Wikibooks:Administrators/Unstable

Administrators are experienced Wikibookians that participate in the community, who are trusted with extra responsibilities and tools to perform specific "administrative" tasks (delete pages, block users, etc.) for the benefit of the community. Administrators do not have any extra authority beyond that of any other Wikibookian.

Bureaucrats are experienced administrators trusted with additional responsibilities and tools, to perform specific tasks such as change usernames, create new administrators, and flag accounts as bots.

Checkusers are experienced administrators trusted with additional tools used to see a registered user's IP address and other information that is normally kept confidential, in order to identify sockpuppets and repeat vandalism offenders.

Granting administration tools

While granting administrator tools should not be considered a big deal and there are no specific requirements, the expectations of administrators outlined later should be kept in mind before requesting, accepting or supporting the new responsibilities.

Wikibookians may ask for the administration tools on Wikibooks:Requests for adminship, or be nominated by others. High-impact decision making rules are used to reach a decision on the matter. Nominees must be informed on their talk page and must state acceptance of their nominations (next to the nomination) before any final decision is acted on. Only bureaucrats can determine when and if consensus has been reached in the discussion and may decide not to act either way. If no active bureaucrats are available to grant the administration tools and consensus has been reached at Wikibooks:Requests for adminship, Wikibookians may ask the stewards by posting a request at Meta:Requests for permissions. Stewards should not be contacted otherwise.

Once administration tools have been granted, they may only be removed if:

1. The tools were given in error,
2. An administrator has met inactivity requirements (listed below), or
3. There has been a decision to remove administration tools at WB:RFA.

Administration tools may only be removed by a steward.

Granting bureaucrat tools

Granting bureaucrat tools is a more weighty decision than the granting of administration tools, and therefore Wikibookians should take it more seriously. The same rules for granting administration tools apply to granting bureaucrat tools, except only those with administration tools can be granted bureaucrat tools and candidates must be advertised in the Reading Room and the Bulletin Board. Prospective candidates should be:

1. experienced administrators who understand the expectations of the community,
2. well-respected and trusted by the community and other administrators, and
3. able to keep a cool head under pressure

Bureaucratic tools are granted and revoked in the same manner as administration tools, outlined above.

Granting checkuser tools

Granting checkuser tools, like bureaucrat tools, is a more weighty decision that should be taken more seriously. The same rules for granting bureaucrat tools applies to granting checkuser tools. Prospective checkuser candidates must already have administrator or bureaucrat tools and must be active in order to be able to respond to requests as needed. Checkuser nominations must be advertised in the Reading room and on the Bulletin Board.

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 may include some or all of the following:

1. That the candidate receive a certain minimum number of votes,
2. That the candidate have a certain minimum contribution level,
3. That the candidate be a certain age, and provide proof of such, or
4. That the candidate have a valid registered email address, or have a valid account at Meta.

Wikibooks has no control over these policies.

Expectations

Administrators (with or without bureaucrat or checkuser tools) have certain responsibilities expected of them that come with the extra tools:

1. Follow and understand all official policies and guidelines. They should understand policy to the best of their knowledge and ability, as they are frequently responsible for policy enforcement.
2. Use the tools to benefit the community. They should use the tools to the best of their knowledge and understanding in accordance with policies, guidelines, and community consensus in a way that benefits the community. One should use good judgment, seek the opinions of other community members when in doubt, and delegate administrative actions that might be perceived as imposing personal views or interests to others. These tools should be used cautiously and when appropriate; administrative activity is not an area where anyone should be bold or be uncivil.
3. Be available. They should be contactable by their talk page, email, the textbook-l mailing list, or by some other means indicated on their user page, such as another Wikimedia project.
4. Be active. They are expected to stay alert for changes in policy and the community, because of their frequent role in enforcing policy. Only by continuing to be active do they benefit the community and show a continued ability to take on the additional responsibilities and ability to use the tools to the community's benefit. There is no current definition of what it means to be "active", but a good guideline is to have at least 1 edit within the past month and had more then 20 edits within the past year.

Administrators (with or without bureaucrat or checkuser tools) who have not demonstrated activity with the toolsets and have not expressed there intentions to return to administrative tasks, may have their tools removed without any nomination or discussion if they don't meet the responsibilities expected of them. Where possible, inactive and absent Wikibookians should be contacted and asked to relinquish the tools willingly. Wikibookians who are at least minimally active but have not met other expectations must be nominated at Wikibooks:Requests for adminship for removal of the tools.

Removing tools

Tools can be removed in the same manner in which they are granted. Wikibookians can request their own removal ("de-adminship") at Wikibooks:Requests for adminship or be nominated by others. Wikibookians may be nominated to have the tools removed if the expectations detailed above are not met or responsibilities are abused. Wikibookians who request their own removal will have their request granted immediately at Meta, while nominated Wikibookians must be contacted both on their talk page and by email (if available) to be given a chance to contest the nomination. All reasons for nominating a Wikibookian should be noted to give everyone a fair and reasonable understanding why a decision on the matter is called for. All de-adminship votes must be advertised on either the Reading room or the Bulletin Board, preferably both.

If a decision to remove the tools has been reached, a request must be made on Meta:Requests for permissions#Removal_of_access. Wikibookians may reapply at a later date without prejudice.

See also

• Wikibooks:Blocking guideline
• Wikibooks:Protected page
• Wikibooks:Deletion policy
• Wikibooks:Decision making
• Wikibooks:What is Wikibooks
• Meta:Stewards for a list of stewards that includes those who don't have an account on Wikibooks.