Wikipedia:Protection policy - Wikipedia
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Policy on page protection
"WP:PP" and "WP:PROTECT" redirect here. For requests to protect a page, see
Wikipedia:Requests for page protection
. For the list, see
Wikipedia:Lists of protected pages
. For other uses, see
WP:PP (disambiguation)
and
WP:PROTECT (disambiguation)
This page documents an English Wikipedia
policy
It describes a widely accepted standard that all editors should
normally
follow.
Substantive
edits to this page
should reflect consensus
Shortcuts
WP:PP
WP:PP
WP:PROTECT
WP:PROTECT
This page in a nutshell:
While Wikipedia strives to be as open as possible, sometimes it is necessary to limit editing of certain pages to prevent
vandalism
edit warring
, or other
disruptive edits
Are you in the right place?
This page documents the protection policy on Wikipedia.
If you are trying to...
Then...
make a request to protect or unprotect a page
see
Wikipedia:Requests for page protection
make a request to edit a page
see
Wikipedia:Edit requests
obtain user rights to edit protected pages
request user rights
report a user for persistent vandalism or spam
file a vandalism report
report a user for
edit warring
or violating revert restrictions
open an edit warring report
Enforcement policies
Administrators
Banning policy
Blocking policy
Protection policy
Protection
restricts the modification of pages to specific groups of users. Pages are protected when there is disruption that cannot be prevented through other means, such as
blocks
. Wikipedia is built on the principle that
anyone can edit
, and therefore aims to have as many pages open for public editing as possible so that anyone can add material and correct issues. This policy states in detail the protection types and procedures for page protection and unprotection, and when each protection should and should not be applied.
Protection is a technical restriction applied only by
administrators
, although any user may
request protection
. Protection can be
indefinite
or expire after a specified time. The various levels of protection can be applied to the page edit, page move, page create, and file upload actions. Even when a page is protected from editing, the source
wikitext
of the page can still be viewed and copied by anyone.
A protected page is marked at its top right by a padlock icon, usually added by the
{{
pp-protected
}}
template. The
{{
pp-protected
}}
template is automatically added by the
{{
documentation
}}
template used in template space.
Overview of page protection
Icon
Protection
Pending changes protection
Semi-protection
Extended confirmed protection
Template protection
Full protection
Interface protection
Move protection
Create protection
Upload protection
Cascade protection
Office protection
Shortcut
WP:PPLIST
WP:PPLIST
Any protection applied to a page involves setting a type, level, and duration as follows:
Protection type
Edit protection
protects the page from being
edited
Move protection
protects the page from being
moved or renamed
Creation protection
prevents a page from being
created
Upload protection
prevents new versions of a file from being
uploaded
, but it does not prevent editing of the file's description page (unless edit protection is applied).
Protection level
Pending changes protection
requires edits made by unregistered users and users whose accounts are not
confirmed
to be approved by a
pending changes reviewer
before the changes become visible to most readers. Pending changes is only available for edit protection on articles and project pages.
Semi-protection
prevents the action by unregistered users and users whose accounts are not confirmed.
Extended confirmed protection
prevents the action if the user's account is not extended confirmed (at least 30 days old with more than 500 edits). In most cases, it should not be a protection level of first resort, and should be used where semi-protection has proven to be ineffective.
Template protection
prevents the action by everyone except
template editors
and
administrators
(who have this right as part of their toolset).
Full protection
prevents the action by everyone except
administrators
Protection duration
Protection can be applied for either a specified period or indefinitely.
The duration is generally determined by the severity and persistence of the disruption, with some exceptions for specific cases.
Preemptive protection
Shortcuts
WP:NO-PREEMPT
WP:NO-PREEMPT
WP:PREEMPTIVE
WP:PREEMPTIVE
Applying page protection solely as a preemptive measure is contrary to the open nature of Wikipedia and is generally not allowed. Instead, protection is used to mitigate persistent vandalism, disruption, or abuse by multiple users. The duration of protection should be as short as possible and at the lowest protection level sufficient to stop the disruption, allowing edits from as many productive users as possible.
Exceptions include the Main Page, along with its templates and images, which are indefinitely fully protected. Additionally,
Today's Featured Article
is typically semi-protected from the day before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page until the day after it leaves. Finally, pages subject to
Arbitration Committee
remedies that permit or require preemptive protection may be protected accordingly.
Requesting protection
Page protection can be requested at
Wikipedia:Requests for page protection
. Changes to a protected page should be proposed on the corresponding
talk page
, and then (if necessary) requested by adding an
edit request
. From there, if the requested changes are uncontroversial or if there is
consensus
for them, the changes can be carried out by a user who can edit the page.
Shortcut
WP:UNPROTPOL
WP:UNPROTPOL
Except in the case of
office actions
(see
below
),
Arbitration Committee
remedies, or pages in the MediaWiki namespace (see
below
), administrators may unprotect a page if the reason for its protection no longer applies, a reasonable period has elapsed, and there is no consensus that continued protection is necessary. Users can request unprotection or a reduction in protection level by asking the administrator who applied the protection on the administrator's user talk page. If the administrator is
inactive
, no longer an administrator, or does not respond, then a
request for reduction in protection level
may be filed. Note that such requests will normally be declined if the protecting administrator is active and was not consulted first.
