Wikibooks:Administrators

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

Shortcut: WB:ADMIN This page documents an official Wikibooks policy. Policies are rules and principles that the Wikibooks community has accepted and Wikibookians must follow. Except for minor edits, please make use of the discussion page to propose changes to this policy.

This policy has an unstable branch for proposing changes.

Administrators, or "sysops" are wikibookians who are generally well-known and trusted in the community, and who have had certain restrictions lifted at wikibooks. Administrators have the added abilities of being able to delete pages and block users for a specified period of time. Administrators are not granted any extra authority, they must follow all regular policies, and are also subject to the rules and regulations of this policy as well.

Bureaucrats, like administrators, are just regular users with some additional restrictions lifted. In addition to the tools of page deletion, user blocking, and page protection, bureaucrats may also change usernames, create new administrators, and flag bots.

Contents 1 Becoming an Administrator 2 Becoming a Bureaucrat 3 Becoming a CheckUser 4 Removing an Administrator/Bureaucrat 5 Expectations 6 Blocking users 6.1 IP blocks 6.2 Infinite Blocks 6.3 Block reporting 7 Deleting Pages 8 Undeleting Pages 9 Protecting Pages 10 List of administrators 10.1 Bureaucrats 10.2 Administrators 10.3 Checkuser Rights

Becoming an Administrator

Administrators may only be created as the result of a consensus discussion at Wikibooks:Requests for adminship. Administrators may either request permissions, or they may be nominated by another Wikibookian. If a user is nominated to become an administrator, that user must accept the nomination explicitly, either on Wikibooks:Requests for adminship or their user talk page before voting can commence.

Voting for the creation of a new administrator may commence following the rules found at Wikibooks:Decision making. Creating an admin is a "high-impact" situation.

Only a bureaucrat has the privileges to create a new admin, and a bureaucrat may refuse to create a new admin if consensus on the matter has not been reached. Once an admin has been created, they may not have rights removed, even if the privileges have been granted in error, unless there has been a vote to remove powers. If no bureaucrat is available to create a sysop, but consensus has been reached on the matter, users may post a request a meta:Requests for permissions, in hopes that the stewards will grant the permissions. Users are not allowed to ask the stewards for permissions if consensus has not been reached at Wikibooks:Requests for adminship.

While there are not specific requirements to becoming an administrator, they are expected to be "well-known and trusted" members of the community, and they are expected to demonstrate some knowledge of wikibooks policy, especially deletion policy. Also, because administrators are able to block users, they are expected to be familiar with the the process of blocking a user.

Becoming a Bureaucrat

Bureaucrats are created in the same manner as administrators. Prospective bureaucrats can either request the permissions, or they can be nominated (and must explicitly accept the nomination). Creating a new bureaucrat is a more weighty discussion than the creation of an admin, and therefore users should take it more seriously. An election for a new bureaucrat must be advertised on staff lounge, and possibly on the bulletin board as well. Bureaucrats can be created by other bureacrats, or the stewards at meta. It is not permissible to request bureaucrat permissions on meta if consensus has not been reached at Wikibooks:Requests for adminship.

Bureaucrats can be selected from the pool of current admins only. Users who are not currently an admin are not eligible to be a bureaucrat. There are no other specific requirements on creating new bureaucrats, although candidates are generally expected to be active wikibookians, and well-respected admins.

Becoming a CheckUser

Check-User rights allow an admin additional tools for fighting vandalism. Check-User rights allow an admin the ability to see a registered user's IP address, in order to identify sockpuppets and repeat vandalism offenders.

Checkuser rights can be requested on Wikibooks:Requests for adminship, or a user may be nominated to receive them. As with administrator and bureaucrat votes, a check-user candidate must accept the nomination explicitly for the vote to continue.

Check-user rights can only be granted by the stewards at meta, and the stewards may not be contacted to grant these rights if consensus has not been reached at Wikibooks:Requests for adminship. The stewards may impose additional restrictions on the creation of check-users, which wikibooks policy has no say over.

Prospective check-user candidates must be a current admin. Regular users are not eligible to gain check-user rights. There is no requirement on the number of contributions, or activity here at wikibooks, but it is expected that a check-user candidate will be a noted active vandalism fighter.

Removing an Administrator/Bureaucrat

Administrative tools can be removed in the same manner in which they are granted: a nomination for removal, or "de-adminship", at Wikibooks:Requests for adminship and a consensus discussion to remove administrative powers from the offending admin. Sysops who do not meet any activity expectations (detailed below), or those who break policy, or those who abuse their powers, can be nominated for de-adminship at the Wikibooks:Requests for adminship page. Broken expectations, policy violations, or abuses should be noted in the nomination, so that all users can examine the evidence and make a decision on the matter.

As helpful members of the community, Wikibooks administrators are expected to provide the community with timely assistance when needed or requested and maintain a general understanding of current Wikibooks environment and policies. Sysops who are especially inactive, specifically for at least one year or longer, can be removed without a consensus discussion. Users who are inactive for a year must still be nominated for de-adminship on Wikibooks:Requests for adminship, and the time of their absence must be clearly noted. De-adminship in cases of absence for one year or more will take place at least one month after nomination on Wikibooks:Requests for adminship. The inactive sysop will be contacted both on his/her talk page and e-mail address (if available) to contest the nomination.

Sysops requesting de-adminship themselves will have that request granted immediately, not being subject to community approval. Should a sysop have his/her privileges removed, the user may re-apply for adminship at a later date without prejudice.

Expectations

Administrators (and bureaucrats) have certain expectations on them. If an administrator doesn't live up to these expectations, they can be nominated for de-adminship. Admins who do not meet these expectations are not automatically removed: They must be nominated on Wikibooks:Requests for adminship, and the discussion must reach consensus on the matter to remove the admin.

