Administrators have the ability to protect pages so that they cannot be edited except by other administrators. In addition, protected images cannot be overwritten. If necessary, pages can be protected just against anonymous and newly registered users or moves.
Uses
A permanent or semi-permanent full-protection is used for:
- Protecting high visibility pages such as the Main Page from vandalism. This includes templates transcluded to these pages.
- Maintaining the integrity of the site's logo, press releases, and key copyright and license pages (for legal reasons).
- Protecting certain "system administration" pages. This includes many editorial templates, such as deletion notices and stub templates.
- Protecting the MediaWiki namespace and pages transcluded to it. These pages affect the system interface for all users.
A temporary full-protection is used for:
- Enforcing a "cool down" period to stop an edit war.
- Preventing changes to a page while investigating a possible bug in the MediaWiki software.
- Allowing for history-only review during discussions on article restoration.