Protected pages are pages that are "locked" from editing, except by users with certain account permissions.
You may contact an administrator to suggest a particular edit on any protected page, if you see a need or have a good idea.
Reasons
- Content pages may be protected due to trolling and vandalism.
- Other times, disagreements among well-meaning editors that have led to "edit warring" may result in temporary page protection, so editors can take a break from editing controversial content until they can arrive at a consensus through discussion elsewhere (on talk pages, noticeboards, or Discord).
- Other page types, like Templates, wiki rules, and other wiki documentation pages, are often protected permanently because they are important, could make it easy for people to accidentally (or purposely) cause wide-reaching problems, and shouldn't require frequent editing by the general public anyway.
Types
Protected pages display a lock icon in their upper-right corner.
Full Protection: Pages with this gold lock displayed have been fully-protected, meaning that only administrators can edit the page.
Semi-Protection: Pages with this silver lock displayed are semi-protected, meaning that unregistered and newly-registered users cannot edit the page. Editing these pages requires an "autoconfirmed" account, which means your account has been registered for some time and has some editing experience, along with a verified email address.
Move Protection: Pages with this green lock displayed are move-protected, meaning that only administrators can "move" the page to a new title.
Notes
- Registered users can disable the lock icon display via Preferences->Gadgets.