Wikipedia:Bureaucrats

Bureaucrats are Wikipedia users with the technical ability to:

Add the administrator, bureaucrat, bot, account creator, or reviewer user group to an account
Remove the administrator, bot, account creator, IP block exemption, or reviewer user group from an account
Rename user accounts

They are bound by policy and consensus only to grant administrator or bureaucrat access when doing so reflects the wishes of the community, usually after a successful request at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. In like fashion, they are expected to exercise judgement in changing usernames, and in granting or removing bot flags on the advice of the Bot Approvals Group. They are expected to be capable judges of consensus, and are expected to explain the reasoning for their actions on request and in a civil manner.

Bureaucrats have been authorized by the community to remove administrator permissions in certain situations outlined below. Bureaucrats do not have the technical ability to remove bureaucrat rights from users or to grant or remove certain levels of access such as oversight or checkuser rights. These actions are performed by stewards, a multilingual group of individuals who serve all Wikimedia projects and are elected and reconfirmed annually by their users. Changes in user rights by stewards are recorded at meta:Special:Log/rights; for more information see m:Requests for permissions.

Users are granted bureaucrat status by community consensus. The process is similar to the process of granting administrator status, but the expectations for potential bureaucrats are higher and community consensus must be clearer. See Wikipedia:Requests for bureaucratship.

On the English Wikipedia, there are currently [[Special:ListUsers/bureaucrat|Template:NUMBEROFBUREAUCRATS]] bureaucrats.

Procedures

These are instructions and procedures concerning bureaucratic actions and processes.

Permissions

Note: Similar to non-administrators closing deletion discussions, Requests for adminship can be closed by non-bureaucrats in certain cases; for example if the user has withdrawn the request or the outcome is very unlikely to be positive (see WP:NOTNOW). Non-bureaucrats should be very careful in the latter case and only close RfAs when they are not in doubt. In such cases the requesting user should always be asked to consider withdrawal first.

Promotions and RfX closures

Wait at least seven days after the listing was made on Wikipedia:Requests for adminship or Wikipedia talk:Bot Approvals Group
Check the history for the transcluded page to be reasonably sure that the comments are genuine
Determine whether there is a consensus that the person should be promoted using the traditional rules of thumb and your best judgement
Edit the nomination. Add the relevant header and footer to the discussion page, remembering to substitute:

Wikipedia:Bureaucrats/Instructions

For requests for adminship or bureaucratship

Remove the "Voice your opinion" and talk page link (example)
Replace the {{rfatally}} template with {{subst:finaltally}}, fill in the appropriate fields, make sure the final tally is accurate, and include any additional comments
If there is a consensus, promote to admin or bureaucrat using Special:Userrights. If present, remove userrights made redundant by the sysop flag. Please reference the RfA (or RfB) when making the promotion
Remove the request from requests for adminship
- For successful nominations, add a summary of the outcome to successful requests for adminship or successful bureaucratship candidacies. Also update the successful count at Wikipedia:Unsuccessful adminship candidacies (Chronological).
- For unsuccessful nominations, add the summary to Wikipedia:Unsuccessful adminship candidacies (Chronological) and Wikipedia:Unsuccessful adminship candidacies (Alphabetical), or Wikipedia:Unsuccessful bureaucratship candidacies. Also update the unsuccessful count at Wikipedia:Successful requests for adminship.
- Add a summary at the top and remove the bottom entry at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Recent (last 7).

For requests for membership in the Bot Approval Group

Add the user to Wikipedia:Bot Approvals Group
Add a summary of the outcome to successful or unsuccessful Bot Approvals Group candidacies

Inform the user of the result, whether it is successful or unsuccessful (perhaps using one of the optional templates)

Removal of permissions

Bureaucrats may remove the "administrator" user right from an account in some situations:

If self-requested by the administrator
By official request of the Arbitration Committee
If the administrator is deemed inactive per Wikipedia:Administrators#Procedural removal for inactive administrators

Bureaucrats should include a permanent link to the request or relevant policy when removing permissions. If necessary, the affected user should be immediately notified and given a reason for the removal along with advice on seeking the reinstatement of the permissions.

The use of these procedures is not intended to constrain the authority of the Wikimedia Stewards to undertake emergency removal of permissions on their own discretion, or removal following a request from the Arbitration Committee, pursuant to the relevant policies governing Steward actions.

Inactive bureaucrat accounts

Bureaucrat accounts which have been completely inactive for at least one calendar year (without any edits or other logged actions) may have their bureaucrat permissions removed. The bureaucrat must be contacted on their user talk page and via email one month before the removal of permissions and again several days before the request is made. Should the bureaucrat remain inactive, another bureaucrat may request the procedural removal of permissions. This is not to be considered a reflection on the user's use of, or rights to, the tools. If an inactive bureaucrat returns to Wikipedia, they may request restoration of the permissions at the bureaucrats' noticeboard provided they have not been inactive for three consecutive years.

