An edit war occurs when contributors, or groups of contributors, repeatedly revert each other's contributions.
Edit warring causes problems for both readers and other contributors and makes collaboration less pleasant. Attempts to instate one version of an article at the expense of another can lead to the loss of a neutral point of view. For these reasons, contributors should not engage in edit wars, but should instead resolve disagreements through discussion, consensus-building and ultimately dispute resolution. Administrators may block contributors in response to persistent edit warring, to prevent further disruption.
Dealing with edit warring
As "edit-warring" is a concept about which reasonable people may disagree, administrators must ensure that users in good standing have been clearly warned before blocking them for edit-warring.
New or inexperienced users engaging in edit warring should first be informed of Wikipedia's policies and practices, and the problems with their editing approach. More experienced contributors should be reminded of the project's behavioural standards and encouraged to seek dispute resolution should discussion be insufficient to resolve the issue.
In the event that this fails, uninvolved administrators may block involved contributors or temporarily protect affected pages. Protection is useful when the involved parties will work to resolve the conflict; blocks should be used in situations where users fail to moderate their behavior, often demonstrated by an inflexible demeanor, incivility, or past instances of edit warring. Edit warring may be reported to administrators at the edit warring noticeboard.
In exceptional cases, persistent edit warring may, as with other abuse, lead to a ban or other additional sanctions, possibly through an arbitration case.
Alternatives
Bringing wider attention to a dispute can lead to compromise. Consider getting a third opinion or starting a request for comments. Neutral editors aware of the dispute will help curb egregious edits while also building consensus about the dispute.
When these methods fail, seek informal and formal dispute resolution.
See also
- Wikipedia:Dispute resolution
- Wikipedia:Ownership of articles
- Wikipedia:Sock puppetry
- Wikipedia:Etiquette
- Wikipedia:Disruptive editing
- Wikipedia:Tendentious editing
- Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars
Notes