View source

This page has been locked to prevent editing by unregistered editors to discourage vandalism. You're more than welcome to edit the page if you create an account and log in.

You can view and copy the source of this page:

[[Image:Magnifying_glass.jpg|right|150px]] <br><br> Every wiki has a list of Recent Changes (RC) that shows every edit made to its website. Here at wikiHow, anyone is invited to become a [[Become a Recent Changes Patroller|patroller]]. Responsibilities involve [[Revert Vandalism in wikiHow|reverting]] any unhelpful edits as well as one-to-one [[wikiHow:Coaching Editors|coaching]]. Would you like to help out? Here's how!
[[Category:Patrolling]]
[[Category:Help]]

== Steps == 
# Go to http://www.wikihow.com/Special:RCPatrol.
# Compare the old revision of the page to the new revision. The old revision is on the left, and the new revision is on the right. This is called a "diff" page because it shows the difference between two revisions.
#*If something was removed, that section will have a ''yellow'' background on the left.
#*If something was added or changed, that section will have a ''green'' background on the right.
#*Any text that was changed will be in <font color="red">red</font>.
#*If you scroll down, you will see what the page looks like now, after the edits have been made. <br><br>[[Image:Krystle_screenshot2_930.png|500px]]
# [[Image:Skip_944.png|right]]Click on the "Skip" button if you're not sure whether the edits improve the page. Clicking this button will move you on to a new edit to patrol and leave the previous edit for someone else to patrol. It's always better to skip than to risk patrolling a bad edit, or undoing a good edit.  
# [[Image:Quick_Edit_295.png|right]]Use the "Quick Edit" button to fix changes that have been made to the article. For example, if someone adds a good tip with incorrect spelling, use this feature to make corrections before you mark as patrolled. When you press the button, a window will open to edit the page. Find the edits that need fixing (and feel free to make any other corrections while you're there) and then press the "Publish" button.<br><br>[[Image:Krystle_screenshot3_72.png|500px]]
#[[Image:Rollback_186.png|right]]Use the "Rollback" button when the entire edit should be removed (reverted) so that the article is changed back to the previous version on the left. Do this ''only'' when all the changes are unhelpful and unfixable. Most of the time, unless they are outright vandalism, edits are fixable.
#[[Image:Scrnsht0409111_843.png|right]]Press the "Thumbs Up" button to give the person who made the edit a little extra recognition for making a good contribution.
#[[Image:Quick_Note_125.png|right]]Use the "Quick Note" button to send a message to the contributor who made the edit (or one of the edits) you are currently patrolling. 
#*Write a personal note. In the text box, tell the contributor why you thought the edit he or she made was great. An example: "Thanks for fixing that typo in <nowiki>[[Get a Job]]</nowiki>. I always confuse "your" and "you're" myself so I'm happy we have people like you fixing that for people like me!" If you want, you can use the "basic thanks" button to start off the message, but it's more encouraging if you add a sentence that is specific to the edit, like "The tips you added were really insightful."
#*[[Image:Krystle_screenshot3_569.png|right]]Only use the "coach for bad" template button for when you had to rollback someone's edit.
#*[[Image:Krystle_screenshot6_369.png|right]]If you're patrolling edits made by more than one person, it'll say "and others" in the header for the current revision on the right. When you open quick note, there will be a dropdown menu for who you send the note to. By default, it'll send the note to whoever made the ''biggest'' edit to the page, who is usually NOT the same person listed before "and others" (that's the person who made the ''most recent'' edit to the page). If you're not sure you're sending the note to the right person, the only way to find out is by looking at the page history. If you don't want to do that, just skip or don't leave a quick note. <br><br>[[Image:Krystle_screenshot5_492.png|500px]]
#[[Image:Mark_as_Patrolled_627.png|right]]Click "Mark as Patrolled"  when you're done making any necessary changes to the edit.
#To become a respected and expert patroller, do not rush, and read and follow the tips in [[wikiHow:Patrolling Best Practices|Patrolling Best Practices]].

