GuildWiki:Administrators

The administrators of the GuildWiki are a somewhat different union than most other websites out there use. This page exists to show administrative policy and the goals of administrators.

For more detailed information on the existing administrators, see Administrator information.

Definitions
''warning: this "Definition" section is relatively new and may require more perspectives to round it out. Do not take it for the literal truth yet''.

Administrators are registered users on the wiki given the ability to handle various administrative tasks. They are not obliged to utilize the abilities to the full potential, or to utilize them at all. The only responsibility they have is to not misuse the abilities (see Policy section below).

There are two types of administrators: "Sysop" (short for System Operator, kind of like phone operators but for the wiki system instead) and "Bureaucrat" (often shortened to "Bcrat", kind of like fat middle-aged men sitting in front of their desk dealing with boring paperwork all the time).

Sysop
Sysops are registered users with the ability to handle the administrative tasks of:
 * deleting articles (or undeleting them)
 * protecting articles from being edited (or unprotecting them)
 * banning disruptive user accounts and IP addresses (or unbanning them)
 * editing protected articles (including the MediaWiki: namespace)

Bureaucrat
Bureaucrats are registered users with the ability to handle the administrative tasks of:
 * promoting other users to be sysops/bcrats
 * handle resignation of sysops
 * give the rollback tool to users
 * revoke sysop powers and rollback tool when abused.

Overview
GuildWiki admins are recommended by the community. Appointment to administrator is done solely at the discretion of the bureaucrats listed here. Once appointed, an administrator is fully autonomous: he may do as his powers allow, as he sees fit. This seems dangerous, and indeed some users have disagreed with this policy in general. However, this policy has worked very well throughout the history of the GuildWiki: it allows incredibly quick resolution of the vast majority of issues. Further, because the administrator's character is well-known before his appointment, abuses of administrator power simply do not happen. Finally, administrators can counteract other administrators. This is the final fail-safe mechanism to ensure that any unreasonable abuse of power is kept in check.

The fine print
Administrators earn their position for life. No amount of inactivity can result in an administrator losing his position. Again, this is because only extremely trusted users are granted administrator status. Administrators may step down at will, or may control their continued appointment in other ways. Administrators in the midst of conflict have, in the past, offered to resign if the community voted it was prudent. The administrators listed here may remove any administrator for any reason, though this has only occurred twice in our history.

Administrators can ban users at will. This is usually done in cases of vandalism, and permanent bans are usually reserved for spambots. However, if an administrator feels it prudent, he may remove a user from the wiki for any reason, or no reason at all. As a matter of courtesy, most administrators will not ban a user he is directly involved with; instead, he will ask another administrator to examine the situation from a neutral perspective.

Administrators can protect or delete pages at will. However, administrators are strongly encouraged to do so only via the community-sanctioned channels, or in cases of obvious vandalism.

Administrators can counteract other administrators, if they feel it prudent. An erroneous ban can be lifted. An erroneous delete can be restored. Typically, only a message on the talk page explaining the reason why such a countermeasure is prudent is expected in such a case. The "reverted" administrator is expected to oblige the revert, and should not reinstitute their action without discussing it with the "reverting" administrator.

Again, though this may seem a fairly chaotic governing system, it works extremely well in context of the wiki. An appointment to administrator is not something done lightly. The administrators are a cohesive team, and the mutual respect they share for another, even when disagreeing, is second to only the respect and care they have for the GuildWiki itself.

Related Articles

 * Administrate users, not content
 * Rollback - another user rights group, but are not administrators.