Wikipedia:Red flags in edit summaries

Anyone who patrols recent changes should watch out for red flags in edit summaries. This particular problem rarely comes from vandals; in fact, some vandals write very honest edit summaries, such as "blanking the page", "replacing the page with crap" or bizarre or offensive statements. Though sometimes automatic edit summaries will betray the intent of the vandal when the vandal writes a misleading edit summary; but as automatic edit summaries are done by a robot, vandals can figure out ways to mislead the robot as well.

This problem with edit summaries often comes from established users who want to push their own POVs (points of view). Also, there are well-meaning users who unintentionally write misleading edit summaries. For example, an editor may make huge changes to the article but summarize this as "tweak format". Hence, the kinds of edit summaries discussed here should encourage a look at the actual edit regardless of whether or not they come from established users.

Let it be clear that indiscriminate inclusionism is not being advocated. Wikipedia is not a "dumping ground" for random facts and thoughts. But indiscriminate deletionism is even more of a problem, because it makes it harder for the community to have calm, thoughtful discussions as to what belongs and what doesn't.

Wikipedia should contain:

• Everything a typical person would expect in a general reference work, and

For more general advice on edit summaries, see WP:EDSUM.

Edit summary: "Reverting, discuss on the talk page before making changes"

This is a red flag, as no one owns Wikipedia articles, not the original writer, not the editors who have worked the most on the article, and not even Jimbo Wales.

Another red flag is if an editor states that changes must be discussed, but the issue itself is not raised on the talk page (note: this editor may have raised the issue in an archived discussion). If someone is going to demand that others discuss on the talk page before making any changes to an article, fairness demands that she too discuss it on the talk page. Also, he should remain open to what is said in the talk page. When others heed the request to "discuss on the talk page before making changes", it does not give veto authority to the person who requested this.

Edit summary: "Improving the article"

If an edit is not vandalism, then it should be an improvement to the article. Using the word "improving" therefore just wastes edit summary characters, and an edit summary only has a few more characters than a tweet. Also, one should suspect that there should be more to such an edit summary, along the lines of "to my liking, rather than to the misguided consensus."

Edit marked as minor with a large increase or decrease in size in kilobytes

This can happen either maliciously or innocently. A malicious use would be to include or delete a large chunk of text but pass it off as spelling corrections. But it can also happen innocently, such as when someone uses mass replace to expand abbreviations, or to create abbreviations. If you use mass replace in an edit, it wouldn't hurt for your edit summary to mention it!