A log of protections and unprotections is available at
Special:Log/protect
Summary table
Protection levels
and their impact on various English Wikipedia
user groups
Protection level
New
or
unregistered
editors
Confirmed
Extended confirmed
Template editor
Admin
Interface admin
Appropriate for...
Editing
None (default)
Normal editing
The vast majority of pages.
Pending changes
Can edit
Changes are only visible to logged-in users until reviewed by a
pending changes reviewer
or administrator.
Can edit
Changes are visible to everyone if there aren't any unreviewed pending changes. Otherwise, they are only visible to logged-in users until reviewed by a pending changes reviewer or administrator.
Can edit
If there are any unreviewed pending changes, they can only edit the page after reviewing them.
Infrequently edited pages with high levels of vandalism,
BLP
violations, edit-warring, or other disruption from unregistered and new users.
Semi
Cannot edit
Normal editing
Pages that have been persistently vandalized by anonymous and newly registered users. Some highly visible templates and modules.
Extended confirmed
Cannot edit
Normal editing
Contentious topics
authorized by
ArbCom
, pages where semi-protection has failed, or
high-risk templates
where template protection would be too restrictive.
Template
Cannot edit
Normal editing
High-risk
or very-frequently used templates and modules.
Some
high-risk pages outside of
template space
Full
Cannot edit
Can edit
Edit warring
on pages or pages with persistent disruption from extended confirmed accounts.
Office
Can edit
Pages that the
Wikimedia Foundation
has determined to be exceptionally sensitive.
Cascade
Can edit
Particularly visible pages, such as the
Main Page
, to prevent vandalism to pages that are
transcluded
onto them.
Interface
Cannot edit
Normal editing
Scripts, stylesheets, and similar objects fundamental to operation of the site or that are in other editors'
user spaces.
Creating pages
None (default)
Cannot create
Can create
The vast majority of page titles.
Create
Cannot create
Adjustable
It may be applied to neither, either, or both groups.
Can create
Pages that have been repeatedly and problematically re-created.
Moving pages
None (default)
Cannot move
Can move
The vast majority of pages.
Move
Cannot move
Adjustable
It may be applied to neither, either, or both groups.
Can move
Pages that have been the subject of move wars. Pages that are edit-protected are usually also move-protected at the same level.
Uploading files
None (default)
Cannot upload
Can upload
The vast majority of file names.
Upload
Cannot upload
Adjustable
It may be applied to neither, either, or both groups.
Can upload
Files that have been repeatedly uploaded after deletion.
Protection types
Edit protection
Edit protection restricts editing of a page, often due to vandalism or disputes, ensuring only experienced users can make changes (see above for more information).
Creation protection (salting)
Shortcuts
WP:SALT
WP:SALT
WP:SKYBLUELOCK
WP:SKYBLUELOCK
Administrators can prevent the creation of pages. This type of protection is useful for pages that have been
deleted
but repeatedly recreated. Such protection is case-sensitive. There are several levels of creation protection that can be applied to pages, identical to the levels for edit protection. A list of protected titles can be found at
Special:ProtectedTitles
(see also
historical lists
).
Preemptive restrictions on new article titles are instituted through the
title blacklist
system, which allows for more flexible protection with support for
substrings
and
regular expressions
Pages that have been creation-protected are sometimes referred to as "
salted
". Editors wishing to re-create a salted title with appropriate content should either contact an
administrator
(preferably the protecting administrator), file a
request for reduction in protection level
, or use the
deletion review
process. To make a convincing case for re-creation, it is helpful to show a
draft version
of the intended article when filing a request.
Create protection of any duration may be applied to pages being repeatedly recreated in violation of policy using the lowest protection level sufficient to stop the disruption (autoconfirmed, extended-confirmed,
or full). Due to the implementation of
ACPERM
, non-confirmed editors cannot create pages in
mainspace
; thus, semi-creation protection should be used only for protection of pages outside of mainspace.
While creation-protection is usually permanent, temporary creation protection can be applied if a page is repeatedly recreated by a single user (or
sockpuppets
of that user, if applicable).
Move protection
Shortcuts
WP:MOVP
WP:MOVP
WP:GREENLOCK
WP:GREENLOCK
Move-protected pages, or more technically, fully move-protected pages, cannot be moved to a new title except by an administrator. Move protection is commonly applied to:
Pages subject to persistent
page-move vandalism
Pages subject to a page-name dispute.
Highly visible pages that have no reason to be moved, such as the
administrators' noticeboard
and articles selected as "
Today's featured article
" on the main page.
Move protection of any duration may be applied to pages being repeatedly moved in violation of policy using the lowest protection level sufficient to stop the disruption (extended-confirmed or full). Non-confirmed editors cannot move pages so semi-move protection has no effect.
Fully edit-protected pages are also implicitly move-protected.
As with full edit protection, protection because of edit warring
should not be considered an endorsement of the current name
. When move protection is applied during a requested move discussion, the page should be protected at the location it was at when the move request was started.
