PathfinderWiki:Administrators
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This page is an official policy on the PathfinderWiki. In accordance with policy, this page has been protected. You can suggest changes by following the revision procedure or discussing it on the talk page. |
Administrators are vital to the smooth running of any wiki project and PathfinderWiki is no different. But the role, responsibilities and privileges of Admins should be clearly defined for transparency within the project and so all parties involved know what is expected. This policy outlines the part Admins play on PathfinderWiki and the processes for nominating new Admins and retiring inactive ones.
Administrators of PathfinderWiki are:
Inactive Administrators:
Former Administrators:
What is an Admin?
Administrators are members of the community who have been leaders on the site with regards to quality and quantity of edits. The role of administrators is not one of authority, but rather so that a small group of members can oversee the project as a whole, and maintain site-wide consistency in terms of formatting and style.
An Admin is...
- here to oversee the project to prevent vandalism, abuse or straying from the goals and guidelines determined by the community.
- enthusiastic about the project and wants to see it succeed. That means he doesn't want you to get frustrated or worn out and leave.
- here to help you. Generally Admins have advanced expertise or experience with this or other wiki projects. They are valuable teachers and mentors for all editors, including each other.
An Admin is not...
- a dictator. He does not have more say than a non-admin nor does he have veto power in any decision making process.
- a better writer than you. Just because you may not be an Admin doesn't mean your contributions are less helpful or of lower quality.
- above the law. Admins must adhere to official PathfinderWiki policy just like everyone else.
- always right. Admins are people with opinions just like everyone else and occasionally they can be as incorrect as the rest of us.
Admins have more privileges than most members, but with this extra access comes increased responsibility to the community. It is important to remember that Admins are here to serve you and to make PathfinderWiki the best that it can be. While Admins might spend a larger portion of their time making structural edits or step in to settle a dispute and get a stagnated debate back on the track of progress, it is important to remember that their role is defined by the community and policies are in place to ensure that decisions are made by consensus within the wiki and not be votes of Admin decree. (For more information on PathfinderWiki Policies, see Policies and guidelines.)
Responsibilities
Administrators are responsible for the following:
- Ensuring the project stays true to its goals and guidelines, as determined by the members of the community.
- Overseeing maintenance and upkeep of the site both aesthetically and functionally.
- Being a leader in the community, both as a teacher and initiator of new projects.
- Being active in discussions on the running and growth of the wiki.
- Being accessible by email to any user who wished to contact them privately.
- Being willing to set aside content editing to make structural or institutional changes to the site when required.
Privileges
Administrators have the following privileges not awarded to standard users:
- Ability to delete and undelete pages
- Ability to edit the mediawiki framework of the site
- Ability to protect and unprotect pages and edit pages which are protected.
- Ability to review new account applications.
- Free access to a complete PDF archive of Pathfinder and Starfinder material produced by Paizo, distributed via paizo.com download, for fact-checking and content initiative management.
Remember that Admins are here to serve the community. If you ever feel that an Administrator is not upholding or adhering to existing PathfinderWiki policy, you have the right to call them on their behavior. No Admin should ever have the authority to act outside of these strictures, and multiple Admins exist to keep one another in check. Any user should not be afraid to challenge an Admin if they feel that the policies or guidelines of the project are being ignored.
Nominating a new Admin
There is no hard and fast rule to determine the right number of Admins for a project. Because users, even Admins, have periods of inactivity, it is important to have enough Admins to cover the workload at any given time. Because the site will continue to grow and because Admins may drift away from the project, there is a process in place to ensure that new Admins can be added at any time to fill a need.
As a general rule, the minimum number of active Admins should be no less than three, and Admins should be added to ensure an odd number is maintained. An odd number is beneficial for instance when a vote has to be taken, especially surrounding matters of policy. The maximum number of Admins, however, is not an easily defined number. Ultimately, the only ones that can decide when a new Admin is required are the current Admins of a project. They're the only ones that will know how much of their time a project is demanding, and when additional numbers are needed to keep things running smoothly. As such, anyone can nominate a new Admin when they feel such is needed, but whether such a nomination is acted upon should fall to those already doing the job.
Nomination procedure:
- Anyone can nominate a user for the Admin position. This includes nominating oneself.
- To nominate someone, use the talk page for this policy and begin a new topic with a title in the following format: Admin nomination: Erik Mona
- Within the topic make your case for why this person should be made an Admin—their helpfulness, the frequency or quality of their edits, their organizational skills, their voluntary undertaking of administrative tasks without holding the position, etc. Citing edit counts, ratings of articles for which they are the primary author, or forum and talk pages in which they demonstrated administrative authority are all helpful.
- There will generally be no disputes or objections regarding a nomination, but if a member of the community feels someone should not be an Admin, a conversation to that effect would happen here, remaining civil at all times and never resorting to personal insults or attacks.
- Active Admins will hold a vote after two weeks from nomination, allowing ample time for discussion, to determine if there is the need for additional Admins and if the nominee would be a valuable asset to the team.
- Should a user be denied Admin privileges due to lack of need, they will be considered in queue for the position and will be granted Admin rights before any additional user once need for additional Admins is determined.
Retiring inactive Admins
Just because someone holds the responsibilities and privileges of an Admin does not mean that they can not take breaks from the project for any reason. If, however, they remain absent or inactive for an extended period of time, they should be denoted as such so that active Admins can gauge the effective capacity of the Admin team and so that new users do not go to them for help when they are not active and won't be able to respond.
After six months of inactivity (meaning no edits are made to the wiki in any namespace) an Admin will be moved to the Inactive Administrators category on the Admins page. Admin user rights are never removed except in the case of account hacking or personal request.