Masticationpedia:Administrators

Administrators, commonly known as admins or sysops (system operators), are those users who have been granted the technical ability to perform certain special actions on this wiki. These include the ability to block and unblock user accounts, IP addresses, and IP ranges from editing, edit fully protected pages, protect and unprotect pages from editing, delete and undelete pages, rename pages without restriction, and use certain other tools.

Administrators assume these responsibilities as volunteers after undergoing a Charity-run review process. They might be employees of the Charity. Using their tools, they must never use them to gain an advantage in a dispute in which they were involved. They are expected to observe a high standard of conduct, to use the tools fairly, and - better to repeat - never to use them to gain advantage in a dispute.

Masticationpedia has 7 administrators (see full list of accounts with administrator privileges).

Administrators' abilities

Administrators have the technical ability to perform the following actions:

• Block and unblock user accounts and IP addresses from editing
• Apply, modify, and remove page protection on a particular page to restrict or allow editing, moving, or creation
• Delete pages.
• Grant and revoke certain user permissions requested by user accounts
• View and restore deleted pages
• Restrict and restore public visibility of information in individual logs and page revisions
• Edit fully protected pages
• Edit pages in the MediaWiki namespace, excluding JavaScript and CSS pages
• Override the title blacklist
• Move a page to any desired title
• Perform other special actions as listed at Special:ListGroupRights#sysop

By convention, administrators normally take responsibility for judging the outcomes of certain discussions.

Becoming an administrator

In Masticationpedia administrators are named by the Charity. However, administrators are expected to have the trust and confidence of the community, so requests from users who do not have considerable experience are not usually approved. Any editor can comment on a request.

Volunteers may apply.

Places where administrators in particular can assist

Administrator rights can be particularly helpful in certain areas of Masticationpedia:

• Administrative backlogs
• Anti-vandalism
• Copyright problems (advice for admins)
• Incidents for admin attention
• Main Page sections, such as In the news or Did you know
• Recent changes patrol
• Speedy deletion requests
• Three-revert rule and edit warring violations

Expectations of adminship

Care and judgment

If granted access, administrators must exercise care in using these new functions, especially the ability to delete pages and to block users and IP addresses.

Occasional lapses are accepted but serious or repeated lapses, or lapses involving breaches of administrator conduct may not always be.

Administrator tools are also to be used with careful judgment; it can take some time for a new administrator to learn when it's best to use the tools, and it can take months to gain a good sense of how long a period to set when using tools such as blocking and page protection in difficult disputes. New administrators are strongly encouraged to start slowly and build up experience in areas they are used to, and to ask others if unsure.

Administrator conduct

Administrators should lead by example and, like all editors, should behave in a respectful, civil manner in their interactions with others. Administrators should follow Masticationpedia policies and perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Occasional mistakes are entirely compatible with adminship; administrators are not expected to be perfect. However, sustained or serious disruption of Masticationpedia through behavior such as incivility or bad faith editing is incompatible with the expectations and responsibilities of administrators, and consistent or egregious poor judgment may result in the removal of administrator tools. Administrators should strive to model appropriate standards of courtesy and civility to other editors.

Administrators should bear in mind that they have a number of colleagues. Therefore, if an administrator cannot adhere to site policies and remain civil (even toward users exhibiting problematic behavior) while addressing a given issue, then the administrator should bring the issue to a noticeboard or refer it to another administrator to address, rather than potentially compound the problem with poor conduct.

Administrators are accountable for their actions involving administrator tools, as unexplained administrator actions can demoralize other editors who lack such tools.

Administrators are expected to have good judgment, and are presumed to have considered carefully any actions or decisions they carry out as administrators. Administrators may disagree, but administrative actions should not be reversed without good cause, careful thought, and (if likely to be objected to), where the administrator is presently available, a brief discussion with the administrator whose action is challenged.

Security

Masticationpedia's policy on password strength requirements requires administrators to have strong passwords and follow appropriate personal security practices.

Because they have the potential to cause site-wide damage with a single edit, a compromised admin account will be blocked and its privileges removed on grounds of site security. In certain circumstances, the revocation of privileges may be permanent.

Any administrator who is discovered to have a password less than 8 bytes in length or among the 10,000 most common passwords may also be desysopped. Discretion on resysopping temporarily desysopped administrators is left to the Charity, which will consider whether the rightful owner has been correctly identified, and their view on the incident and the management and security (including likely future security) of the account.

Administrators must never share their password or account with any other person, for any reason. If they find out their password has been compromised, or their account has been otherwise compromised (even by an editor or individual they know and trust), they should attempt to change it immediately, or otherwise report it to a bureaucrat for temporary desysopping. Users who fail to report unauthorized use of their account will be desysopped. Unauthorized use is considered 'controversial circumstance', and access will not be automatically restored.