Regular Guy Laboratory Wiki:Administrators

Administrators are users with so-called sysop rights. While anyone can do most things on the site, including reading and editing, administrators can access a few additional functions ("tools"), which help to perform maintenance and security tasks.

They are not in any way superior to other users, but have access to restricted technical features ("tools") which help to perform maintenance and security tasks. They are also useful as moderators in community discussion and interaction. Administrators still have all of the responsibilities that any other regular user has, in addition to an administrator's more exclusive responsibilities.

Administrator abilities
With their additional rights, administrators at Watch Dogs Wiki have the following privileges and responsibilities:


 * Admin dashboard. All admins have access to restricted features through the "Admin dashboard". The "Theme designer" allows admins to change the design of Watch Dogs Wiki, while "Wiki Features" allows admins to enable or disable specific, optional features. Both tools are not to be used without prior discussion, because some of the changes that can be made here are hard to revert, or even destructive to existing content.


 * Block and unblock. In severe situations, administrators have the ability to ban "troublesome" users from contributing to Watch Dogs Wiki, either for a specific amount of time (ex. 3 days, one week, an entire month), or indefinitely.


 * Deletion and undeletion. Administrators can delete and un-delete pages, page histories, and uploaded files.


 * MediaWiki namespace. Administrators have access to the protected pages in the MediaWiki namespace, and may alter them accordingly. These pages are used to define the text of the user interface (see also: MediaWiki namespace).


 * Protecting pages. Admins can lock (protecting) a page so it cannot be edited or renamed by users without admin rights. This usually only done in the case of excessive vandalism or content disputes to the in question. This should happen only in certain rare circumstances.

All administrators receive chat moderator and rollback powers automatically as part of the administrative rights. Due to these privileges, admins are expected to be familiar with the policies and guidelines of Watch Dogs Wiki.

Who are this wiki's administrators?
The "founder" of a wiki, the person who first requested it, is given administrator access automatically. Founders are also given bureaucrat access so they can make any other user on their wiki an administrator or bureaucrat. For a complete list of users with administrator access, see Special:Listusers/sysop.

Becoming an administrator
The Watch Dogs Wiki practice is to grant administrator status to anyone who has been an active and regular presence on the Watch Dogs Wiki for a substantial amount of time (ideally, a half a year). Administrators are selected from a pool of the highest quality editors, usually with administration background on other wikis - though the latter is not compulsory.

For you to become an administrator, someone with bureaucrat access must make you one. On Watch Dogs Wiki, administrators have previously been appointed when seen fit by a bureaucrat, without any voting process. Though under unique circumstances, the voting process can be implemented into the decision.

What should administrators not do?
Administrators should not use their administrator rights to settle editing disputes; for example, to lock a page on a version he or she prefers in an editing dispute that isn't vandalism. Administrator powers should be used to help keep the wiki clear of vandalism, spam, and users who make malicious edits, but not for simple disagreements between users acting in good faith. Ideally an admin shouldn't be considered "in charge". The ideal admin is just someone who is trusted to have a few extra buttons and to use them for the benefit of the Wikia community. They are just like any other user.