All
files
and
categories
are implicitly move-protected, requiring
file movers
or administrators to rename files, and
page movers
or administrators to rename categories.
Upload protection
Shortcuts
WP:UPLOAD-P
WP:UPLOAD-P
WP:PURPLELOCK
WP:PURPLELOCK
Upload-protected files, or more technically, fully upload-protected files, cannot be replaced with new versions except by an administrator. Upload protection does not protect file pages from editing. It can be applied by an administrator to:
Files subject to persistent upload
vandalism
Files subject to a dispute between editors.
Files that should not be replaced, such as images used in the interface or transcluded to the main page.
Files with common or generic names. (e.g.,
File:map.png
Protection levels
Pending changes protection
Further information:
Wikipedia:Pending changes
Shortcuts
WP:PCPP
WP:PCPP
WP:WHITELOCK
WP:WHITELOCK
Pending changes protection allows
unregistered
and
new users
to edit pages, while keeping their edits hidden from unregistered users (who make up the vast majority of visitors to Wikipedia articles) until those changes are accepted by a
pending changes reviewer
or an
administrator
. An alternative to
semi-protection
, it is used to suppress
vandalism
and certain other persistent problems, while allowing all users to continue to submit edits. Pending changes is technically implemented as a separate option, with its own duration, and it yields to other edit protection levels in cases of overlap.
When a page under pending changes protection is edited by an unregistered editor or a new user, the edit is not directly visible to the majority of Wikipedia readers, until it is reviewed and accepted by an editor with the pending changes reviewer right. When a page under pending changes protection is edited by an
autoconfirmed user
, the edit will be immediately visible to Wikipedia readers, unless there are pending edits waiting to be reviewed.
Pending changes are visible in the page history, where they are marked as "pending review". Readers who are
not logged in
(the vast majority of readers) are shown the latest
accepted
version of the page;
logged-in
users see the latest version of the page, with all changes (reviewed or not) applied. When editors who are not reviewers make changes to a page with unreviewed pending changes, their edits are also marked as pending and are not visible to most readers.
A user who clicks "edit this page" is always, at that point, shown the latest version of the page for editing
regardless of whether the user is logged in or not
If the editor is not logged in or not
autoconfirmed
, their changes join any other changes to the article awaiting review – for the present they remain hidden from not-logged-in users. (This means that when the editor looks at the article after saving, the editor will not see the change made.)
If the editor is logged in and a pending changes reviewer, and there are pending changes, the editor will be prompted to review the pending changes before editing – see
Wikipedia:Pending changes
If the editor is logged in, autoconfirmed and not a pending changes reviewer:
If there are no unreviewed pending edits, the editor's edits will be immediately visible to everyone.
If there are unreviewed pending edits, the editor's edits will be immediately visible only to logged-in users (including themselves), but not to logged-out users.
Pending changes are typically reviewed within several hours.
When to apply pending changes protection
Pending changes can be used to protect articles against:
Persistent vandalism
Violations of the
biographies of living persons
policy
Copyright violations
Pending changes protection should not be used as a preemptive measure against violations that have not yet occurred. Like semi-protection, pending changes protection should
never
be used in genuine content disputes, where there is a risk of placing a particular group of editors (unregistered users) at a disadvantage. Semi-protection is generally a better option for articles with a high edit rate as well as articles affected by issues difficult for
pending changes reviewers
to detect, such as non-obvious vandalism, plausible-sounding misinformation, and hard-to-detect copyright violations.
In addition, administrators may apply temporary pending changes protection on pages that are subject to significant but temporary vandalism or disruption (for example, due to media attention) when blocking individual users is not a feasible option. As with other forms of protection, the time frame of the protection should be proportional to the problem. Indefinite PC protection should be used only in cases of severe long-term disruption.
Removal of pending changes protection can be requested to any administrator, or at
requests for unprotection
The reviewing process is described in detail at
Wikipedia:Reviewing pending changes
Semi-protection
See also:
Wikipedia:Rough guide to semi-protection
Shortcuts
WP:SEMI
WP:SEMI
WP:SILVERLOCK
WP:SILVERLOCK
Semi-protected pages may be edited only by
registered users
who are
confirmed or autoconfirmed
(accounts that are at least 4 days old and with at least 10 edits on English Wikipedia). Semi-protection is useful when there is a significant amount of disruption or
vandalism
from new or unregistered users, or to prevent
sockpuppets
of blocked or banned users from editing, especially when it occurs on
biographies of living persons
who have had a recent high level of media interest. An alternative to semi-protection is
pending changes
, which is sometimes favored when an article is being vandalized regularly, but otherwise receives a low amount of editing.
Such users can request edits to a semi-protected page by proposing them on its talk page, using the
{{
Edit semi-protected
}}
template if necessary to gain attention. If the page in question and its talk page are
both
protected, the edit request should be made at
Wikipedia:Requests for page protection
instead. New users may also request the confirmed user right at
Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Confirmed
Guidance for administrators
Semi-protection should
not
be used as a preemptive measure against vandalism that has not yet occurred or to privilege registered users over unregistered users in (valid) content disputes.
Administrators may apply
temporary
semi-protection on pages that are:
Subject to significant but temporary vandalism or disruption (for example, due to
media attention
) if
blocking
individual users is not a feasible option.
