Countervandalism Network

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Countervandalism network
The countervandalism network is a distinct group. It is neither affiliated with nor managed by the Wikimedia Foundation.

The countervandalism network (CVN) (http://countervandalism.net) is an unofficial, semi-formal collection of channels on the freenode IRC network. Bots in these channels list suspicious edits to selected wikis, based on criteria defined by the community using the channel. Each channel has local operators and users, and is managed by a volunteer group of staff selected from the countervandalism IRC community.

All users are welcome to join the freenode IRC channel #countervandalismfor live discussion.

Contents

[edit] Management

The countervandalism network is managed by three partially overlapping groups of volunteers. The committee-like system described below was designed to centralize management while diluting authority among a diverse group and distributing access in case of absence.

[edit] Local operators

Local operators have op access on individual channels. They maintain order, manage autovoice access in moderated channels, give restricted bot commands, and perform other channel tasks. (They are listed under "Channels" below.)

[edit] Staff

Countervandalism staff have access in all countervandalism channels. They coordinate users with bot developers and hosts, provide technical assistance with regards to access on restricted channels, appoint or remove local operators, and help local operators maintain order if needed. They are usually consulted when the senior staff make decisions.

Senior staff are the administrating authority. Through senior staff consensus, they set global policy, manage channels and technical details, appoint or remove staff members, arbitrate conflicts between users and local operators, and impose or lift global access restrictions on disruptive users.

[edit] freenode contacts

Contacts elected by staff consensus represent the countervandalism network channels to freenode. They resolve channel naming or access level conflicts per consensus among senior staff, but do not have special authority beyond their positions as senior staff.

Current contacts:

[edit] Channels

Users listed are local operators.

[edit] Management

[edit] Multilingual or multiple projects

[edit] Wikibooks

[edit] Wikinews

[edit] Wikipedia

[edit] Wikiquote

[edit] Wikisource

[edit] Wiktionary

[edit] Wikiversity

[edit] Policy

Channel policy is primarily based on common sense, so there is little need to codify rules. Most conflicts are successfully dealt with by discussion with the involved users. The following documents some of the less clear aspects.

[edit] User access

Channels in the network have standardized access flags (see Channel settings). New users by default have no access, and cannot issue bot commands. Users can be assigned the following incremental levels on request in #countervandalism:

  • voiced (issue bot commands, speak in moderated channels) is available to established users active on the associated wiki;
  • local_op (give or remove voiced access, channel op) is available to sysops on the associated wiki, or active users on the associated wiki if there is a particular need and there are no objections.
  • staff (restricted channel commands except 'set') and senior staff (full access) is given by consensus among current staff when new staff are needed, normally selected among active users in #countervandalism.

[edit] Channel settings standardization

The standardization in late 2007 addressed a number of problems.

Creating the new channels allowed us to gain full access to restricted commands like SET and LEVEL, which previously only Essjay (who created the channels) had. With his departure, we were left with insufficient access to properly manage the channels. For example, we could not standardize the access levels, which greatly simplifies management of global access on a wide network. Before the standardization, different channels had different levels and naming conventions.

The move also placed the channels in the countervandalism namespace we have agreed upon with freenode staff, which lets us have contacts with freenode. Advantages of this include, in particular, the right to usurp channels and the ability to assign countervandalism cloaks.

In addition, we simultaneously removed former staff members from the access lists and added new members. Due to the newly standardized access levels, this is now much easier to update. We also took advantage of the access listings to create a comprehensive list of local operators.

[edit] Channel settings

[edit] Access flags

Users are assigned templates (flags) reflecting a semi-formal hierarchy, with each group having all the rights of the previous groups.

voiced (+AV)
A view channel access list.
V automatic voice.
local_op (+AfiotvV)
f modify channel access list.
i invite and getkey commands.
o op and deop commands.
t topic and topicappend commands.
v voice and devoice commands.
staff (+AfiorRtvV)
r kick, ban, kickban, and unban commands.
R recover and clear commands.
senior_staff (+AfiorRstvV)
F full founder access.
s set command.
banned (+b)
b automatic kickban.

Unused rights:

  • O: automatic op.

Accounts named "CVNfounder_*" have all rights except automatic op, and are shared amongst senior staff to circumvent a four-founder-per-channel limit (see Founder access).

