Help:Log

A Wikipedialogis an automatically generated list of actions of a certain type, showing when they were performed, by what user, and with respect to what page or other user. Logged actions include page deletions and restorations, page moves (renames), user blocks and unblocks, page protections and unprotections, user account creations, abuse filter reports, and others.

Logs can list actions donebya user (or IP editor), actions donetoa user (or IP editor), and actions donetoa wiki page.

Viewing logs

To view Wikipedia's logs, go toSpecial:Log.From there you can decide which actions you wish to see logged, and filter by certain other parameters, such as date and time, user and affected page. When a log type is selected and you click "Show", the top of the page describes the log. You can also go directly to a selected log with a search term or link likeSpecial:Log/block,which displays the block log. Other parameters that can be used in a similar way includedelete,move,protect,rights,uploadandpatrol.

A link to the log of actions relating to a particular page can be found on the "View logs for this page" link on the "View history"tab at top of the page. A link to the log of actions by a particular user can be found on the left-hand side when the user's talk page or user page is opened. Remember, however, that these are actionsperformedby that user; for actions affecting a given user (such as blocks), the username (preceded by "User:" ) must be entered in the "Title" field of the log page, not the "User" field. (This configuration can be accessed directly from the "View history" tab of the user's userpage.)

Using a log

1. The type of log to display. By default, all public logs will be shown, except thepatrol,review,tagandthankslogs. They can be enabled at "Show additional logs" when "All public logs" is selected. The example is set to only show the deletion log, which lists pagedeletions and undeletions.
2. ThePerformerfield lets you search the logs for entries that were performedbya specified user. Type the username of the user you want to look up the logs for.
3. TheTargetfield lets you search the logs for entries that were performedona page or user. Type the name of the page you want to look up the logs for. If you want to look up the logs performedona user, addUser:(note the colon) to the start of your search query, then type in the username.
4. TheFrom datefield can be used to show only the logs created on or before a specified date.
5. TheTag filterallows you to show only logs that have beentaggedwith the specified name of the tag.
6. Some logs will have additional filtering options to show only specific kinds of actions. In this case, the deletion log can be further filtered to show only page deletions, page undeletions,revision deletions,and the overwriting ofredirects.
7. Thenewest / oldestlinks let you quickly jump to the newest log entries or to the oldest log entries. Thenewer n / older nlinks take you to the next or previous page of entries. The blue numbers list the number of entries displayed on the page. You can choose to display 20, 50, 100, 250 or 500 entries at once.
8. The date and time of the logged action. The time isUTCby default on Wikipedia; registered users can change this in theirpreferences.
9. TheusernameorIP addressof the user who performed the action. Thetalklink points to theiruser talk page,while thecontribslink points to theiruser contributionspage.
10. The type of action performed.
11. The name of the page or user that the action was performed on.
12. When performing most actions, the user will be prompted to provide an optional summary or explanation of their actions, which will be shown here.
13. Thetagsattached to the action, if applicable. Tags are usually automatically added to actions and are used for maintenance or tracking purposes.

Other sources of logged information

Log files which are not automatically generated can be found inCategory:Wikipedia logs.Old log files of actions which have now switched to automatic logging can be found inCategory:Wikipedia obsolete log pages.Some of these old files are listed by type atWP:Block log,WP:Bureaucrat log,WP:Deletion log,WP:Protection logandWP:Upload log.(These actions moved to automatic logging in December 2004.)

Several other pages in the "Special:" namespace (such asSpecial:RecentChanges) serve similar functions to those of logs. For these, seeHelp:Special pages.

Still more information is provided byWikipedia:Database reports.For example,Wikipedia:Database reports/Users by log actioncontains a list of users ordered by number of logged actions performed.

See also

• Help:Logon MediaWiki.org
• Wikipedia:User scripts/List § ListingsandWikipedia:User scripts/List § Logs