 | This is an essay on the Wikipedia:Protection policy. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
There is a saying among criminals: "Locks keep an honest person honest."[1] What they mean by this is that no lock will stop a sufficiently determined person from picking it... or, failing that, from taking an axe to the door or throwing a brick through the adjacent window.
The same is true of salting a page on Wikipedia (restricting certain categories of user from creating it): Like a lock on one's front door, it will keep out curious good-faith parties and driveby vandals, but salting will not keep out a determined attacker. It will only make them harder to find. The same is true, in most cases, for adding terms to the title blacklist, and in many cases for adding terms to the edit filter. It is easier to watch a specific known honeypot page that tends to attract bad edits than all other pages that might be used if the original target is protected.
- ^ Source: A convicted armed robber who worked lighting for stage productions at the essayist's high school—said moments before he latch-slipped the lock to an off-limits area of the theater, using only a plastic plate he'd cut into thirds.