Guild Wars Wiki:Adminship
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This page is an official policy on the Guild Wars Wiki. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow. |
Guild Wars Wiki is administered by the community. There are two types of formal administrator status: sysop and bureaucrat. This status is not intended to represent extra weight within community decisions or generally directing the wiki, nor is it a requirement for moderating or enforcing policy. Like all users, administrators are expected to respect policy and consensus.
Sysops[edit]
Sysops are users that are also granted technical access to a few restricted features (including blocking users and deleting pages), and the additional responsibility of not misusing them. When effecting a change that requires this access, a clear reason must be provided and the action must only be performed in these cases (or else be reversed):
- As specifically noted in any written policy, e.g. deletion according to deletion policy. For this purpose, mentions of "administrative action" should be interpreted as an allowance of blocking/banning offenders.
- At their own discretion, whenever he or she believes it would be supported directly by community consensus (regarding the specific change/action). If going against what would normally be accepted as policy or going beyond usual sysop actions, the sysop is to note this action on the sysop discretion log. If this discretion is exercised and the expected consensus is seriously challenged by any user, an actual consensus needs to be established and implemented or the action(s) should be reverted. In challenged cases that break an explicit restriction, the action(s) are to be reverted while that consensus is not yet established.
Bureaucrats[edit]
Bureaucrats are sysops that have the following additional powers and responsibilities:
- Update the group-level permission of users based on community decisions and policies. (See the MediaWiki manual on user rights.)
- This includes appointing or removing sysops according to formal requests for adminship or reconfirmation.
- Managing the status of wikibots.
- Provide a publicly-reachable e-mail address on the list of bureaucrats.
- Resolve existing disputes and (where sensible) prevent them from taking place.
- Document their actions appropriately and respond to any questions from the community.
Selection process[edit]
Sysop selection and reconfirmation is governed by the policy for requests for adminship. Sysops can resign their position at any time and can be removed by bureaucrat discretion if it serves the best interests of the community.
Bureaucrats were chosen by election according to the policy for elections until August 2012, at which point then-current bureacrats became permanent, subject to the same reconfirmation process as sysops. Vacated bureaucrat seats are filled as follows:
- A bureaucrat resigning their position in good terms may choose their own replacement from the community.
- If a bureaucrat is removed due to failed reconfirmation or otherwise leaves without naming a replacement, the remaining bureaucrats may choose one.
- In both cases, it is expected that the bureaucrat(s) open a discussion on the wiki for the community to offer input before the new bureaucrat is chosen.
- Anyone selected as bureaucrat who is not already a sysop must be confirmed according to the same RfA process as any other sysop.
ArenaNet is not formally involved in the administrator selection process except where explicitly specified, and community decisions may not be otherwise appealed to them. ArenaNet staff may participate in the administrator selection process just as any other contributor in good standing, but their opinions are given equal weight as other members of the community.
Standby Admins[edit]
With the maturity of the wiki, the low frequency and limited scope of game updates leading to reduced overall activity in recent years, and use of automated administrative tools, the need for everyday admin engagement on the wiki is less than in times past. In order to keep the admin team robust for times when they are needed, any admin may mark themselves with the 'Standby' status on the admin list, indicating that while they aren't regularly engaged in day-to-day affairs, they are willing to stay on-call to step in if contacted. Such admins should ensure that they have their site preferences set to notify them by e-mail when their user talk page is edited.
Should a Standby Admin have a period of extended "known unavailability" upcoming, where they will be unable to access the wiki; the admin should leave a note on their talk page indicating the period of intended absence, so as to ensure editors know not to attempt to contact them during this time and not to await a response. Periods of "known unavailability" should not extend beyond a combined period of 2 months per year.
Admins who do not respond to their talk page in a timely manner will be presumed to have retired from their adminship and their admin rights removed as a site security measure. The general expectation is that a standby admin should typically be responsive the same or next day, but 2 weeks will be given before removal of rights to accomodate unknown one-off circumstances. However, an admin who regularly takes several days or longer to respond may be subject to a call for Reconfirmation at the community's discretion. If an admin hasn't been heard from in a while, even if no direct requests have been made of them, the community may attempt to contact them to establish that they remain contactable.
Should an admin return after presumed retirement and wish to resume admin duties, bureaucrats will use their discretion whether the rights should be immediately restored or a new RFA is needed.
