The patrol is entirely voluntary and carries no obligation. At its heart, it is really just a way to try to ensure that every edited article gets checked in a timely manner and is given a boost on its way to becoming a "featured article", while simultaneously ensuring that the rest of Wikipedia is not harmed.
RC Patrolling primarily consists of a four step process:
Identify "bad" or "needy" edits
RC patrollers efficiently identify problematic edits. A bad edit is an edit that for one reason or another may need to be entirely removed. A needy edit requires maintenance or improvement in some manner.
Remove or improve the edit
Needy edits should be tagged according to their need (e.g. {{wikify}}), or boldly changed immediately. A useful list of tags can be found at WP:TC. Bad edits should likewise be tagged or deleted. Because Wikipedians do not like their edits to be deleted, it is important to leave concise but clear justifications on the talk page or in the edit summary. When adding tags, please consider discussing the issue on the article's talk page before adding them in the article itself.
Warn the editor
In the cases of deliberate vandalism or an evident lack of knowledge on Wikipedia procedure, offending editors should be warned on their talk pages. While this is an optional step, it should be a regular part of a patroller's duties, as it minimizes conflict, educates new editors and alerts administrators of repeat offenders. For efficiency and consistency, standard warning templates can be found here. However do feel free to simply write a warning if the available templates are not appropriate.
Check the user's other contributions
You will often find more edits with similar problems. As a RC Patroller, you may want to fix those as well.
Throughout the entire process of RC patrol, it is important to remember not to bite the newcomers. Far from being a monolithic horde of vandals, trolls, and spammers, a 2006 essay indicated that newcomers wrote most of Wikipedia's content.[1]
If you see a new user or IP address contributing, welcome them if you're so inclined, and include a pointer or two of feedback about how they can make their contributions even better. Most will gladly welcome the support.
It is also important to assume good faith as much as possible, or, minimally to assume incompetence instead of malice. For example, remember not everyone is as computer literate as you; some people will accidentally blank or damage pages when attempting to cut and paste material from Wikipedia. Others may not understand that, yes, their changes really are visible to the entire world.
In general, one thing to keep in mind is not to focus only on patrolling articles in the main namespace. Image pages, for example, are frequently victims of nonsensical edits and vandalism. Such uncaught edits may be harmful due to malicious modification or collateral removal of copyright tags.
Look for newcomer tests (odd edits which are not vandalism), but do not bite the newcomers. Revert their experiments and leave one of the following messages on their user talk page. Be sure to sign and timestamp (~~~~) the warning.
{{subst:uw-test1}} ~~~~
Welcome and thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and it has been reverted or removed. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Thank you. ~~~~
{{subst:uw-create1}} ~~~~
Welcome to Wikipedia. A page you recently created may not conform to some of Wikipedia's guidelines for new pages, so it will shortly be removed (if it hasn't been already). Please use the sandbox for any tests, and consider using the Article Wizard. For more information about creating articles, you may want to read Your first article. You may also want to read our introduction page to learn more about contributing. Thank you. ~~~~
{{subst:uw-delete1}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking)
Welcome to Wikipedia. It might not have been your intention, but your recent edit removed content from Wikipedia. When removing content, please specify a reason in the edit summary and discuss edits that are likely to be controversial on the article's talk page. If this was a mistake, don't worry; the content has been restored, as you can see from the page history. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia, and if you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you. ~~~~
{{subst:uw-test2}} ~~~~
Please refrain from making test edits in Wikipedia pages, even if you intend to fix them later. Such edits appear to be vandalism and have been reverted. If you would like to experiment again, please use the sandbox. Thank you. ~~~~
{{subst:uw-delete2}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for blanking)
Please do not remove content or templates from pages on Wikipedia without giving a valid reason for the removal in the edit summary. Your content removal does not appear constructive, and has been reverted. Please make use of the sandbox if you'd like to experiment with test edits. Thank you. ~~~~
Addition of unsourced material without proper citations
{{subst:uw-unsor1}} ~~~~
Welcome to Wikipedia. We invite everyone to contribute constructively to our encyclopedia. However, adding content without citing a reliable source is not consistent with our policy of verifiability. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-unsor2}} ~~~~
Please do not add content without citingreliable sources. Before making potentially controversial edits, it is recommended that you discuss them first on the article's talk page. Thank you.
Look for spam. If it comes in the form of articles, nominate them for deletion with {{db-spam}}, place a Proposed Deletion tag on them with {{subst:prod|Your Reasons Here}}, or nominate them at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. If a user is posting multiple links to a particular website in several articles, revert the edits. In either case, again notify the user with {{subst:uw-spam1}}.
Look for copyright violations and revert them. As per the instructions at Wikipedia:Copyright problems, just revert pages to remove copyright violations. However, take care to indicate in the edit summary that this is what you are doing. If an entire article is a copyvio see the section on copyvios in the new pages section below.
