In earlier times there was a list here of instances of Wiki Vandalism. Of late, vandalism has become a non-issue, so this page is no longer used.
Here because of shark.armchair.mb.ca see Shark Bot, an automated response to Grammar Vandal.
It's not automatic; it is frequently "guided" by its author, hence its frequent mistakes, such as reverting its own edits and editing Front Page without changing anything, even whitespace.
[Hi, Grammar Vandal. You'll be pleased to know that certain operations are entirely automated, but others require my approval and get actioned in batches. I can adjust the degree of automation, and often turn it up to "full" if I'm around to keep an eye on it. I've spent an amused evening or several watching Grammar Vandal desperately fight against it, with me not touching a button. It's a multi-pass mechanism where data gathered from later edits may be used to revise earlier ones, so it can (and does) indeed revert its own edits. And, yes, sometimes I override its actions. However, it only edits Front Page in response to edits by Grammar Vandal, which must (by the definition of "edit") include some change to whitespace if nothing else.] -- Dave Voorhis
The last "edit" of Front Page does not change anything, even whitespace.
[The Shark Bot's interpretation of "whitespace" can include null edits, e.g., those in which some text is added, then deleted shortly thereafter.]
The last "edit" was by the bot, and did not change anything, even whitespace.
[Yes. It reverted a null edit, just like the one before this edit.]
The edit referred to as "the one before this" reverted a real edit that removed exactly 26 characters (or spaces), whereas the last edit of Front Page didn't change it at all, as proved by a character-by character comparison of the current version and the latest history version.
[Ah! Well, there you go. It wasn't a null edit, then. I generated it the way they usually occur, but I didn't spend any care or effort on it and merely intended it for illustration. Shark Bot can revert both real edits and null edits. If you're not happy with that, please submit a formal complaint through the usual channels and my secretary's assistant will get back to you in due course.]
By definition, a null edit can't be reverted and doesn't need reversion. Some of the bot's attempts to do so fail with the message "No change to text".
[Funny thing, that. It turns out there are circumstances where you can revert a null edit and it happens as a side-effect of the way the machinery works. However, it's rare enough and unimportant enough not to worry about.]
A null edit is the overall effect of making an edit, then reverting it. There is no edit left to revert, so it can't be reverted, but Wiki sometimes allows an unchanged page to be saved instead of issuing "No change to text". That's not a side-effect, just a minor fault in how Wiki assesses whether a change has occurred.
[By "side-effect", I meant that it's a byproduct of the way Wards Wiki software and the Shark Bot software behave and interact.]
That may be, but whatever the bot does is not a revert, as there is nothing left to revert once an edit has been reverted by the original editor.
[You can revert an edit of, say, 100 characters, yes? And you can revert 10 characters, right? And 1 character? In general, Wards Wiki supports edits of 'n' characters. Under the right conditions, as described above, Wards Wiki effectively supports an edit of 0 characters. Thus, Wards Wiki supports edits of 'n' characters, where 'n' is any whole number. A reversion is just another edit, so it obviously supports reversions of 'n' characters. Thus, logically, Wards Wiki can support a reversion of an edit of 0 characters.]
The term "revert" implies a change of at least 1 character. A "change" of 0 characters is neither an edit nor a revert, even if the save is allowed, much as entering and immediately leaving a train is possible but doesn't constitute a journey and doesn't have a corresponding return journey.
[Quibbling about the terminology does not alter the truth of its manifestation. Call it what you like -- it happens. If it helps, think of it as entering and immediately leaving a train, and then being told by the conductor to get off the train.]
Somebody has been messing with Gui Prototyping Tools for the last week or so. It appears to be driven by motivation to put "iRise" at the top of the list, but other oddities are going on also. Somebody volunteered and alphabetized the list, but that has been undone.
20110330: Someone from 141.214.17.5 has twice replaced the whole of Front Page with a rude remark. -- John Fletcher
Somebody deleted Using Bags For Privacy Purposes without explanation. I have an archive copy, but first I wish to figure out what the hell happened. The user label says "agrestic.vectro.com". (3/19/2012). -- top
That was Grammar Vandal having one of his childish little edit-trantrums.
Thanks for the update. I thought it was due to something else at first.
web8.cirtexhosting.com deleted Java Script Sucks for unknown reasons.
186-174.111.65.serverpronto.com is also doing some suspicious activity. Delete Tantrum perhaps.
See original on c2.com 