Hiding individual lines from a page history or log is possible due to the RevisionDelete functionality added to the MediaWiki core codebase (i.e., from Mediawiki Version 1.16) in mid-2009. The revision deletion feature is available to users in at least one usergroup that has been given the deleterevision permission in the MediaWiki configuration. The function has the ability to show/hide the revision itself, the name of the user who made the edit, or the edit summary used - or any combination of those three. Deleted revisions and events will still appear in the page history and logs, but parts of their content will be inaccessible to regular users.
Policy for use
RevisionDelete is a function only available to those in the Bureaucrat usergroup.
RevisionDelete should only be used in extreme cases when content needs to be completely hidden from other users. It should not be used to hide general spam, unwanted links, or other minor issues where simply reverting the revision is adequate. There are very few cases where RevisionDelete is appropriate and permitted to be used, as outlined below.
Instances where RevisionDelete may be used
Vile vandalism
- Vandalism so vile that all record of it ought to be expunged from the wiki for normal users and admins
- Wikipedia defines it as "Grossly insulting, degrading, or offensive material that has little or no encyclopedic or project value"
Private personal information (PPI)
- Example: a user’s private personal information has been put on the wiki and they wish to have it removed or it is obvious that it should be removed (a doxxing situation)
- Such information includes: real name, physical address, telephone number, email address, fixed IP address (can lead to other PPI)
Terms of Service violations
- Content which violates Terms of Service for the game in question. Examples may include instructions for cheating in the game, hacking code, etc.
If a copyright violation / takedown request is received, the user requesting must be directed to send said request formally according to these guidelines: https://www.twitch.tv/p/legal/dmca-guidelines/
When using the RevisionDelete function on private personal information, it must be logged with Gamepedia staff by emailing community@gamepedia.com.
In that email provide the following:
- User requesting deletion (if applicable)
- Your email (matching account email)
- The link to the revision in question
- Why RevisionDelete was used (include a link to talk/user page if request made that way, screenshot of Discord, Slack, etc if made that way)
Private personal information can be an important legal concern. Repeated failure to send this email can result in loss of bureaucrat position.
Overview
When enabled on an installation and viewed by a user with the appropriate permissions, every page revision and log entry has a small (show/hide) button displayed next to it, as shown in the normal revision and protection log entry below.
- (cur) (prev) (show/hide) 00:00, 1 Jan 1970 WikiUser (talk | contribs | block) (X bytes) (Edit summary) (undo)
- (show/hide) 00:00, 1 Jan 1970 WikiUser (talk | contribs | block) protected "Page" [edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite) (Log summary) (hist | change)
When a revision or log entry is hidden from view in its entirety, it is displayed like that shown below, with the elements hidden from view stricken and greyed out. Once a revision is hidden, the contents of the revision (if hidden), cannot be viewed by any usergroup without the deletedtext right. Trying to compare the revision with other revisions or access its &oldid= page will result in an error stating that the revision has been removed from the public archives. Similarly, trying to search for a hidden log entry by the users involved, when they have been hidden, will turn up no results.
- (cur) (prev) (show/hide) 00:00, 1 Jan 1970 (username removed) (comment removed)
[deleted] - (show/hide) 00:00, 1 Jan 1970 (username removed) (log action removed) (comment removed)
NOTE: Revision deletion remains applied to a page even when deleted. If a page is undeleted, revisions that were previously hidden with RevisionDelete will remain hidden to the public.
Using RevisionDelete
Hiding a revision
To show/hide a revision, click the small (change visibility) button next to the relevant revision or log entry that you wish to show/hide. To change multiple revisions, check the checkboxes for the desired revisions in the page history and click the Change visibility of selected revisions button at the top right. Depending on your permissions, there may be between 3 and 4 different options to choose from:
- show/hide revision text
- show/hide edit summary
- show/hide editor's username/IP address
- Suppress data from administrators as well as others (only available to users with the
suppressrevisionright)
Tick the checkboxes next to each of the items that you wish to apply to the selected and then provide an informative summary in the "Log comment field". Once this information has been filled in, click the "Apply to selected revision(s)" button to submit the information. If this has been done correctly, "Revision visibility successfully set" should be displayed on your screen.
Unhiding a revision
To show/unhide a revision, click the (change visibility) button for the revision or log entry and simply untick all the boxes, provide your summary and click the "Apply to the selected revision" button. Success should be marked by the display of the "Revision visibility successfully set" message.
Changing the visibility settings
This is quite similar to unhiding a revision; click the (change visibility) button and tick/untick the options that you wish to modify and click the apply button.
Log entries
Normally, hiding a revision or page history item will produce a log message in the public deletion log or the private supression log (if "Suppress data from administrators as well as others" is ticked). Log entries created in the public deletion log look like those displayed below for page revision and log entries visibilities respectively.
- (show/hide) 00:00, 1 Jan 1970 WikiUser (talk | contribs | block) changed revision visibility of Page (hid content, edit summary, username for 1 revision: Log summary) (diff | change visibility)
- (show/hide) 00:00, 1 Jan 1970 WikiUser (talk | contribs | block) changed event visibility of (Protection log) (hid content, edit summary, username for 1 event: Log summary) (change visibility)
The (show/hide) link displayed leads to the visibility settings for that particular log entry, while the (change visibility) button leads to the visibility settings for the page affected by that particular log entry.