Subject to
edit warring
if
all
parties involved are unregistered or new editors. This does
not
apply when autoconfirmed or confirmed users are involved.
Subject to
vandalism
or
edit warring
where unregistered editors are engaging in
IP hopping
by using different computers, obtaining new addresses by using
dynamic IP
allocation, or other address-changing schemes.
Article discussion pages, if they have been subject to persistent disruption. Such protection should be used sparingly because it prevents unregistered and newly registered users from participating in discussions.
Protection should be used sparingly on the talk pages of blocked users, including IP addresses. Instead the user should be re-blocked with talk page editing disallowed. When required, or when re-blocking without talk page editing allowed is unsuccessful, protection should be implemented for only a brief period not exceeding the duration of the block.
In addition, administrators may apply
indefinite
semi-protection to pages that are subject to heavy and persistent
vandalism
or violations of
content policy
(such as Wikipedia's
biographies of living persons
or
neutral point of view
policies).
A page and its talk page should not normally be protected at the same time. In exceptional cases, if a page and its talk page are both protected, the talk page should direct affected editors to
Wikipedia:Request for edit
through the use of a non-iconified page protection template, to ensure that no editor is entirely prevented from contributing.
Today's featured article
is, since 2023, always semi-protected. However,
this was historically not the case
Extended confirmed protection
See also:
Wikipedia:Rough guide to extended confirmed protection
Shortcuts
WP:ECP
WP:ECP
WP:30/500
WP:30/500
WP:BLUELOCK
WP:BLUELOCK
Extended confirmed protection, previously known as 30/500 protection, restricts editing to users with the
extended confirmed
user access level, administrators, and
bots
. Extended confirmed is automatically granted to users one edit after their account has existed for at least 30 days and has made at least 500 edits.
As escalation from semi-protection
Where semi-protection has proven to be ineffective, administrators may use extended confirmed protection to combat disruption (
vandalism
, abusive
sockpuppetry
edit wars
, etc.) on any topic.
Extended confirmed protection should not be used as a preemptive measure against disruption that has not yet occurred, nor should it be used to privilege extended confirmed users over unregistered/new users in valid content disputes (except as general sanction enforcement; see below).
Contentious topics
When necessary to prevent disruption in
designated contentious topic areas
, administrators are authorized to make protections at any level. (This is distinct from the extended confirmed restriction below.)
Community-designated contentious topics
grant similar authorizations.
Extended confirmed restriction
Some topic areas are under Arbitration Committee
extended confirmed restriction
as a general sanction.
When such a restriction is in effect in a topic area, only extended-confirmed users may make edits related to the topic area. Enforcement of the restriction on articles primarily in the topic area is preferably done with extended confirmed protection, but it is not required (other enforcement methods are outlined in the policy). As always, review the policy before enforcing it.
Community general sanctions, applying a similar extended confirmed restriction, have also been authorized by the community.
General sanctions
has a list of the active general sanctions that incorporate the extended confirmed restriction.
Other cases
High-risk templates
can be extended confirmed–protected at administrator discretion when template protection would be too restrictive and semi-protection would be ineffective to stop widespread disruption.
Extended confirmed protection can be applied at the discretion of an administrator when creation-protecting a page.
Logging and edit requests
A bot maintains a report of
pages recently put under extended confirmed protection
Any protection made as arbitration enforcement will be automatically logged at
Wikipedia:Arbitration enforcement log/Protections
. Community-authorized discretionary sanctions must be logged on a page specific to the topic area. A full list of the 16114 pages under extended confirmed protection can be found
here
Users can request edits to an extended confirmed–protected page by proposing them on its talk page, using the
{{
Edit extended-protected
}}
template if necessary to gain attention.
Template protection
Main page:
Wikipedia:Template editor
Shortcuts
WP:TPROT
WP:TPROT
WP:PINKLOCK
WP:PINKLOCK
A template-protected page can be edited only by administrators or users in the Template editors group. This protection level should be used almost exclusively on
high-risk templates
and
modules
. In cases where pages in other namespaces become transcluded to a very high degree, this protection level is also valid.
This is a protection level
10
that replaces
full protection
on pages that are merely protected due to high transclusion rates, rather than content disputes. It should be used on templates whose risk factor would have otherwise warranted full protection. It should not be used on less risky templates on the grounds that the
template editor
user right exists—the existence of the right should not result in more templates becoming uneditable for the general editing community. In borderline cases,
extended confirmed protection
or lower can be applied to high risk templates that the general editing community still needs to edit regularly. A full list of the pages under template protection can be found
here
Editors may request edits to a template-protected page by proposing them on its talk page, using the
{{
Edit template-protected
}}
template if necessary to gain attention.
Full protection
Shortcuts
WP:FULL
WP:FULL
WP:GOLDLOCK
WP:GOLDLOCK
A fully protected page can only be edited or moved by
administrators
Modifications to a fully protected page can be proposed on its
talk page
(or at another appropriate forum) for discussion. Administrators can make changes to the protected article reflecting
consensus
. Placing the
{{
Edit fully-protected
}}
template on the talk page will draw the attention of administrators for implementing uncontroversial changes.
