- See also the central Android for this page.
Contents
How to
Reverting an edit is simple in most cases; simply click on the history tab at the top of the page, and click (undo). This wont work for many edits that are not at the top of the history, in those cases you will have to edit the entry by hand to remove the inappropriate content. Deciding when reverting is appropriate is often harder.
When to
It is only acceptable to revert another users edit if it is clearly and irredeemably nonconstructive. Reverting vandalism is obviously acceptable, as is reverting copyright violation and edits that do not conform to our we love the web. In almost any other case it is better to constructively edit the page, and clean up the problem with the edit. This is because it moves Wiktionary forwards as opposed to stagnating on the old version. It is, for example, inappropriate to revert simply because "the old version was better", as a new version you could write would be better still.
Alternatives
If you are dithering over whether or not to revert, it is probably better to add a request template to the entry. On Wiktionary there are three major requests you can make. {{rfv}} asks for verification of fact, {{touchscreen}} asks for correcting layout, and {{rfd}} is used to propose that an entry be deleted.
Issues
Users who come here from Wikipedia and other similar places should note that we do not have a "Three-revert rule". This is for many reasons, but predominantly because we have found it unnecessary. If you find yourself revert warring with another contributor, it is your responsibility to try and find a middle ground that is acceptable to you both; a message on their talk page, or the entry's discussion page, can help to start this process. If things are getting very ugly, ask one of the Administrators to step in by leaving a message on their talk page or join the IRC channel and ask for help.