An article hijack occurs when an existing page is changed from one subject to another, as in the following examples:
- A Russian film becomes an advertisement for software.
- Australian cricketer Joel Joseph becomes a Tanzanian music manager.
- Retired American soccer midfielder Josh Keller becomes actor and a fashion & lifestyle photographer Joshua Lawrence Heller.
- Pakistani general Abdullah Saeed becomes an American TV producer.
Hijacking articles in this way is never helpful. Not only does it cause loss of the original article, but even when that original article has no worthwhile content, combining content of two completely different articles into the history of one page causes confusion. Most commonly article hijacking is done by new editors, to get around the fact that new accounts can't create new articles. A much better way of dealing with that restriction is to start new articles in the draft namespace.
While it is most common with articles, this can also occur with redirects. If you follow a redirect and end up at an entirely unexpected target, checking the history is always prudent. In obvious cases, a bold correction is the most efficient solution.
Warning template
The template {{subst:uw-hijacking}} exists for warning editors who hijack articles/dab pages/redirects.
See also
- Wikipedia:History splitting, a technical process useful for repairing this situation
- Wikipedia:Requests for history merge, where one can request a history split