== Video ==
{{Video:Patrol Recent Changes on wikiHow|}}

== Tips ==
*If you see no difference, that's probably because an edit was reverted by someone else while they were patrolling, and the page now looks the way it did before. It's worth looking at the page history, though, to see if that edit should've been reverted or not. Maybe it was a good edit that just needed some fixing, but the person accidentally judged it as a bad edit. You can view the page history by clicking "Advanced" and then "Page History". It'll open in a new window or tab so that you don't lose your place in RC Patrol.<br><br>[[Image:Krystle_screenshot8_230.png|500px]] 
*If you want to patrol only a particular kind of edit, click on the "RC Ordering" tab and explore the dropdown menu. Discussion, User, and User Talk are easier to patrol because we allow pretty much anything except obvious vandalism.<br><br>[[Image:Krystle_screenshot9_115.png|500px]]
*Remember, some edits are only ''partially'' bad. A good tip with terrible grammar, for example, is still a good tip. Try to rollback edits only when the information isn't salvageable in any way. Otherwise, it is better to use Quick Edit to delete the bad and incorporate the good. 
*Do not revert/edit articles with an ''In Use'' aka {{temp|inuse}} tag. 
*Develop your own method. <br><br>
**Begin slowly, patrol safely, then pick up speed.
**Make easy fixes and add templates or spend more time on each article.
*Recent Changes is inaccessible to anonymous users. If you're anonymous, please [[Create Your wikiHow Account|create an account]] if you would like to become a patroller.
*[[Bunch Patrol on wikiHow]]: View a scrollable RC list of diffs for a logged in editor who has 4 or more unpatrolled RCs. There is no preview to view in this list. "Mark as patrolled" by clicking check boxes to left of each diff; skip some and "submit".
*While patrolling userpages, if you see any personal information like address, phone number etc, then put {{temp|safety}} template or for email dispose {{temp|Emailspam}} template in that user's talk page. Personal messages are highly appreciable with template.

== Help == 
*[[:Category:Patrolling]] - All-inclusive link
*[[wikiHow:Patroller Notice Board|Patroller Notice Board]] - To communicate with other [[WikiHow:Recent Changes Patrollers|patrollers]].
*[[wikiHow:Administrator Notice Board|Administrator Notice Board]] - Report RC glitches in the Miscellaneous section. 

== Related wikiHows ==
*[[Patrol New Articles on wikiHow]]
*[[WikiHow:Policy]] 
*[[WikiHow:Patrolling Best Practices]]
*[[Understand What wikiHow Is Not]]
*[[Bunch Patrol on wikiHow|How to Bunch Patrol on wikiHow]]
*[[Use Templates on wikiHow|How to Use Templates on wikiHow]]
*[[Decide Whether to Fix or Tag a wikiHow Article|How to Decide Whether to Fix or Tag a wikiHow Article]]
*[[wikiHow:Use Advanced Wiki Syntax]]
*[[Become a Recent Changes Patroller]]
*[[Auto Patrol on wikiHow]]
*[[Edit the wikiHow Site Notice|How to Edit the wikiHow Site Notice]]

__FORCEADV__

Templates used on this page:

Return to Patrol Recent Changes on wikiHow.

Write An Article Random Article

Meet a Community Member

Meet Juan, who joined wikiHow 2 years ago and focuses on patrolling. He enjoys the community here because "the people are mostly pleasant and easy to get along, not like the editors in some other wikis who just take themselves way too seriously." One of his favorite moments on wikiHow was having received a personal note from Jack Herrick, the founder of wikiHow, thanking him for helping to maintain this project.

Join The Community

- collapse Things to Do

+ expand Places to Visit

Follow Us On...

View source

Meet a Community Member

- collapse Things to Do

+ expand Places to Visit

Follow Us On...

Explore Categories