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This is an essay.
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. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Don't overwrite an existing article or any other page with a completely different or new topic. |
Anarticle hijack occurs when an existing page is changed from one subject to another, as in the following examples:
Hijacking articles in this way is never helpful. Not only does it cause loss of the original article, but even when that original article has no worthwhile content, combining content of two completely different articles into the history of one page causes confusion. Article hijacking is most commonly done by new editors. A much better way of dealing with that restriction is to start new articles in the draft namespace, or go through WP:AfC. Of course, it is also sometimes done by spammers and undisclosed paid editors who are deliberately trying to circumvent these processes.
While it is most common with articles, this can also occur with redirects. If you follow a redirect and end up at an entirely unexpected target, checking the history is always prudent. In obvious cases, a bold correction is the most efficient solution.
The warning template {{subst:uw-hijacking}} exists for warning editors who hijack articles/dab pages/redirects.
