A protected page is a page where normal users are prevented from editing at all. Only a user with sysop permissions can edit a protected page. Likewise only sysop users can protect a page in the first place, or unprotect the page to lift the restriction.

There are several reasons why a particular page might be protected:

• On public wikis, pages may be protected because they have been repeatedly targeted with vandalism, or where it is believed that vandalism would have a unusually severe impact.
• On corporate wikis, pages may be protected when they contain statements which have been approved by management, and policy dictates that those statements can't be changed without following a certain approval process.

Page protection limits collaboration on the wiki content, and should be avoided where possible.

For sysop information see Help:Protecting and unprotecting pages