Interaction of Wikipedia user groups and various protection levels
F Protection level New or unregistered editors Confirmed Extended confirmed Template editor[α] Admin Interface admin[β] Appropriate for...
Editing
None Normal editing The vast majority of pages.[γ]
Pending changes Can edit
Changes are only visible to logged-in users until reviewed by a pending changes reviewer or administrator.[δ]
Can edit
Changes are visible to everyone if there aren't any unreviewed pending changes. Otherwise, they are only visible to logged-in users until reviewed by a pending changes reviewer or administrator.[δ]
Can edit
If there are any unreviewed pending changes, the administrators will be required to review them before they can edit the page.[δ]
Infrequently edited pages with high levels of vandalism, BLP violations, edit-warring, or other disruption from unregistered and new users.
 Semi Cannot edit Normal editing Pages that have been persistently vandalized by anonymous and newly registered users. Some highly visible templates and modules.
Extended confirmed Cannot edit Normal editing Specific topic areas authorized by ArbCom, pages where semi-protection has failed, or high-risk templates where template protection would be too restrictive.
 Template Cannot edit Normal editing High-risk or very-frequently used templates and modules. Some high-risk pages outside of template space.
 Full Cannot edit Can edit[ε] Pages with persistent disruption from extended confirmed accounts.
 Office Cannot edit Can edit[ζ] Pages that the Foundation has determined to be exceptionally sensitive.
 Cascade[η] Cannot edit Can edit Particularly visible pages, such as the Main Page, to prevent vandalism to pages that are transcluded onto them.
 Interface[θ] Cannot edit Normal editing Scripts, stylesheets, and similar objects fundamental to operation of the site or that are in other editors' user spaces.
Creating pages
None Cannot create[ι][κ] Can create The vast majority of page titles.[γ]
 Create Cannot create[κ] Adjustable
Protection may be applied to neither, either, or both groups.
Can create Pages that have been repeatedly and problematically re-created. This form of protection is often called "salting".
Moving pages
None Cannot move Can move The vast majority of pages.[γ]
 Move Cannot move Adjustable
Protection may be applied to neither, either, or both groups.
Can move Pages that have been the subject of move wars.
Uploading files
None Cannot upload Can upload The vast majority of file names.[γ]
 Upload Cannot upload Adjustable
Protection may be applied to neither, either, or both groups
Can upload Files that have been repeatedly uploaded after deletion

Notes:

  1. ^ This table assumes that template editors are also extended confirmed, which is almost always the case for non-bot accounts.
  2. ^ This table assumes that an interface administrator is also a "regular" administrator, which is almost always the case in practice.
  3. ^ a b c d This is the default protection level.
  4. ^ a b c However, if any editors (including unregistered editors) revert all unreviewed pending changes back to the latest accepted version, that revision is automatically accepted and pending changes reviewers and administrators aren't prompted or notified.
  5. ^ Only noncontroversial changes or requested changes following an achieved consensus should be performed.
  6. ^ Only with the approval from the Wikimedia Foundation.
  7. ^ Cascade protection extends to all pages that are transcluded onto the protected page, unless the transcluded page is at the same protection level or higher. Cascade protection can only be applied to pages that are fully or office-protected because otherwise it creates a workflow flaw.
  8. ^ The interface protection level is automatically set by the MediaWiki software to a specific set of pages, such as pages in the MediaWiki namespace, system-wide CSS and JavaScript pages, and personal CSS and JavaScript pages of other users. It is not a protection level that an administrator can manually apply to any page, nor is it a protection level that can be modified on pages currently under interface protection. Because of this, administrators also cannot cascade-protect pages that are Interface-protected; this would require of a change to the MediaWiki software.
  9. ^ This has been in effect for unregistered users since 5 December 2005. The restriction was extended to newly registered users on a six month trial basis starting on 14 September 2017. The extension became permanent on 18 April 2018.
  10. ^ a b Under the default no protection, unregistered and newly registered users can create talk pages in all namespaces and draft articles in the Draft namespace. For these namespaces, it would therefore be possible for the creation protection to only apply to unregistered and newly registered users