Content disputes
See also:
Wikipedia:Stable version
"WP:PREFER" redirects here. For what title name should be preferred, see
Wikipedia:Disambiguation § Primary topic
While content disputes and
edit warring
can be addressed with user
blocks
issued by
uninvolved
administrators, allowing normal page editing by other editors at the same time, the protection policy provides an alternative approach as administrators have the discretion to temporarily fully protect an article to end an ongoing edit war. This approach may better suit multi-party disputes and contentious content, as it makes talk page
consensus
a requirement for implementation of
requested edits
Shortcut
WP:PREFER
WP:PREFER
When protecting a page because of a content dispute, administrators have a duty to avoid protecting a version that contains policy-violating content, such as
vandalism
copyright violations
defamation
, or
poor-quality coverage of living people
. Administrators are deemed to remain uninvolved when exercising discretion on whether to apply protection to the current version of an article, or to an older,
stable
, or pre-edit-war version.
Fully protected pages may not be edited except to make changes that are uncontroversial or for which there is clear consensus. Editors convinced that the protected version of an article contains policy-violating content, or that protection has rewarded edit warring or disruption by establishing a contentious revision, may identify a stable version
prior to
the edit war and
request
reversion to that version. Before making such a request, editors should consider how independent editors might view the suggestion and recognize that continuing an edit war is grounds for being blocked.
Administrators who have made substantive content changes to an article are considered
involved
and must not use their advanced permissions to further their own positions. When involved in a dispute, it is almost always wisest to respect the editing policies that bind all editors and call for input from an uninvolved administrator, rather than to invite controversy by acting unilaterally.
"History only" review
Shortcut
WP:PPDRV
WP:PPDRV
If a deleted page is going through
deletion review
, only administrators are normally capable of viewing the former content of the page. If they feel it would benefit the discussion to allow other users to view the page content, administrators may
restore
the page, replace the contents with the
{{
Temporarily undeleted
}}
template or a similar notice, and fully protect the page to prevent further editing. The previous contents of the page are then accessible to everyone via the
page history
Protected generic file names
Generic file names such as
File:Photo.jpg
File:Example.jpg
File:Map.jpg
, and
File:Sound.wav
are fully protected to prevent new versions from being uploaded. Furthermore,
File:Map.jpg
and
File:Sound.wav
are
salted
High-risk pages and templates
The following pages and templates are usually fully protected for an indefinite period of time:
The
Main Page
and highly visible pages related to the Main Page.
Pages that should not be modified for
legal reasons
, such as the
general disclaimer
or the
local copy of the site copyright license
Pages that are
transcluded
very frequently, such as
{{
tl
}}
or
{{
citation needed
}}
, to prevent
vandalism
or
denial of service
attacks. This includes images or templates used in other highly visible or frequently transcluded pages. See
Wikipedia:High-risk templates
for more information.
As with full edit protection, administrators should avoid favoring one version over another, and protection should not be considered an endorsement of the current version. An exception to this rule is when they are protected due to upload vandalism.
Office protection
Main page:
Wikipedia:Office actions
Shortcuts
WP:WMF-PRO
WP:WMF-PRO
WP:BLACKLOCK
WP:BLACKLOCK
Pages can be protected by
Wikimedia Foundation
staff in response to issues such as copyright infringement or libel as outlined in
Foundation:Policy:Office actions § Use of advanced rights by Foundation staff
Such actions override community consensus
. Administrators should
not
edit or unprotect such pages without permission from Wikimedia Foundation staff.
11
Cascading protection
"WP:CASCADE" redirects here. You may also be looking for
Help:Cascading Style Sheets
or
Wikipedia:Cascade-protected items
Shortcuts
WP:CASCADE
WP:CASCADE
WP:TURQUOISELOCK
WP:TURQUOISELOCK
Cascading protection fully protects a page, and extends that full protection
automatically
to any page that is
transcluded
onto the protected page, whether directly or indirectly. This includes templates, images and other media that are hosted on the English Wikipedia. Files stored on Commons are
not
protected by any other wiki's cascading protection and, if they are to be protected, must be either temporarily uploaded to the English Wikipedia or explicitly protected at Commons (whether manually or through cascading protection there). When operational,
KrinkleBot
cascade-protects Commons files transcluded at
Wikipedia:Main Page/Tomorrow
Wikipedia:Main Page/Commons media protection
and
Main Page
. As the bot's response time varies, media should
not
be transcluded on the main page (or its constituent templates) until after it has been protected. (This is particularly relevant to
Template:In the news
, for which upcoming images are not queued at
Wikipedia:Main Page/Tomorrow
.) Cascading protection:
Should be used only to prevent
vandalism
when placed on particularly visible pages, such as the main page.
Is available only for fully protected pages; it is disabled for lower levels of protection as it represents a workflow flaw. See
below
as well as
this bug ticket
for more information.
Is not instantaneous; it can be several hours before it takes effect. See
Phabricator:T20483
for more information.
Should generally not be applied directly to templates or
modules
, as it will not protect transclusions inside
tags or transclusions that depend on template parameters, but
will
protect the
documentation subpage
See
§ Protection of templates
below
, for alternatives.
