Wikiversity:No shrines for vandals

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Shortcut: WV:SHRINE

Wikiversity does not erect shrines for vandals

At Wikiversity, vandalism is considered a nuisance. It's something that needs to be dealt with but which is not a big deal. As a result, Wikiversity erects no shrines for vandals.

[edit] Specifics

Users who are blocked as vandals will have their user page protected from editing or deleted. Specifically, there will be no templates posted for blocked users nor will any vandal-specific templates be used to adorn user pages of vandal sock puppets. Vandals should not have anything to point at that shows they have received attention:

Obvious repeat vandals are blocked on sight (e.g. page movers, page blankers, obscenity writers). If there are doubts, a comment should be left on the talk page to offer the user an opportunity to respond.
The user page is deleted or at least protected from editing if there is useful content there.
No publicly accessible pages will be created to document long term abuse by vandals. If there is need to document such things for the purpose of training custodians, a page can be created and subsequently deleted. Custodians will be able to view the page by using Special:Undelete/Pagename.

[edit] Philosophy

The primary motive for many vandals is attention. If individuals move pages to inappropriate titles, blank articles or write obscene words, propose pages for speedy deletion without merit, or whatever else vandals do, it's to gain attention. It's "funny" to see people stop their work and take care of what they did. It's "entertaining" to show friends what one has done on pages that many other people visit. Disruption is "cool". By refusing to acknowledge individual vandals, we take away what they crave most.