Wikipedia:Flood flag
 | This page is a guideline on the Simple English Wikipedia. Many editors agree with the ideas on this page. It is a good idea to follow it, but it is not policy. You can change the page as needed, but please use the talk page to make sure that other editors agree with any big changes. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Simple English Wikipedia administrators (who are trusted users already) may temporarily use or give users a "flood flag" when doing repetitive, non-controversial edits or actions to avoid flooding New changes (NC) and related pages. This is of benefit for NC patrollers and all other parties making use of that page. |
Users who are given the flood flag can make changes to Wikipedia as normal, but these changes do not show in the New Changes feed. It is normally given to users by administrators for a short time and only while they are making a large number of the same changes to Wikipedia. This stops the changes from making it hard for other editors to use new changes feed to review changes by other users that need it. After the user is done making the high number of changes to Wikipedia, the flood flag is normally removed.
When to use the flood flag
[change source]Users should use the flood flag to avoid flushing other edits and actions from the new changes feed when doing similar, repetitive changes. Such actions must never be controversial, as using the flood flag decreases the amount of oversight they may receive. Abuse of the flood flag is treated as abuse of any tool would be; this can result in removal of the tool and/or a block.
Examples of acceptable use would be deleting a large number of pages after consensus has been achieved at Wikipedia:Requests for deletion. Unacceptable uses include attempting to avoid oversight of any controversial action.
Users may also wish to use the flood flag when performing log actions on large numbers of usernames that are offensive or libelous (i.e. Stewards locking/hiding global accounts, administrators performing local blocks and so on).
In some cases, an administrator may remove the flood flag to force a users' changes to appear in NC. This should be done in cases where the administrator has forgotten to remove it, or when the changes should be seen by default in NC.
The flood flag is set and removed using Special:UserRights.
Room for abuse?
[change source]One problem with the flood flag is that users could use it wrongly. If a user is making bad changes or actions, he or she would be able to use the flood flag to prevent them from being seen from New changes, which is the primary source at which new changes are shown and seen.
Giving the flood flag is logged, and shown in new changes. Administrators who abuse their admin rights (now including the flood flag) may be sanctioned.
Flood flag or bot flag?
[change source]This is intended to replace requesting temporary bot flags from bureaucrats. Users who would otherwise request a temp bot flag may simply flag themselves using the flood right.
Cases where a permanent bot flag should be given remain the same - the user should create a secondary account and request a bot flag as normal. Only temporary bot flags are replaced with this flood flag.
Flood flag by non-administrators
[change source]Only administrators can choose whether to use the flood flag or not. On this Wikipedia, it was decided that non-administrators can also use the flood flag. This can only be for a short time, and the user needs to be carefully watched by the administrator who gives the flag, to make sure it is not being used incorrectly and to remove it when done.