Wikipedia:Alternatives to reversion

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Shortcut WP:ALTREV

Wikipedia, based on

, some alternatives to reversion may be attempted.

The first thing to try is to make a totally different edit. Be careful with this technique. If your edit does substantively the same thing as a revert, it can still be counted as

. However, if you can see a way to make a substantively different edit that deals with the problem, see if it works. If the edit sticks then the problem is solved!

As the

.

If the other party does not engage and NO ONE ELSE comments, you might consider reverting (giving it a number of days is the best practice here).

noticeboards

.

Alert other Wikipedians to the existence of a discussion about a dispute by adding an appropriate tag. For articles and talk pages, many of the dispute templates listed here are appropriate. For non-article pages, {{under discussion inline}} is good.

Be very careful about this technique, but used appropriately it can defuse a situation. Suppose an editor has placed a borderline policy-violation in an article or talkpage (e.g. a

). You remove the offending bits and begin to explain yourself on the talkpage. The editor or another editor returns and reverts your revert. This is the beginning of an edit war. What's an appropriate way to respond?

If you would like an alternative to doing nothing and reverting a second time, consider embargoing the text. This is done by placing the hidden-text symbols around the offending text. <!--Offending text goes between these symbols--> You should explain that the text is embargoed on the talk page and be abundantly clear that you want the discussion to continue about whether the text should be included or not. Sometimes, this technique works, but sometimes it does not. If an editor removes your embargo it is very poor form to revert the editor to get it back in.

Archive templates such as {{

}} can be used in talk pages if you think that the discussion has veered off-course, is not useful, problematic, or in need of closure. Placing these archive templates around discussions can be taken as a provocative move by people who are hotly engaged in the dispute. As with embargoing, reverting the removal of archive templates is very poor form.

Sometimes,

to one of the archives of a talkpage can be done if a totally fresh-start is needed. This is also a provocative move, so be very careful with trying it out.

• WP:Three-revert rule
  (policy)
• WP:Reverting (essay)
• WP:Baby and bathwater (essay)
• WP:Revert only when necessary (essay)
• Help:Reverting (how-to)