipses, since I think I'm going to go over the 'Examples of <ability>' pages. --Stevehim 18:57, 20 October 2008 (EDT)
      • A note about the ellipses and the broken sentences--it's okay to use them in the ability galleries and elsewhere, and I wouldn't say they should be avoided, but they really shouldn't be the norm. If we can make real sentences, let's do. I would only break up a sentence along multiple pictures if the images represent events that took place in rapid succession (like Sylar breaking his neck, and then fixing it right away) and in very few other cases. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 20:11, 20 October 2008 (EDT)