Wikipedia:Protection policy

The most commonly encountered types of protection are full protection, which means that a page can be modified only by administrators, and semi-protection, which means that a page can be modified only by users who are logged in and whose accounts have been (any account is automatically confirmed if it has existed for at least 4 days and has made at least 10 edits). Other forms of protection are detailed below. Protected pages are normally marked with a small padlock symbol in the top corner; different color padlocks represent different protection types, as shown in the images at the right. {{}} is usually placed on protected pages to display the padlock.

Positioning the mouse pointer over the padlock symbol produces an informational tooltip which says "This article is protected." If {{}}'s reason parameter is specified, the tooltip also says why the page is protected. If the expiry parameter is specified, the tooltip says for what duration the page is protected.

This policy explains in detail the protection types and procedures for page protection and unprotection and the reasons for which protection should and should not be applied.

The following technical options are available to administrators for protecting pages:

Any type of protection (with the exception of cascading protection) may be requested at . Changes to a fully protected page should be proposed on the corresponding talk page, and carried out by an administrator if they are uncontroversial or if there is consensus for them.

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A fully protected page can be edited or moved only by administrators. The protection may be for a specified time or may be indefinite.

Modifications to a fully protected page can be proposed on its talk page (or at another appropriate forum) for discussion. Administrators can make changes to the protected article reflecting consensus. Placing the {{}} template on the talk page will draw the attention of administrators for implementing uncontroversial changes.

On pages that are experiencing edit warring, temporary full protection can force the parties to discuss their edits on the talk page, where they can reach consensus. Isolated incidents of edit warring, and persistent edit warring by particular users, may be better addressed by blocking, so as not to prevent normal editing of the page by others.

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