1. Administrators are expected to be active. There are no hard and fast definitions on what it means to be "active" but a good guideline is to have at least 20 edits in the last year and 1 edit within the past month. Even this might not be enough, if administrator privileges have not been used (or not been used correctly) within the past year. Administrators who are not using privileges, those privileges provided by the community due to the user's knowledge and activity, do not need to continue having them. Administrators do not have a "lifetime membership" and are expected to continually use their tools for the good of the community or risk losing them.
2. Administrators are expected to follow Wikibooks:Deletion policy. Administrators do not get to make unilateral decisions concerning page deletion. Pages should not be deleted unless they are candidates for speedy deletions, or if there has been a consensus discussion reached about the page on Wikibooks:Votes for deletion. Deleting pages without following policy is a major problem, and can be very disruptive to the community.
3. Administrators are expected to follow applicable policies concerning blocking users and IP addresses. "Infinite" blocks should not be employed unless specifically warranted. Legitimate users should not be blocked unless they are demonstrably disruptive to the community. If an admin blocks a legitimate user for no good reason, that is a major disruption, and a violation of this policy
4. Administrators are expected to know and understand the uses of Protected pages, and not to abuse this privilege. Protecting and unprotecting pages without proper justification is against policy, and prevents users from editing normally. Policies concerning semi-protection must also be understood and properly employed.

Administrators are just regular users, and they can be reprimanded as usual if they are disruptive, if they vandalize, etc.

Blocking users

If a user is clearly here to make trouble, they should be blocked. First-time offenders should receive short-term blocks, with longer term blocks for the second and third offense.

Exceptions to this rule apply to users who make particularly distasteful edits, and to sock puppets of serial vandals. These should be blocked permanently.

IP blocks

Open proxy IP addresses can be blocked forever on sight. It is considered rude to block such an IP address if it is currently being used by a productive contributor, but it is not against the rules to do so.

IP addresses that are not open-proxies should never be blocked forever, except as described below, because they are frequently shared by many users, many of whom might be legitimate. Temporary blocks on IP addresses should be all that is required to handle a single case of vandalism. Shared IPs (such as those resolving to schools) should only be blocked if there is considerable vandalism that is causing serious disruption to the project. If a block is felt necessary, start with short-term blocks (1 hour, then 2, then 24, etc.), as these often provide sufficient time for the vandal to find other things to do.

Infinite Blocks

Beyond open-proxies, infinite blocks should not be employed without good justification. Highly-disruptive vandals, repeat vandals, sockpuppets of known vandals, and usernames with profane words may all be blocked forever without further justification.

Other users who do not fit into the above categories should never be blocked forever. Many disruptive users only need a day or two to "cool off". Many vandals can be blocked for longer periods of time, in the hopes that they reform and come back to be productive, or that they lose interest and never return. Vandals returning from a temporary block to continue vandalizing, can be blocked forever.

Block reporting

Blocks should be clearly explained by the blocking admin on the user's talk page.

Deleting Pages

Pages should only be deleted as per the guidelines on Wikibooks:Deletion policy. Speedy delete candidates may be deleted immediately, but other pages may only be deleted as per a consensus discussion on Wikibooks:Votes for deletion.

Deleting pages should never be done lightly, and can be a very disruptive action if done incorrectly.

Undeleting Pages

Deleted pages may only be undeleted as per a consensus discussion on Wikibooks:Votes for undeletion, unless the page was deleted in error. Pages deleted in error may be immediately undeleted by the admin who deleted it. If the deleting admin doesn't undelete it, it must be discussed on Wikibooks:Votes for undeletion.

Undeleting pages, especially pages with profanity, or pages that contain copyright infringements may cause bigger problems for the community, and should carefully considered.

Undeleting pages without justification is a violation of policy.

Protecting Pages

Pages may be protected, semi-protected, and unprotected according to the relevant policies. Page protections cannot be altered without proper justification.

List of administrators

Administrators are marked with "(sysop)" in the list of user accounts. If you need to contact an administrator, visit one or several of the userpages below or leave a message on the administrators' noticeboard.

Bureaucrats

1. Derbeth (talk | email | contribs | logs)
2. SB_Johnny (talk | email | contribs | logs)
3. Whiteknight (talk | email | contribs | logs)
4. Withinfocus (talk | email | contribs | logs)
5. Mike.lifeguard (talk | email | contribs | logs)

Administrators

1. AlbertCahalan (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
2. AdRiley (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
3. Az1568 (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
4. Celestianpower (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
5. Cspurrier (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
6. Darklama (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
7. Derbeth (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
8. Garrett (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
9. Gentgeen (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
10. Hagindaz (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
11. Jomegat (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
12. Kellen (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
13. Krischik (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
14. Mattb112885 (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
15. Mike.lifeguard (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
16. Neoptolemus (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
17. Red4tribe (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
18. Reece (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
19. Robert Horning (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
20. SB Johnny (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
21. Swift (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
22. Uncle G (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
23. Webaware (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
24. Whiteknight (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
25. Withinfocus (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
26. Xania (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)
27. Xixtas (talk • email • contribs • count • total • moves • imports • blocks • protections • deleted contribs • deletions)

Checkuser Rights

1. Mike.lifeguard ( talk |  email |  contribs | logs)
2. SB Johnny ( talk |  email |  contribs | logs)
3. Whiteknight ( talk |  email |  contribs | logs)

Any other accounts within the sysop list come from Stewards which administrate on a Wikimedia level and have access to rights on all wikis. See Stewards for a complete list of stewards, including those who don't have an account on Wikibooks and for further information on the duties of Stewards.