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{{w::VSTF}}
{{AdministrativeIndex}}
 
The '''Spam Task Force''' is an all-volunteer group of Wikia users who have been given some additional user rights across Wikia. The task force is made up of users who act in the interests of the greater Wikia community by helping keep Wikia [[Help:Vandalism|vandal]] and [[Help:Spam|spam]] free. Task force members have most of the same privileges as local [[Help:User access levels|administrators]], but on all Wikia wikis; they also have access to a [[Help:Spam#How_does_Wikia_fight_spam.3F|few extra tools]] that help them react quickly and effectively to find and remove vandalism and spam.  It's important to note that they do not replace or "outrank" local administrators. The local community and the local admins are responsible for their wiki-specific tasks; but the task force is ''only'' there to help with cleaning cross-Wikia spam, and reverting vandalism on quiet or inactive wikis.
 
   
==Program overview==
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==Related links==
 
*[[w:c:vstf|VSTF Wiki]]
"''OK,''" you say, "''but what exactly is the Spam Task Force?''" <br />
 
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*[[w:c:vstf:Policies|VSTF Policies & Guidelines]]
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*[[w:c:vstf:Membership|How to join the VSTF]]
   
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==Further Help and Feedback==
The task force members are:
 
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{{Help and feedback section}}[[de:Hilfe:VSTF]]
 
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[[es:Ayuda:SpamTaskForce]]
* …normal everyday users who are volunteers that help out the wider Wikia community during their spare time;
 
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[[fr:Aide:SpamTaskForce]]
* …trusted users who have been given sysop-tools across the whole of Wikia in order to clean up and prevent spam and help out with vandalism;
 
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[[ja:ヘルプ:スパムタスクフォース]]
* …able to successfully track cross-wiki spammers or vandals, block them and dispose of their garbage.
 
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[[nl:Help:Spam-taskforce]]
 
 
[[pl:Pomoc:Volunteer Spam Task Force]]
==Contact us==
 
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[[pt:Ajuda:VSTF]]
 
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[[ru:Справка:VSTF]]
Wikia's current Spam Task Force volunteers are listed below. If you need help with clearing up vandalism or spam, please contact them via the links provided. If nobody appears to be available, you can report the spam on the [[w:c:vstf|VSTF wiki]] and someone will clean it up as soon as possible.
 
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[[tr:Yardım:SpamGörevGücü]]
 
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[[uk:Довідка:VSTF]]
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[[zh:Help:反破壞小組]]
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[[Category:Help]]
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|valign="top"| http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/soad/images/thumb/0/02/Mezmerize-LP.jpg/150px-Mezmerize-LP.jpg <!-- temporary -->
 
|valign="top"|'''[[User:Eulalia459678|Austin (Eulalia)]]''' has been with Wikia since September of 2007. He can mainly be found editing the [[w:c:soad|System of a Down]] wiki.
 
* [[wikia:User talk:Eulalia459678|His Central talk page]]
 
* [[Special:EmailUser/Eulalia459678|Email]]
 
* [[skypeme:eulalia459678|Skype]]
 
* [[w:c:vstf:VSTF Wiki:IRC|VSTF IRC Channel]]
 
|}
 
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{|align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="10px"
 
|width="80px" valign="top"| http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/charitwo/images/thumb/e/e2/Charitwo.jpg/150px-Charitwo.jpg
 
|valign="top"|'''[[User:Charitwo|Charitwo]]''' has been editing on Wikia since September 2007 when his home wiki, [[w:c:ffxi|FFXIclopedia]], moved to Wikia. He enjoys keeping Wikia a clean place and helping out users who need support.
 
* [[wikia:User talk:Charitwo|His Central talk page]]
 
* [[Special:EmailUser/Charitwo|Email]]
 
* [[skypeme:charitwo-|Skype]]
 
* [[w:c:vstf:VSTF Wiki:IRC|VSTF IRC Channel]]
 
|}
 
|}
 
 
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{|align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="10px"
 
|valign="top"|http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/clubpenguinfanon/images/thumb/0/00/Saint_Joeyaa.png/150px-Saint_Joeyaa.png
 
|valign="top"|'''[[User:Joeyaa|Joeyaa (Joey)]]''' can usually be found on the [[Wikia:IRC channels|#Wikia Support Channel]] or on one of the wikis which he edits frequently. He started helping with cleaning Wikia-wide spam and vandalism in March, 2009 and does his best to keep Wikia clean so that everyone can stay focused on building content. Feel free to ask him for help at anytime! <!--- better stuff might go here -->
 
* [[wikia:User talk:Joeyaa|His Central talk page]]
 
* [[Special:EmailUser/Joeyaa|Email]]
 
