no.stupid.answers

And now, a word from Apryl - or An8thg - yesterday’s Contributor corner spotlight and the leader of the upcoming WikiAnswersVandal Patrol:

Imagine this moment:

You sit perched over your keyboard, rapidly entering search terms, seeking the answer to your latest conundrum when all of a sudden you receive the glorious message…

Is this your question?

‘Yes, that’s it!’ you shout as you jump up, nearly knocking your obnoxiously large drink clear across the room.

The page loads…

And the answer is: HAHAHAHA! LOL! U R STUPID!

At this point, you smash your face into your keyboard and now wear the ‘ASDF’ badge on your forehead for the next fifteen minutes.

Who will save you from these senseless acts of frustration and vandalism?

We will!
We are the Vandal Patrol.

The Vandal Patrol Program is the defense and attack strategy being implemented for WikiAnswers. The program consists of three different divisions, Site Guardians, Alternates Specialists and Site Investigators and each division will focus on a specific task.

Site Guardians will serve as our first line of site defense through the constant monitoring of the Recent Contributions page. Guard the door!

Alternates Specialists will work specifically on the mountain of alternates that require splitting and merging, as well as maintaining and updating site catch-alls. Heal our wounds!

Site Investigators will specialize in searching for and correcting answers containing vandalism and incorrect information. This will be accomplished through keyword searches in option two of the Advanced Search page. Detect and destroy!

Site Generalists can assist the various divisions of the Vandal Patrol or simply ‘keep an eye out’ on a more casual basis.

The members of the Vandal Patrol Program hope to rid the site of vandalized answers and to save the foreheads of all our users from ever wearing the ‘ASDF’ badge again!

Supervisors interested in volunteering for a specific division, please contact Apryl at an8thg @ wikianswers.com or leave a note on her message board.

I’m talking to you, vandals. What the &^$@, anyway? Why do you have to come on to WikiAnswers with your &$@% words and waste our precious time having to revert answers?

Not that we’re going to let you spoil our fun. We’ve got Supervisors working ’round the clock to make sure everyone who comes to the site for answers gets them… And not any, well, y’know - %@$#*^%$&…

Vandals, go find a wall.

While catching vandals and blocking them in the act is thrilling, we as Supervisors need to be very careful. IPs are often shared by many folks and are not restricted to a single household. Shared IPs are common among schools, libraries and businesses, and are especially common with AOL users. All AOL users share a very small group of IPs. Blocking one vandal from AOL could mean blocking thousands of legitimate contributors.

Here’s a way to ensure that you are only keeping the bad guys out:

Before blocking an IP, use the free tool located at Who.is, CQCounter or Openrbl to determine who might be associated with the address. Be on the lookout for NameServers that end in .edu, .gov, .org and .us. And always check to make sure that an IP is not listed on the “white list” of shared addresses located at:

What IP addresses should WikiAnswers supervisors be cautious about blocking?

If you suspect that an IP is shared DO NOT block the address. If the vandal is a registered user, block their User Name and then unblock the associated IP address at http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Special:Ipblocklist. Cumbersome at the moment, we are indeed working on a system to stem the tide of vandalism - without the risk of blocking the good guys! Stay tuned as this great new system unfolds…

(A big thanks to Brave3 (Matthew) for collaborating with me on this article… You’re the best, B3!)