Look out for vandalism, and revert it. It is often worthwhile to check the page history after reverting to make sure you have removed all the vandalism. Also, check the user contributions of the vandal - you will often find more malicious edits.
Additionally, leave warning messages on the vandal's talk pages using the following system.
Also be sure to check discussion pages for possible explanations of edits.
Note that these templates need not be used sequentially. If the edit is clearly vandalism, use the template {{uw-vandalism1}} instead. For continuing severe vandalism, {{uw-vandalism2}} may be skipped and {{uw-vandalism3}} given straight after the first warning. If, however, you are not sure that the edit is vandalism, always start with {{uw-test1}}. If a user made such an edit and reverted it himself, use a {{selftest}}. For extreme or extensive cases of vandalism committed by users who have received no prior warnings, {{uw-vandalism4im}} may be used. The ~~~~ in the templates below cause the time and your signature to be added to the warning.
{{subst:selftest}} ~~~~ (use if an edit appears to be a reversion of a newcomer test)
Welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for reverting your recent experiment. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-test1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit appears to have possibly not been an intentional act of vandalism)
Welcome and thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and it has been reverted or removed. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-error1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit adds seemingly incorrect information to an article)
Your recent edit appears to have added incorrect information and has been reverted or removed. All information in this encyclopedia must be verifiable in a reliable, published source. If you believe the information that you added was correct, please cite the references or sources or before making the changes, discuss them on the article's talk page. Please use the sandbox for any tests that you wish to make. Do take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-vandalism1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit is clearly vandalism)
Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute to Wikipedia, at least one of your recent edits did not appear to be constructive and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any test edits you would like to make, and read the welcome page to learn more about contributing constructively to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-unsor1}} ~~~~ (use if an edit is unreferenced)
Welcome to Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome to contribute to the encyclopedia, but when you add or change content please cite a reliable source for the content of your edit. This helps maintain our policy of verifiability. Take a look at Wikipedia:Citing sources for information about how to cite sources and the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you.
Please refrain from making test edits in Wikipedia pages, even if you intend to fix them later. Such edits appear to be vandalism and have been reverted. If you would like to experiment again, please use the sandbox. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-error2}} ~~~~ (use if an edit adds factually incorrect information to an article)
Please do not introduce incorrect information into articles. Your edits appear to be vandalism and have been reverted. If you believe the information you added was correct, please cite references or sources or discuss the changes on the article's talk page before making them again. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you.
{{subst:uw-delete2}} ~~~~ (a variant suitable for vandalism that consists of blanking text)
Please do not remove content or templates from pages on Wikipedia without giving a valid reason for the removal in the edit summary. Your content removal does not appear constructive, and has been reverted. Please make use of the sandbox if you'd like to experiment with test edits. Thank you.
Please stop making test edits to Wikipedia. It is considered vandalism, which, under Wikipedia policy, can lead to a loss of editing privileges. If you would like to experiment again, please use the sandbox.
Please stop. If you continue to vandalize pages by deliberately introducing incorrect information, you may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
{{subst:uw-vandalism4}} ~~~~ (not suitable as a first warning)
This is the final warning you will receive regarding your disruptive edits. If you vandalize Wikipedia again, you may be blocked from editing without further notice.
{{subst:uw-vandalism4im}} ~~~~ (used as a first warning for extreme cases of vandalism)
This is the only warning you will receive regarding your disruptive edits. If you vandalize Wikipedia again, you may be blocked from editing without further notice.
Alternatively, you can use:
{{selftest-n|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-test#|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-error#|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-vandalism#|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-delete#|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-vandalism4im|PageName}} ~~~~
{{subst:uw-unsor#|PageName}} ~~~~
to explicitly state which articles were vandalized. Where appropriate, replace the "#" with the warning level number (1 to 4). Insert the title of the article being referenced. For example:
{{subst:uw-test1|France}}
Welcome and thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test on the page France worked, and it has been reverted or removed. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Thank you.
The "subst" causes the template text to be pasted into the talk page as if you had typed it out, instead of leaving {{subst:uw-test1}} visible when editing the page. This makes the messages more personal to the user, and thus, more friendly. Also, if someone vandalizes the template, then the vandalism will not affect every page that uses the text from the template.
If the vandal will not stop, list them at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism. Ensure that the user has been warned thoroughly before posting a notice on Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism and has had time (three or four minutes) to read the warnings and still ignore them. If a user has not been sufficiently warned, or has only vandalized a couple of times an administrator may simply remove the notice without action.
The blocking administrator will usually leave this or one of the other Block Templates on the vandal's talk page:
If an address is not in one, it will probably be in another. Then add {{vandalip|Name of owner}} to the talk pages of users who vandalise - the realisation that they can be traced is often sufficient to make them stop.
Welcome and thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and it has been reverted or removed. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Thank you. ~~~~
Please do not add unsourced or original content. Doing so violates Wikipedia's verifiability policy. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you.
This is the final warning you will receive regarding your disruptive edits. If you vandalize Wikipedia again, you may be blocked from editing without further notice.