* [[skypeme:joeyaa09|Skype]]
 
* [[w:c:vstf:VSTF Wiki:IRC|VSTF IRC Channel]]
 
|}
 
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{|align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="10px"
 
|width="80px" valign="top"|http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ose/images/b/b2/Omega.png
 
|valign="top"|'''[[User:Ose|Ose]]''' is an experienced Wikia editor who can normally be found editing on [[w:c:spore|SporeWiki]] or the [[w:c:software|Software Wiki]]. He has extensive experience using CSS/HTML, some experience with JavaScript/jQuery and has used MediaWiki as an user and administrator for several years. If you need help with anything, feel free to contact Ose via:
 
* [[wikia:User talk:Ose|His Central talk page]]
 
* [[Special:EmailUser/Ose|Email]]
 
* On the [[w:c:vstf:VSTF Wiki:IRC|VSTF IRC Channel]]
 
* [[skypeme:mathiasose|Skype]]
 
|}
 
 
|}
 
{|width="100%"
 
|width="50%" valign="top" style="border:1px solid #8070A8"|
 
{|align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="10px"
 
|valign="top"|http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/thumb/8/85/Grand_Admiral_Batch.jpg/150px-Grand_Admiral_Batch.jpg
 
|valign="top"|'''[[User:Grunny|Grunny]]''' has been editing on Wikia since 2005. He can usually be found on the [[Wikia:IRC channels|#Wikia Support Channel]] or on the various wikis he's involved in. He has extensive experience with CSS and JavaScript, as well as a strong background in MediaWiki. Grunny enjoys keeping Wikia clean and contributing to anything that catches his interest. If you need any help, feel free to contact him via:
 
* [[wikia:User talk:Grunny|His Central talk page]]
 
* [[Special:EmailUser/Grunny|Email]]
 
* [[w:c:vstf:VSTF Wiki:IRC|VSTF IRC Channel]]
 
|}
 
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{|align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="10px"
 
|width="80px" valign="top"|http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/astronomy/pl/images/7/72/Mis.jpg
 
|valign="top"|'''[[User:Misiek95|Misiek]]''' has been on Wikia since March 2008. He learned a lot on [[w:c:nonsensopedia|Nonsensopedia]], but actually often edits on [[w:c:pl.astronomy|Astropedia]] or Polish technical wikis. Usually Misiek can be found on the [[Wikia:IRC channels|#Wikia Support Channel]] too. Contact:
 
* [[wikia:User talk:Misiek95|His Central talk page]]
 
* [[Special:EmailUser/Misiek95|Email]]
 
* [[w:c:vstf:VSTF Wiki:IRC|VSTF IRC Channel]]
 
* [[skypeme:misiek_xcv|Skype]]
 
|}<!--|valign="top" style="border:1px solid #8070A8; display:none;"|
 
{|align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="10px"
 
|width="80px" valign="top"|[[File:Placeholder|100px]]
 
|valign="top"|'''[[User:Uberfuzzy|Example 2]]''' is an experienced Wikia editor who can normally be found editing the [[w:Mythweaver|Mythweaver]] wiki. He has some knowledge of JavaScript and CSS, as well as a strong background in MediaWiki. If you need help with anything, feel free to contact Example 2 via:
 
* [[wikia:User talk:Uberfuzzy|Their Central talk page]]
 
* [[Special:EmailUser/Uberfuzzy|Email]]
 
|}-->
 
|}
 
 
==Program policies and guidelines==
 
The members of the Spam Task Force hold a "maintenance" role on Wikia. What this means is that these Helpers do not have any say over local wiki content, policies or site discussions. They should respect local wiki policies and guidelines even if they may be different from a typical Wikia or their own beliefs and customs.
 
 
Each member volunteers for a period of three months.&nbsp; At the end of that time, if the Wikia Community Team and the volunteer agree, they may sign up for a further 3 months.
 
 
=== When to take action on a wiki ===
 
 
Members of the Spam Task Force should help out a wiki '''only''' if there is:
 
 
* …obvious cross-wiki vandalism that is needed to be cleaned up;
 
* …a problem with vandals and no local administrators are available, or active, to block them;
 
* …obvious spam, especially if there is a known cross-wiki spambot at work
 
* …a request from the Wikia [[w:Wikia:Community Team|Community Team]] to help with cross-wiki maintenance tasks;
 
* …a broken or problematic interface message (such as a javascript, stylesheet, or interface message causing a wiki to be unusable)
 
 
As a general rule-of-thumb, volunteers should avoid very active wikis (such as Uncyclopedia or Memory Alpha) due to the fact that their services are not normally required (although global tools may automatically make changes on all wikis).
 
