Help:Reverting

Reverting involves returning a page to a previous version. A revert is defined more broadly as the undoing of another editor's work by returning any part of a page to an older version.

Dos

 * Do take reverting very seriously.
 * Reverting is used as a tool for supporting policies and guidelines or similar abuse.
 * Do consider whether a revert is appropriate. You may want to discuss it first.
 * Do consider improving the material, if you feel the edit is unsatisfactory. This may include incorporating facts, grammatical improvements, style changes, or trimming the content.
 * Do consider reverting your own edit if you realize that it is wrong. Be careful if some other editor has made changes in the interim.
 * Do consider modifying only part of an article instead of reverting the whole edit.

Don'ts

 * Don't let superfluous or poorly written material stand in order to avoid slighting its original author. Though your intentions may be good, doing so shirks your duty to the reader.
 * Don't take it personally, if your material is reverted. Not every fact, detail, and nuance belongs. Consider the other editor's point-of-view.
 * Don't revert when it can be improved. Try rephrasing the content, reword, rather than revert.
 * Don't revert an article if it contains valid information. Text should be edited and improved.
 * Don't revert if you don't know whether some claim is true or useful, particularly when there are few who are knowledgeable about the topic. In such a case, it's good practice to raise objections on a talk page.

Manual method

 * Go to the page, click on the "history" tab at the top ("Page history" in some skins), and click on the time and date of the earlier version to which you wish to revert.
 * When that page comes up, you'll see something like "Revision as of 22:19 Aug 15, 2002" below the title, with the username of the editor who saved that version.
 * Verify that you have selected the correct version, and click to edit the page, as you would normally. Important: in the case of vandalism, take the time to make sure that you are reverting to the last version without the vandalism; there may be multiple consecutive vandal edits, sometimes interspersed with constructive edits.
 * You will get a warning, above the edit box, about editing an out-of-date revision.
 * Ignore the warning and save the page. Be sure to add the word "revert" and a brief explanation for the revert to the edit summary. Some editors abbreviate "revert" as "rv". It is possible to include links in the edit summary with usernames.
 * Click on "history" again. A new line will have been added, and you will be able to verify (by clicking on "last") that you undid the vandalism plus all subsequent bona fide edits, if any.  It is courteous to redo all the constructive edits that were undone along with the edit(s) which you intended to revert, and this should be done if reasonable.
 * In a vandalism case where sections of text were simply deleted and then subsequent edits were made by others, it may be easier for you to cut and paste those missing sections of text back in than to revert and then re-do the edits.
 * Check the contribution history of the user who vandalized the article. If this user is vandalizing many articles, please report them to an administrator so he can block the user.
 * Revert a single edit from the history of a page without simultaneously undoing all constructive changes that have been made since. To do this, view the "diff" for the edit, and click on 'undo' above the newer version. The software will attempt to create an edit page with a version of the article in which the undesirable edit has been removed but all later edits are retained. This feature removes the need to manually redo useful changes that were made after the edit which is being reverted.  However, it will fail if undoing the edit would conflict with later edits.  For example, if edit 1000 adds a paragraph and edit 1005 modifies that paragraph, it will be impossible to automatically undo edit 1000.  In this case, you must determine how to resolve the problem manually.

Rollback
Admins and users who have been granted access to the tool have advanced, "rollback" links which:
 * appear only next to the top edit
 * revert all top consequent edits made by last editor
 * work immediately, without intermediate confirmation diff page
 * adds an "edit summary" automatically, marking edit as minor

Rollback links appear on the User contributions pages, History pages and Diff pages. Note that in the last case rollback link can be misleading, since reversion is not necessarily to the old version shown (the "diff" page may show the combined result of edits including some by other editors, or only part of the edits the rollback button would revert). To see the changes the rollback button will revert, view the specific "diff" which compares the last version from the last editor with the last version from the previous editor.

Rollback works much quicker than undo, since it On the other hand, it is not as versatile as undo, since it does not allow specifying which edits have to be undone (one may want to revert more or fewer edits than rollback does, or edits which do not include the last edit) and does not allow adding an explanation to the automatic edit summary.
 * allows reverting without even looking at the list of revisions or a diff
 * does not require loading an edit page and sending the wikitext back to the server.
 * does not require a click of the save button.

Rollback is supposed to be used to revert obvious vandalism.

Rolling back a good-faith edit without explanation may be misinterpreted as "I think your edit was no better than vandalism and reverting it doesn't need an explanation." Some editors are sensitive to such perceived slights; if you use the rollback feature other than for vandalism (for example because undo is impractical due to the large page size), it's polite to leave an explanation on the article talk page or on the talk page of the user whose edit(s) you reverted.

If someone else edited or rolled back the page before you clicked "rollback" link, or if there was no previous editor, you will get an error message.

Revert wars are considered harmful
A "revert war" is when two or more users engage in angry competition to "revert" each other's work. This is considered harmful for the following reasons:
 * 1) They cause ill-will between users and destabilizes articles.
 * 2) They waste space in the database, and make the page history less useful.
 * 3) Some editors are sensitive, and to them a revert is a bit like a slap in the face: "I worked hard on those edits, and someone just rolled it all back."
 * 4) They make it harder for other people to contribute.
 * 5) They flood recent changes and watchlists.

Editors should not revert because of simple disagreement. Instead explore alternative methods such as raising objections on a talk page, or dispute resolution.

Three revert rule
To limit "revert wars," do not revert an article more than three times in the same day. Attempts to circumvent this rule are discouraged, and may trigger the need for remedies such as your being blocked from editing.

Explain reverts
When a revert is necessary, let people know why you reverted. The person whose material you reverted may then be able remake their edit, while correcting the problem that you have identified.

Explaining reverts also helps other people. For example, it lets people know whether they need to view the reverted version (in the case of, e.g., "rv page blanking"). Because of the lack of non-verbal communication online, if you don't explain things clearly people may assume the wrong thing, and that's one of the possible causes for edit wars. Explaining reverts also helps people who are using the article and checking the edit history to see to what extent they can rely on the information.

If your reasons for reverting are too complex to explain in the edit summary, leave a note on the Talk page. A nice thing to do is to leave a note on the Talk page first, and then revert, rather than the other way round. Sometimes the other person will agree with you and revert for you before you have a chance. Conversely, if someone reverts your change without apparent explanation, you may wish to wait a few minutes to see if they explain their actions on the article's talk page or your user talk page.