The list of cascading-protected pages can be found at
Wikipedia:Cascade-protected items
. Requests to add or remove cascading protection on a page should be made at
Wikipedia talk:Cascade-protected items
as an
edit request
Operational pages
Operational pages principally used by software, including bots and user scripts, may be protected based on the type of use, content, and other considerations. This includes configuration pages, data pages, log pages, status pages, and other pages specific to the operation of software. However, personal CSS, personal JavaScript, and personal JSON are
automatically protected
and should not be protected for this reason.
Interface protection
Icon for pages that can be edited only by interface administrators
Shortcuts
WP:PPINDEF
WP:PPINDEF
WP:INTPROT
WP:INTPROT
WP:REDLOCK
WP:REDLOCK
Some pages on Wikipedia are subject to software-enforced protection that administrators cannot change or remove. This is called permanent or indefinite protection, and interface protection in the case of CSS and JavaScript pages. Specifically, this applies to:
Creating, modifying, moving, deleting, or undeleting pages located within the
MediaWiki namespace
– which defines parts of the entire site's interface – is restricted to administrators and
interface administrators
Creating, modifying, moving, deleting, or undeleting system-wide CSS and JavaScript pages – such as
MediaWiki:common.js
– is further restricted to
interface administrators
Creating, modifying, moving, or undeleting any personal CSS or JavaScript pages located within an account's
user space
– such as
User:Example/monobook.css
and
User:Example/vector-2022.js
– is restricted to the associated user and
interface administrators
Interface administrators can modify these pages to remove a user script that has been added unintentionally or that causes major issues for the user after being added, cannot be removed by the associated user afterwards – (such as the
WikiBreak Enforcer
script), or has been added or used inappropriately. Administrators
can
delete these pages, but cannot create, modify, move, or undelete them.
Creating, modifying, moving, deleting, or undeleting any JSON pages located within an account's
user space
– such as
User:Example/data.json
– is restricted to the associated user, administrators, and interface administrators.
Protection by namespace
Shortcut
WP:PROTNS
WP:PROTNS
Article talk pages
Shortcut
WP:ATPROT
WP:ATPROT
Modifications to a protected page can be proposed on its
talk page
(or at another appropriate forum) for discussion. Administrators can make changes to the protected article reflecting
consensus
. Placing the
{{
Edit protected
}}
template on the talk page will draw the attention of administrators for implementing uncontroversial changes.
Talk pages are not usually protected, and are semi-protected only for a limited duration in the most severe cases of disruption.
User talk pages
Shortcut
WP:UTPROT
WP:UTPROT
User talk pages are rarely protected. However, protection can be applied if there is severe vandalism or abuse. Users whose talk pages are protected may wish to have an unprotected user talk subpage linked conspicuously from their main talk page to allow good-faith comments from users that the protection restricts editing from.
A user's request to have their own talk page protected is not a sufficient rationale by itself to protect the page, although requests can be considered if a reason is provided.
Blocked users
Blocked users' user talk pages should not ordinarily be protected, as this interferes with the user's ability to contest their block through the normal process. It also prevents others from being able to use the talk page to communicate with the blocked editor.
In extreme cases of abuse by the blocked user, such as abuse of the
{{
unblock
}}
template, re-blocking the user with talk page access removed should be preferred over applying protection to the page. If the user has been blocked and with the ability to edit their user talk page disabled, they should be informed of this in a block notice, subsequent notice, or message, and it should include information and instructions for appealing their block off-wiki, such as through the
UTRS tool interface
or, as a last recourse,
the Arbitration Committee
When required, protection should be implemented for only a brief period, not exceeding the duration of the block.
Confirmed socks of registered users should be dealt with in accordance with
Wikipedia:Sockpuppetry
; their pages are not normally protected.
User pages
Shortcuts
WP:UPROT
WP:UPROT
WP:UPPROT
WP:UPPROT
Base user pages (for example, the page
User:Example
, and not
User:Example/Lipsum
or
User talk:Example
) are automatically protected from creation or editing by unconfirmed accounts and anonymous temporary account users. An exception is that unconfirmed registered users are allowed to create or edit their own user page. Temporary account editors and unconfirmed accounts are also unable to create or edit user pages that do not belong to a currently registered account. This protection is enforced by
an edit filter
12
Users may opt-out of this protection by placing
{{
unlocked userpage
}}
anywhere on their own user page.
User pages
and subpages within their own user space can be protected upon a request from the user, as long as a need exists. Pages within the user space should not be automatically or preemptively protected without good reason or cause.
13
14
Requests for protection specifically at uncommon levels (such as template protection) can be granted if the user has expressed a genuine and realistic need.
When a filter is insufficient to stop user page vandalism, a user may choose to create a ".css" subpage (e.g.,
User:Example/monobook.css
), copy all the contents of their user page onto the subpage, transclude the subpage by putting
{{User:Example/monobook.css}}
on their user page, and then ask an administrator to fully protect their user page. Because user space pages that end in ".css" and ".js" are editable only by the user to which that user space belongs and interface administrators, this will protect one's user page from further vandalism.
