Help:Phalanx

Phalanx is an extension created by Wikia in order to effectively fight spam at Wikia, available for Staff, Helpers and VSTF. It replaces the RegexBlock and the spam- and title black list pages.

What is Phalanx?
Phalanx is an integrated spam defense mechanism, adapted from various features such as Regex Block, Spam Regex, and the spam and title blacklists along with a couple other new options using regular expressions. This tool allows all of these actions to be performed on a single page, allowing for greater flexibility and convenience when combating spam or vandalism.

Usage
To start off, visit the Special:Phalanx page at community central. This will bring you to a page with a simple form with several options.

Filter
In order to block an user or page, you first have to insert the "Filter", the filter being the username of an user or the pagename of a spam page. Underneath the filter box there are three options: "regex", "case sensitive" and "exact". All of these options allow greater customisation of the block.


 * Regex
 * If checked, this will block all pages or users with a the filter word in them, such as "spam". For example, when entering "spam" and checking regex, not only will the user "spam" be blocked, but also "spammer".


 * Case sensitive
 * If checked, only pages or users that have the same capitals will be blocked. For example, if the filter is "Spam", the page "Spam" will be blocked but "spam" won't be.


 * Exact
 * If checked, only exact matches will be blocked. This also means the filter will be case sensitive. For example, if "spam" is the filter, only "spam" will be blocked.

Duration
After entering the filter, a duration may be chosen. This can range from 1 hour to infinite.

Block options
The following options are available using this tool:

Reason

 * Be sure to always enter a reason

The reason entered in the filter will show up when users try to save a blocked page or try to login on a blocked account. Be sure to keep it short but clear.

Language
If a certain language is chosen, it will only be blocked on wiki's of that language. So if "Spam" is blocked on German wiki's only, it won't be at English ones.



Testing your block
After entering a block, the best thing to do is visit the "Test filter" tab in order to see if the correct options are chosen. If you blocked "Spam", enter "Spam" in the box to see what filters are working on "Spam".

How do I report false positives?
If you have triggered a filter than prevents you from saving or creating something you believe is correct and not spam, you can report it here or contact staff.