[edit] Other
SET options
password private
mlock +ntR-cik1
topiclock off
private off
secureops off
secure on
entrymsg off
email none
url http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CVN
guard on
verbose on

+ntR-cik: prevent external send, topic lock, quiet unidentified; disallow colour filter, invite-only, password.

[edit] Aliases

The following command aliases are used to create new channels. $(1) is the name of the channel being set up.

Please do not use these yourself unless you are CVN staff. If you are, please see Pathoschild or Shanel about helping.

task alias
Register channel

Set templates




Settings




Add global staff		 
register $(1)

template $(1) voiced       +AV
template $(1) local_op     +AfiotvV
template $(1) staff        +AfiorRtvV
template $(1) senior_staff +AfiorRstvV
template $(1) founder      +AfFiorRstvV
template $(1) banned       +b

set $(1) mlock     +ntR-cik
set $(1) topiclock off
set $(1) private   off
set $(1) secure    on
set $(1) entrymsg  NONE
set $(1) url       http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CVN
set $(1) guard     on
set $(1) verbose   on

flags $(1) CVNfounder_wv  founder
flags $(1) Pathoschild2   founder
flags $(1) Shanel         founder
flags $(1) Az1568         senior_staff
flags $(1) Cbrown1023     senior_staff
flags $(1) kylu           senior_staff
flags $(1) Jack_Phoenix   staff
flags $(1) Misza          staff
Add topic cvntopic = topic $(1)-$(3) countervandalism <http://$(1).$(2).org> | help or info: #countervandalism | Say "!staff" for help/voice in this channel
Parse access list ^.*\s+\d+\s+(\d+) ([^\s]+).*
flags #cvn-wq-en \2 \1

[edit] Founder access

The freenode configuration limits full access to four users per channel, and thirty channels per user. To get around this limit, "CVNfounder" role accounts were created to which all senior staff have access.

management, multilingual or multiple projects CVNfounder_mul
Wikia CVNfounder_wikia
Wikibooks CVNfounder_wb
Wikinews CVNfounder_wn
Wikipedia CVNfounder_wp
Wikiquote CVNfounder_wq
Wikisource CVNfounder_ws
Wiktionary CVNfounder_wt
Wikiversity CVNfounder_wv

[edit] Status report

[edit] Channel deletions

The following channels are deprecated and will be deleted in the near future.

  1. ##wikibooks-en-vandalism
  2. ##wikimedia-commons-vandalism
  3. ##wikimedia-meta-vandalism
  4. ##wikipedia-bg-vandalism
  5. ##wikipedia-de-vandalism
  6. ##wikipedia-es-vandalism
  7. ##wikipedia-fr-vandalism
  8. ##wikipedia-it-vandalism
  9. ##wikipedia-ja-vandalism
  10. ##wikipedia-pl-vandalism
  11. ##wikipedia-pt-vandalism
  12. ##wikipedia-sv-vandalism
  13. ##wikiquote-en-vandalism
  14. ##wikisource-en-vandalism
  15. ##wiktionary-en-vandalism
  16. #beaver
  17. #cvu-proxies
  18. #cvu-request
  19. #cvu-staff
  20. #cvu-tech
  21. #cvu-test
  22. #cvu-unblock
  23. #vandalism
  24. #vandalism-bg-wp (inactive)
  25. #vandalism-de-wp (inactive)
  26. #vandalism-en (inactive)
  27. #vandalism-en-w (inactive)
  28. #vandalism-en-species (inactive)
  29. #vandalism-en-wp-2
  30. #vandalism-en-wt-2
  31. #vandalism-fo-wp (inactive)
  32. #vandalism-it-wp (inactive)
  33. #vandalism-ja-wp (inactive)
  34. #vandalism-kl-wp (inactive)
  35. #vandalism-pl-wp
  36. #vandalism-se-wp (inactive)
  37. #vandalism-simple-wp (inactive, redundant with #vandalism-simple)
  38. #vcn
  39. #vcn-proxies
  40. #vcn-request
  41. #vcn-social
  42. #vcn-staff
  43. #vcn-tech
  44. #vcn-test
  45. #vcn-unblock
  46. #wikipedia-en-cuv
  47. #wikipedia-en-cvu
  48. #wikipedia-en-newusers
  49. #wikipedia-en-vandalism
  50. #wikipedia-en-vandalism2
  51. #wikisource-en-vandalism
Retrieved from "http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Countervandalism_Network"