 
=== General guidelines ===
 
* First and foremost, always be polite and courteous to your fellow editors, even if they respond negatively to you.
 
* Remember to use clear edit summaries without jargon, so that local communities know what you were doing.
 
* Please overwrite the 'content was:' auto-edit summary text with your own summary when deleting a 'spam' or vandalism page. This is done so that the abusive content does not show up on recent changes and in the logs.
 
* Also, manually revert edits (as opposed to using rollback) done by abusively named accounts so that those usernames do not appear in auto-edit summaries in logs.
 
* If a local administrator reverts you, do not revert back — instead, seek a staff opinion. Remember, '''do not''' engage in editing disputes or conflicts with local communities.
 
* Most importantly of all — Communicate! Even though we all do it every day, it can sometimes be overlooked in certain situations. If in doubt about whether an action would be welcome, or if someone objects to your work, use the user talk pages, Community Portal, Forums, or Main Page talk to discuss the issue in a polite and friendly way. Remember that you are a representative of Wikia as a whole — some users may not be familiar with the wider community, so their interactions with you may be their first with a Wikia team member…make sure it is a pleasant, or at least courteous, experience for them. Again, if communication fails for whatever reason, simply stop; take a breather, ask another experienced user for input, or simply advise the administrators that you understand their position and that you're available in the future if another need arises.
 
* Lastly, please remember that local sysop tasks are to be taken care of by local administrators. Unless a wiki is inactive, there are no current admins or you are asked to help, then let the local administrators do their job — this helps communities to view the Spam Task Force as an "asset" as opposed to "being in charge." This is '''''especially''''' true of large wikis with an established administrator group, such as Uncyclopedia or Memory Alpha.
 
 
==How to join the Spam Task Force==
 
We're always looking for new, active, resourceful and friendly users who have demonstrated that they have an interest in helping out the wider Wikia community. And the best way to do this is simply to get involved! Occasionally, someone with an established history on Wikia and who has shown that they are willing and able to help, will be invited to join the volunteer scheme.
 
[[Category:Help|{{PAGENAME}}]]
 

Revision as of 20:16, 19 March 2020

The Spam Obliteration and Prevention (SOAP, formerly VSTF and GRASP) team is a group of Fandom users who have volunteered to help keep Fandom vandal and spam free. To do this they have been given additional user rights that allow them to detect and delete as well as blocking the users creating it.

While this is a volunteer group, its members are selected and invited by Fandom Staff only based on their contributions and efforts to achieve the SOAP goal. It thus serves no point to ask SOAP members or Staff to be added to the team and will even work counterproductive.

Members

Bots

Former volunteers are listed here.

How to join SOAP

SOAP are selected and invited by Fandom Staff. It is not a position you can request. It serves no purpose asking staff or SOAP members to be given the rights, as such requests will be ignored. You can help out the team by reporting spam and vandalism in the aforementioned ways.

Tools

Task force members have extended user rights on all Fandom communities, including some administrator tools and access to additional tools that help them react quickly and effectively to find and remove vandalism and spam. They also have access to global bots to assist time in the cross-wiki cleanup.

SOAP Discord Channels

For more information, please see the SOAP Wiki complete Discord guide

SOAP maintains an official presence on the Official Fandom Discord and has bots in these channels that list suspicious edits throughout Fandom wikis.

What SOAP is not

While SOAP members have some tools that are generally attributed to Fandom Staff, they are not staff. To reach out to Fandom Staff, use this form.

While SOAP has access to some administrator tools, they are not administrators, and it's important to note that they do not replace or "outrank" local administrators. The local community and the local admins are responsible for their wiki-specific tasks, and SOAP is only there to help with cleaning cross-wiki spam and reverting vandalism on quiet or inactive wikis. If action was taken on a wiki where the administrator was inactive at the time of the vandalism, the SOAP block can always be reviewed and changed by the local admin.

Scope

SOAP solely deals with the prevention and removal of advertisement spam and clear-cut vandalism.

SOAP does not intervene:

  • when a local administrator is active
  • to enforce the breach of local policy
  • for local edit conflicts
  • for the insertion of false information – the volunteers may not have intimate knowledge on the subject of the wiki and are thus unable to judge the validity of the content. Contact a local administrator instead.
  • to carry out maintenance tasks in the absence of local administrators – please look into adopting the wiki instead
  • when a user is "spamming" nonsense – SOAP only deals with unwanted advertisements and links to other websites spam.
  • in social conflicts and harassment
  • in appealing a block

Please turn to a local administrator first, whom you can find via Special:ListUsers/sysop or—in their absence—Fandom Staff.

Related links

Further Help and Feedback