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Page move rollback should not leave a redirect
Open, LowPublicFeature

Description

Author: chris.mckenna

Description:
When using the page move rollback tool to counter page move vandalism, a
redirect is left at the vandal title that still needs to be deleted by hand. See
for example the deletion log for today (18 August) to see how much work this can
be for admins.


Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement
See Also:
T15602: Page move vandalism creates watchlist clutter
T6433: rollback/undo link for a page move should revert the move

Details

Reference
bz3185

Event Timeline

bzimport raised the priority of this task from to Low.Nov 21 2014, 8:46 PM
bzimport set Reference to bz3185.
bzimport added a subscriber: Unknown Object (MLST).

p_simoons wrote:

Agreed. Currently, you require four clicks (one to rollback, one to confirm
destroying the redirect over which you're rollbacking, one to delete the
redirect you're creating by rollbacking, and one to confirm that).

dunc_harris wrote:

If implemented, this needs to be an option as you may want to revert a move and
leave a redirect.

rotemliss wrote:

(In reply to comment #2)

If implemented, this needs to be an option as you may want to revert a move and
leave a redirect.

Only for sysops, of course.

(In reply to comment #3)

(In reply to comment #2)

If implemented, this needs to be an option as you may want to revert a move and
leave a redirect.

The way to do this is probably to have a check box labeled "Create redirect from
<current title> to <previous title>", which defaults to unchecked (i.e. no
redirect).
If the page was moved over a redirect (e.g. if [[George W. Bush]] was moved to
[[Dubya]]), the box should default to checked (i.e. the pre-existing redirect is
retained).

I've got no idea how difficult this would be to program though?

Only for sysops, of course.

Only sysops currently have the page move rollback, so this isn't an issue now.
If at some point in the future non-sysops are given access to the tool, then
they should be able to choose whether a redirect is created or not. If they do
not have the privs to delete pages then they should have no option but to leave
a pre-existing redirect in place (either the checkbox does not appear, or it
appears checked and greyed out).
It is possible that a bad redirect is left in this situation if the following
happens:

  1. [[George W. Bush]] is moved to [[George W. Bush is a plonker]]
  2. The article is moved back, but a redirect is left (e.g. it was moved without

using the rollback tool, or the box was accidentally checked)

  1. The article is moved to the vandal title again, over the redirect.
  2. A non-sysop user rolls back the move but is unable to remove the redirect.

The risk of this happening is slight however, and in any case can be cleaned up
using normal processes (e.g. on the English Wikipedia it would be marked for
speedy deletion under criteria G3).

Not so easily cleaned up when a serious pagemove vandal moves 30-40 pages before getting nabbed. Maybe not a problem for 'pedia, but it just happened a few minutes ago on en:Wikiquote.

mike.lifeguard+bugs wrote:

The option to not create a redirect when moving a page has been added to the UI, though not permitted to any users by default. That should of course be changed - rollbackers and sysops should have access to it. Global rollbackers and Stewards have access to this, and it works /very/ nicely.

mike.lifeguard+bugs wrote:

(In reply to comment #6)

The option to not create a redirect when moving a page has been added to the
UI, though not permitted to any users by default. That should of course be
changed - rollbackers and sysops should have access to it. Global rollbackers
and Stewards have access to this, and it works /very/ nicely.

That's been done, but it's still not *rollback* of a page move, which is key.

I think that if this bug were fixed then it would also solve bug 13602
I would mark them as interlinked in this way but I don't know how to do that!

I'm going to go ahead and mark this as easy.

shreeshikha21 wrote:

I am new to FOSS and mediawiki
how do I start on this bug
how do I replicate the error on my local machine

(In reply to Shikha Shree from comment #10)

I am new to FOSS and mediawiki
how do I start on this bug
how do I replicate the error on my local machine

What does this bug mean by "page move rollback"? There is no such thing, cf. bug 4433. There is a "revert" button in the move log which includes an option to suppress redirect for users who have the suppressredirect right (e.g. sysops).

(In reply to Chris M from comment #0)

When using the page move rollback tool to counter page move vandalism, a
redirect is left at the vandal title that still needs to be deleted by hand.
See
for example the deletion log for today (18 August) to see how much work this
can
be for admins.

What "page move rollback tool"?

Aklapper changed the subtype of this task from "Task" to "Feature Request".Feb 4 2022, 11:02 AM
Aklapper removed a subscriber: wikibugs-l-list.