Administrators can protect (or lock) pages to prevent them from being edited. Reason for doing so include, but are not limited to:
- Preventing repeat vandalism.
- Preventing further violation of the three-revert rule.
- Avoiding random edits to central pages that should not be modified lightly
You can tell if a page is protected because it will have a View source tab rather than an Edit tab.
Protected against moving
Administrators also have the option of protecting pages against being moved (renamed). This is typically done with high-profile pages; basically everything linked from the left-hand toolboxes and everything linked from the front page.
"Semi-protected" pages
Pages can also be protected against editing by newly registered users (on the scale of days) to prevent repeat vandalism or edit wars. Semi-protected pages will be tagged with the {{semiprotected}} banner, displayed below, and added to Category:Semi-protected pages. Normally, a page will not stay semi-protected for any length of time.
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To request semi-protection of a page, leave a message on an admin's talk page.
Guidelines for editing a protected page
For a page locked due to vandalism, just ask an admin to unlock the page so that you can work on it again. Depending on circumstances, it can happen immediately, but you may also have to wait until it's safe to unlock.
For pages purposefully locked to avoid "random edits" (see below), or pages that can't be unlocked at the moment, the following works:
- Make a copy of the page and edit that until you're done. Naming it e.g. "The Locked Page's Name/New" or ".../Dev" works well.
- Ask an admin to copy it in for you.
For the Main Page however, you can basically only suggest minor changes via its Discussion page. – WoWWiki does not change its face to the outside world lightly; we take extended votes on new front page design alternatives.
Protected pages list
A list of pages which are protected can be found at Special:Protectedpages. Not all currently protected pages are listed there, only those status has changed since the 1.11 upgrade.