Deceased users
See also:
Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians/Guidelines
In the event of the confirmed death of an editor, their user page (but not the user talk page) should be fully protected.
Protection of templates
Shortcut
WP:PTPROT
WP:PTPROT
See also:
Wikipedia:High-risk templates
and
Wikipedia:Template documentation
Highly visible templates – those used on a large number of pages or frequently substituted – are often protected based on the degree of visibility, type of use, content, and other considerations.
Protected templates should normally have the
{{
documentation
}}
template. It loads the unprotected
/doc
page, so that non-admins and IP-users can edit the documentation, categories and interwiki links. It also automatically adds
{{
pp-template
}}
to protected templates, which displays a small padlock in the top right corner and categorizes the template as protected. Only manually add
{{pp-template}}
to protected templates that do not use
{{documentation}}
(mostly the flag templates).
Cascading protection should generally not be applied directly to templates, as it will not protect transclusions inside
tags or transclusions that depend on template parameters, but
will
protect the template's
documentation subpage
. Instead, consider either of the following:
If the set of subtemplates is static (even if large), protect them using normal protection mechanisms.
If the set of subtemplates is unbounded, use
MediaWiki:Titleblacklist
to protect all subtemplates using a particular naming format (as is done for
editnotice templates
and subtemplates of
Template:TFA title
).
Note: All
editnotice templates
(except those in userspace) are already protected via
MediaWiki:Titleblacklist
. They can be edited by admins,
template editors
and
page movers
only.
Sandboxes
See also:
Wikipedia:About the sandbox
Sandboxes should not ordinarily be protected since their purpose is to let new users test and experiment with
wiki syntax
. Most sandboxes are automatically cleaned every 12 hours, although they are frequently overwritten by other testing users. The
Wikipedia:Sandbox
is cleaned every hour. Those who use sandboxes for malicious purposes, or to violate policies such as
no personal attacks
civility
, or
copyrights
, should instead be warned and/or blocked.
Available templates
The following templates can be added at the very top of a page to indicate that it is protected:
Protection templates
Edit
Move
Pending changes
Upload
Generic
{{
pp
}}
{{
pp-move
}}
{{
pp-pc
}}
{{
pp-upload
}}
BLP
{{
pp-blp
}}
Blocked user's talk page
{{
pp-usertalk
}}
Dispute
{{
pp-dispute
}}
{{
pp-move-dispute
}}
Extended confirmed protection
{{
pp-extended
}}
Indefinite
{{
pp-semi-indef
}}
{{
pp-move-indef
}}
Main Page
image
{{
pp-main-page
}}
Office
{{
pp-office
}}
Sockpuppetry
{{
pp-sock
}}
Templates and images
{{
pp-template
}}
{{
pp-upload
}}
Vandalism
{{
pp-vandalism
}}
{{
pp-move-vandalism
}}
Talk page
{{
Permanently protected
}}
{{
Temporarily protected
}}
Module:Protection banner
On redirect pages, use the
{{
Redirect category shell
}}
template, which automatically categorizes by protection level, below the redirect line. A protection template may also be added below the redirect line, but it will serve only to categorize the page, as it will not be visible on the page, and it will have to be manually removed when protection is removed.
Retired protections
Superprotect
Shortcut
WP:SUPERPROTECT
WP:SUPERPROTECT
Superprotect was a level of protection,
15
allowing editing only by
Wikimedia Foundation employees who were in the Staff global group
. It was
implemented on August 10, 2014
and
removed on November 5, 2015
. It was never used on the English Wikipedia.
For several years, the
Gadget namespace
(which no longer exists) could only be edited by WMF staff, which has sometimes been referred to as superprotection even though it is unrelated to the above use.
Cascading semi-protection
Cascading semi-protection was formerly possible, but it was disabled in 2007 after
users noticed
that non-administrators could fully protect any page by transcluding it onto the page to which cascading semi-protection had been applied by an administrator.
Pending changes protection level 2
Shortcut
WP:ORANGELOCK
WP:ORANGELOCK
Originally, two levels of pending changes protection existed, where level
2 required edits by all users who were not
pending changes reviewers
to be reviewed. Following a community discussion, level
2 was retired from the English Wikipedia in January 2017.
16
Since that change, "pending changes level
1" is generally referred to as just "pending changes".
See also
MediaWiki:Protectedpagetext
Special:ProtectedPages
Special:ProtectedTitles
Wikipedia:Edit lock
Wikipedia:List of indefinitely protected pages
Wikipedia:Requests for page protection
Wikipedia:Rough guide to semi-protection
Wikipedia:Make protection requests sparingly
, an essay
Wikipedia:Salting is usually a bad idea
, an essay
metawiki:Protected pages considered harmful
metawiki:The Wrong Version
Wikipedia:Protection policy/Padlocks
Notes
This is also known as
"salting"
Extended confirmed protection was previously known as
30/500 protection
See
Wikipedia:General sanctions § Decisions
Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Extended confirmed protection policy 2
The permission is granted on the edit immediately after whichever threshold is met last: the 501st edit for accounts already 30 days old, or the first edit after the account turns 30 days old if the edit count was reached first.
Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Extended confirmed protection policy
The extended confirmed restriction was previously known as the "500/30 rule" which differed slightly.
