Forum:Protection of pages on new wikia

I sometimes wander about on Wikia and discover some new wikis that even though they are in english, i might have some interests in. I go take a look at them. And what i see ? An unnessesairy protected main page. The wikia is a newly born, no need to protect any page yet.

I founded a wiki more than half a year ago, we have more than 4500 pages and we mostly never have any vandalism. But maybe it's because it's a french wiki, but still, i was thinking that on Wikia most content pages (including main page when the wiki dont have a big community yet) should stay freely editable by anybody. That is what i like on Wikia. I can correct typos or bad wiki code when i see some.

But i've also read somewhere that communities can comme up with differents policies than thoses of Wikia. But how does this could apply to just born wiki with no community ? Does the founder can setup any policy he want even about protection of, say, the main page ?

Here is my real question : What should i do when i see founder using unnessesairy protection ? Yes, i have a perticular wikia in mind. But i'm mainly here to ask advices. I've contacted the founder. I've put a message on the main talk page, on the talk page of another protected page and on his personnal talk page (should have began with that last one). But, i'm not sure but i think he's ignoring me.

Not the first time. Local sysops tend to protect what they want until a staff comes by. So, should i always ask a staff (after contacting local sysop) to take care of the problem (if there is a problem) ?

Thanks. — TulipVorlax 10:52, 25 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Hey Tulip and I have to agree, but, there are somethings that I have to speak about from an adminstrator point of view. One thing is the certain section (or sections) can be pawned of into templates or articles that can be protected, but, not the entire thing. I know at e-Wrestling Encyclopedia wiki, I have to say half of the Main Page is protected because some vandals LOVE to erase or change the wording of that certain section (or sections). I know certain pages of mine that I have created, I had to protect due to some vandals that want to get back at me for blocking them for vandalizing other pages (including mine). I can see that some of the templates being used at the wikis' can be protected, but, it is only for the one that are used more often like the delete template or clean up template. For the rest, except for those page you might know would be vandalized, go ahead, otherwise, don't do it. That's my two cents for this topic. Sundogs (talk) (eWrestling wiki) 15:40, 28 December 2007 (UTC)


 * You're talking about some kind of "special case" here (vandals getting back at you for blocking them). And i already said that wikis that have already a "big" community (and more vandals) will surely need to use protection more than a just starting wiki. But, unless a page get vandalized everyday, protection should stay a temporairy mesure to help fingting vandalisme.
 * You see, when Wikia staff create a wiki, say, about game developpement and the founder protect the main page right away along with 2 to 3 other content pages, what happen when a few weeks (or months) later that wiki get more or less abonned ? New users are unable to change what need to be changed on thoses protected pages.
 * Yes, they can leave a message on local sysops talk page. But what if thoses person had put an hotmail adresse in their prefs and they don't use it anymore.
 * Just check the tons of abandoned wikis there's on Wikia. If all of thoses had many protected pages, new users would have to ask staff to modify them ? Or new users would simply leave thinking the wiki can't be modified by everyone.
 * I think the "Wikia rule" that say that every page on Wikia wikis should stay freely editable by any user even without an account should be enforced. For me it's like the philosophy of Wikia : free content for everyone to contribute to.
 * I also think that for many people, it the reason they choose Wikia in the first place.


 * Lastly, your comment dont respond to my question "should i report to staff when i see abuse of protection" ? — TulipVorlax 22:05, 31 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, I think that both of us are right. There should be a general rule of thumb for protection of pages. I had to unprotect a page that one of my fellow admins protected page due to the fact that the user had a lot of things going on and he has more time to freely work on that page now. So, it depands on the admins and all admins should agree on some form of policies to work with. Sundogs eWE user talk 00:27, 1 January 2008 (UTC)