Restoration of permissions

Shortcut

WP:RESYSOP

In the case that a former administrator or bureaucrat requests their permissions be restored via the bureaucrats' noticeboard:

Check that the user in question is indeed a former administrator or bureaucrat (in particular, a bureaucrat restoring permissions should satisfy themselves that the account has not been compromised since the permissions were relinquished).
Check their talk page history and any pertinent discussions or noticeboards for indications that they may have resigned (or become inactive) for the purpose, or with the effect, of evading scrutiny of their actions that could have led to sanctions.
To allow time for requests to be checked thoroughly, it is required that a minimum of 24 hours elapse for multiple bureaucrats and other editors to comment on the request before restoring permissions. This time may be lengthened at a bureaucrat's discretion, if new information arises.
If a former administrator ("lengthly inactivity") or bureaucrat ("inactive bureaucrat accounts") has been inactive (defined by zero edits or logged actions) for a period of three years or longer after the removal of permissions (or for three years from the last edit or log action in the case of permissions removed due to inactivity), they must be successful in a new request for adminship or bureaucratship to have the permission(s) restored.
If the permission is restored, list the user at Wikipedia:List of users resysopped by a bureaucrat.

Bot flags

Bot flags may be granted or removed in accordance with the bot policy, often on the advice of the Bot Approvals Group.
(On process page) Ensure that the request is compliant with relevant policies and guidelines and that a Bot Approvals Group member asked for the bot to be flagged.
Bot flags may also be granted or removed in other situations (such as requests to the bureaucrats' noticeboard or other noticeboard discussions).
Use Special:UserRights to set or remove the flag, with a link to the approved BRFA or permanent link to the relevant discussion as the rationale.

Renames

Ensure that the request is appropriate per the changing usernames guidelines and that the requested name complies with the username policy.
Verify the requested name is an eligible target and check the global use of the requested name to ensure SUL conflicts will not be created.
Enter the old and new name at Special:RenameUser.
(On process page) Append the {{done}} or {{not done}} template to the request.

Usurpations

When usurping a target name (User:Target) with a current name (User:Current):

Confirm that User:Target is eligible to be usurped and has not objected to the usurpation.
Check sulutil: to ensure SUL conflicts will not be created.
Using Special:RenameUser, rename User:Target to User:Target (usurped) with the "Do not create redirects" option checked; this vacates the target name and userspace.
Using Special:RenameUser, rename User:Current to User:Target.
(On process page) Append the {{done}} or {{not done}} template to the request and update the {{status}} accordingly.

Special conditions

After renaming an administrator, a redirect should be created from Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/NEWNAME to their successful RFA with [[Category:Redirects to requests for adminship|NEWNAME]] included.
For anonymization requests where the username was created by someone else, or has no license-worthy edits, the request should first be sent to the Oversight list at oversight-en-wp wikipedia.org to determine whether or not HideUser should be used instead of Rename.
For requests from OTRS, contact a bureaucrat who is also an OTRS volunteer (see above) who can check the ticket. For OTRS agents, you can check if the bureaucrat has access to the queue the ticket is in, by going to otrswiki:List of accounts.

Mailing list

A Bureaucrat mailing list (wikien-bureaucrats) was established in March 2009. It is intended as a convenient way to notify bureaucrats about urgent matters or, on rare occasions, to discuss private matters. Any issue that is neither urgent nor necessarily private should instead be handled at the appropriate on-wiki venue, for instance at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.

Access to the list is strictly limited to current bureaucrats. However, not all bureaucrats are subscribed to the list. Subscription status is indicated above. Currently, the list administrators are Dweller and EVula.

Subject matter

Please use the list with care: most issues can and should be discussed on-wiki, either at Wikipedia:Bureaucrats' noticeboard, via a Bureaucrat's talk page, or in the appropriate on-wiki forum. Please do not email regarding matters that are neither urgent nor concern private information. If an email sent to the list is urgent but does not involve private information, a copy of the text of the email should be posted to the bureaucrats' noticeboard. Please do not contact the list with concerns about edit-warring, conflict, or need for specialist tools, such as CheckUser or Oversight.

To contact the bureaucrat mailing list in appropriate circumstances, please use Special:Emailuser/Bureaucrats, or e-mail wikien-bureaucrats lists.wikimedia.org. Please include links to any relevant on-wiki discussion. If you have a private request, please explain why it must remain private. If you prefer to contact an individual bureaucrat directly, you do not have to contact the mailing list.