Should we use ECP on templates?
discussion at the village pump.
Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive365 § Revisiting § Pages recently put under extended-confirmed protection
Created October 2013 as a result of
Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Template editor user right
Unlike with
WP:SUPERPROTECT
, admins technically can still edit or unprotect these pages, however, they should not do so without permission.
Please refer to
Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Protect user pages by default
and
its talk page
for community discussion related to a preventative measure for user pages.
Per discussion at
Wikipedia talk:Protection policy/Archive 15 § Own userspace pages protection policy
, June 2013
Per discussion at
Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive314 § Protecting an editor's user page or user space per their request
, September 2019
"Superprotect"
Wikimedia Meta-Wiki
. 2014-09-08
. Retrieved
2024-03-20
VPR RfC to remove PC2
Historical protection levels and user groups no longer in use are available at
Wikipedia:Protection policy § Retired protections
This table assumes that template editors are also extended confirmed, which is
almost always the case
for non-
bot
accounts.
However, if any unregistered or registered editor reverts all unreviewed pending changes back to the latest accepted version, that revision is automatically accepted and pending changes reviewers and administrators aren't prompted or notified.
Only noncontroversial changes or requested changes following an achieved consensus should be performed.
Only with the approval from the
Wikimedia Foundation
Cascade protection extends to all pages that are
transcluded
onto the protected page, unless the transcluded page is at the same protection level or higher. Cascade protection can only be applied to pages that are fully or office-protected because otherwise it
creates a workflow flaw
The interface protection level is automatically set by the
MediaWiki
software to a specific set of pages, such as pages in the MediaWiki namespace, system-wide CSS and JavaScript pages, and personal CSS and JavaScript pages of other users. It is not a protection level that an administrator can manually apply to any page, nor is it a protection level that can be modified on pages currently under interface protection. Because of this, administrators also cannot
cascade-protect
pages that are Interface-protected.
This has been in effect
for unregistered users
since 5 December 2005. The restriction was
extended to newly registered users on a six month trial basis
starting on 14 September 2017. The extension became permanent on 18 April 2018. The prohibition does not apply to the
Draft namespace
nor
talk pages
in any namespace.
This form of protection is often also called "salting".
Under the default no protection, unregistered and newly registered users can still create
talk pages
in all namespaces and draft articles in the
Draft namespace
. For these namespaces, it would therefore be possible for the create protection to only apply to unregistered and newly registered users.
Upload Protection applies to the English Wikipedia, not to
Wikimedia Commons
, which has
different policies for uploading
Administrators' guide
Articles
Advice for new administrators
Blocking
Cleaning backlogs
Dealing with disputes
Dealing with spam
Blacklisting
Deleting
Edit filters
Granting and revoking user rights
History merging
Protecting
Reading list
Tools, scripts and gadgets
Viewing deleted pages and contributions
Policies
Administrator policy
(WP:ADMIN)
Banning policy
(WP:BAN)
Blocking policy
(WP:BLOCK)
Deletion policy
(WP:DEL)
Protection policy
(WP:PROTECT)
Revision deletion policy
(WP:REVDEL)
Wikipedia key
policies and guidelines
(?)
Five pillars
Ignore all rules
Content
(?)
Verifiability
No original research
Neutral point of view
What Wikipedia is not
Biographies of living persons
Copyright violations
Image use
Article titles
Notability
Autobiographies
Citing sources
Reliable sources
Medicine
Do not include copies of lengthy primary sources
Plagiarism
Do not create hoaxes
Fringe theories
Patent nonsense
External links
Writing articles with large language models
LLM-assisted translation
Conduct
(?)
Civility
Consensus
Harassment
Vandalism
Ignore all rules
No personal attacks
Ownership of content
Edit warring
Dispute resolution
Sockpuppetry
No legal threats
Child protection
Paid-contribution disclosure
Assume good faith
Conflict of interest
Disruptive editing
Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point
Etiquette
Gaming the system
Please do not bite the newcomers
Courtesy vanishing
Responding to threats of harm
Talk page guidelines
Signatures
Deletion
(?)
Deletion policy
Proposed deletion
Biographies
Speedy deletion
Attack page
Oversight
Revision deletion
Enforcement
(?)
Administrators
Banning
Blocking
Page protection
Editing
(?)
Editing policy
Article size
Summary style
Be bold
Disambiguation
Hatnotes
Broad-concept article
Understandability
Style
Manual of Style
Contents
Dates and numbers
Images
Layout
Lead section
Linking
Lists
Classification
Categories, lists, and navigation templates
Categorization
Template namespace
Project content
(?)
Project namespace
WikiProjects
User pages
User boxes
Shortcuts
Subpages
WMF
(?)
Universal Code of Conduct
List of policies
Friendly space policy
Licensing and copyright
List of all policies and guidelines
List of policies
List of guidelines
Summaries of values and principles
Retrieved from "
Categories
Wikipedia policies
Wikipedia enforcement policies
Wikipedia Administrators' guide
Wikipedia vandalism
Wikipedia page protection
Hidden category:
Wikipedia semi-protected project pages
Wikipedia
Protection policy
Add topic
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