26.11.2011

New semiprotect system

Hello Wikimapians!

Today we are making changes in our semi-protection policy. There are lots of objects that are protected since they've been created and they stay unable to be edited by unregistered and new users. In fact most objects don't need such protection. Initially, semi-protection was an indispensable tool to save the map from vandals, but since then new tools such as watchlist, mail confirmation, guest's actions viewing, banning for edition had arrived which gives possibility to make objects protection system more flexible and soft. Semi-protection should not be used solely to prevent editing by unregistered and newly registered users, nor should it be used as a pre-emptive measure against vandalism that has not yet occurred.
That's why we made semi-protection limited in time. Advanced Users may apply temporary semi-protection to objects which are subject to heavy and persistent vandalism; but after 7 days the protection will be removed automatically (it also could be removed by any Advanced Users anytime). Also, now while obejct is semi-protected, only Advanced Users can edit it (all users with experience level 2 or higher were able to do it before).
All legacy protection will be automatically removed from all objects which are semiprotected for the moment in next several hours.