Ubuntu Wiki:Protection policy
Protected pages have restrictions on the groups of people that may modify them. Pages should strive to have the minimum amount of protection necessary. However, they may be necessary due to disruptions and risks that cannot be mitigated through other means.
Protection is applied by administrators. The applied restrictions may expire after a specified time or last indefinitely.
Summary table
| Action | Protection level | Unregistered users | Registered users | Autoconfirmed | Administrator | Super administrator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Edit |
None (default) | Cannot edit | More aggressive filters | Normal editing | ||
| Semi | Cannot edit | Normal editing | ||||
| Full | Cannot edit | Normal editing | ||||
| Cascading | Cannot edit | Normal editing | ||||
| Interface | Cannot edit | Normal editing | ||||
Create |
None (default) | Cannot create | Can only create discussion pages | Can create | ||
Move |
None (default) | Cannot move | Can move | |||
| Semi | Cannot move | Can move | ||||
| Full | Cannot move | Can move | ||||
Upload |
None (default) | Cannot upload | Can upload | |||
| Semi | Cannot upload | Can upload | ||||
| Full | Cannot upload | Can upload | ||||
| Cascading | Cannot upload | Can upload | ||||
Protection levels
Semi-protection
Semi-protected pages can only be edited by autoconfirmed users. Pages may have semi-protection applied to them when they are at risk of disruption by new users.
Full protection
Fully protected pages may only be edited by administrators and super administrators. Pages that have high levels of disruption due to content disputes may have full protection applied to them temporarily.
Additionally, pages that fall into one of the following categories may have full protection applied indefidently:
- Highly visible pages such as the Main page.
- Pages that cannot be modified due to legal reasons.
- Pages that are frequently transcluded, such as popular templates.
Cascading protection
Cascading protection expands upon full protection by also automatically extending protection to any page that is directly or indirectly transcluded onto the protected page. Generally, only highly visible pages will have cascading protection applied due to its large-scale impact.
Interface protection
Certain pages have software-enforced protection that cannot be added or removed. These pages can only be modified by super administrators. Typically, modification of these pages impacts the site-wide interface.
Namespaces
Template
All pages under the template namespace by default have semi-protection applied to them. Highly critical templates may have even stricter protections applied to them. This is due to the transclusive nature of templates such that disruption to one template may impact numerous other pages.