Wikipedia:Bureaucrats

This page is a summary of information about bureaucrats, policies and guidelines regarding the use of bureaucrat tools on the English Wikipedia, and details on how to perform certain actions. Changes made to it should reflect consensus.

Shortcuts WP:BUR WP:CRAT

Bureaucrats are Wikipedia users, usually administrators, with the technical ability to perform the following actions:

• Add the following user groups to a user account: administrator, bureaucrat, interface administrator, account creator, bot, copyright violation bot, confirmed user, and pending changes reviewer.^[1]
• Remove the following user groups from a user account: administrator, interface administrator, account creator, bot, copyright violation bot, IP block exempt, confirmed user, and pending changes reviewer.

Some of the above abilities overlap with administrators who are able to add and remove the IP block exempt, confirmed user, and pending changes user groups (in addition to certain other user groups).

Bureaucrats are bound by policy and consensus to only 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 the same fashion, they are expected to exercise judgement in granting or removing bot flags with 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. Actions by bureaucrats are also bound by the policy on use of administrative rights.

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:Steward requests/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.

The bureaucrat privilege may also be removed by Steward request in certain situations (including if an account appears to be compromised).

On the English Wikipedia, there are currently 15 bureaucrats.

Timeline showing all users who have served as bureaucrats

These are instructions and procedures concerning bureaucratic actions and processes.

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.

• 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 archive top template above the top-level header on the page, remembering to substitute:

Discussion	Header	Footer
Successful RfA	{{subst:rfap}}	{{subst:rfab}}
Unsuccessful RfA	{{subst:rfaf}}	{{subst:rfab}}
Successful RfB	{{subst:rfbp}}	{{subst:rfbb}}
Unsuccessful RfB	{{subst:rfbf}}	{{subst:rfbb}}
Bureaucrat discussions	{{subst:bdtop|a|p}} (passed RfA) {{subst:bdtop|a|f}} (failed RfA) {{subst:bdtop|b|p}} (passed RfB) {{subst:bdtop|b|f}} (failed RfB)	{{subst:bdbot}}
On hold RfA	{{subst:rfah}}	{{subst:rfab}}
On hold RfB	{{subst:rfbh}}	{{subst:rfbb}}
Successful BAG	{{subst:rfbagp}}	{{subst:rfbagb}}
Unsuccessful BAG	{{subst:rfbagf}}	{{subst:rfbagb}}

For requests for adminship or bureaucratship

• Replace the automatic {{rfah}}, "Voice your opinion" and {{rfatally}} template with {{subst:finaltally}}, filling in the template as appropriate (example)
• If there is a consensus, promote to admin or bureaucrat using Special:Userrights. If present, remove userrights made redundant by the sysop flag. Refer to Special:ListGroupRights for details on which other rights are included with the new user rights level. 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 and update the relevant counts.
  • For unsuccessful nominations, add the summary to Wikipedia:Unsuccessful adminship candidacies (Chronological) and Wikipedia:Unsuccessful adminship candidacies (Alphabetical), or Wikipedia:Unsuccessful bureaucratship candidacies and update the relevant counts

For requests for membership in the Bot Approvals 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)

In some situations, a bureaucrat may remove an account's sysop (administrator) rights, and/or request that a steward remove an account's bureaucrat rights:

• If self-requested by the editor^[2]
• By official request of the Arbitration Committee^[2]
• If an administrator is deemed inactive per Wikipedia:Administrators § Procedural removal for inactive administrators^[2] or a bureaucrat is deemed inactive per § Inactive bureaucrat accounts^[3]
• If the account belongs to an editor who has been verified as deceased (in which case all advanced rights should be removed)^[4]
• If the editor is indefinitely site-banned by the community (in which case all granted rights should be removed)^[5]
• If an administrator has failed to pass a required recall.

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.

Should the extended confirmed group have been removed from the account since becoming an administrator, it should be restored when removing administrator permissions.

The interface administrator policy requires removal of the interface administrator permission upon removal of the administrator permission.

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.

If an editor is verified as having died, all advanced permissions on the account should be removed. Unless the account is suspected of being compromised, it should not be blocked. For Checkuser, Oversight and Bureaucrat rights, which cannot be removed locally, a request to remove those should be posted on meta:Steward requests/Permissions § Removal of access.

There are two separate activity requirements applicable to bureaucrat accounts:

1. Bureaucrat accounts that do not meet the level of editing activity expected of administrators may have their bureaucrat permissions removed. The bureaucrat must be contacted on their user talk page in line with the procedures for administrators 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 from bureaucrat activity for three consecutive years.
2. Bureaucrats are expected to exercise the duties granted by their role while remaining cognizant of relevant community standards concerning their tasks. If a bureaucrat does not participate in bureaucrat activity^[6] for over three years, their bureaucrat permissions may be removed. The user must be notified on their talk page one month before the removal, and again a few days prior to the removal. If the user does not return to bureaucrat activity, another bureaucrat may request the removal of permissions at meta:Steward requests/Permissions. Permissions removed for not meeting bureaucrat activity requirements may be re-obtained through a new request for bureaucratship.

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

1. 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).
2. Check that the prior access removal was voluntary, or due to inactivity.
3. 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.^[7]
4. To allow time for requests to be checked thoroughly, it is required that a minimum of 24 hours elapse before restoring permissions. This requirement provides a reasonable amount of time for bureaucrats, administrators, or other editors to comment on the request, if necessary. This threshold of time may be lengthened at a bureaucrat's discretion if new information arises during the 24 hour hold.
5. If a former administrator ("lengthy inactivity") or bureaucrat ("inactive bureaucrat accounts") has been inactive (defined by zero edits or logged actions) for a period of two years or longer after the removal of permissions (or for two 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.^[8]
6. If a former administrator has been administratively inactive (defined by zero logged administrative actions) for a period of five years or longer, they should be successful in a new request for adminship to have the permission(s) restored.
7. Before restoring administrator permissions to an account, a bureaucrat should be reasonably convinced that the user has returned to activity or intends to return to activity as an editor. Should there be doubt concerning the suitability for restoration of admin permissions, the restoration shall be delayed until sufficient discussion has occurred and a consensus established through a bureaucrat chat.^[9]
8. If the permission is restored, list the user at Wikipedia:List of resysopped users.

1. Bot flags may be granted or removed in accordance with the bot policy, often on the advice of the Bot Approvals Group.

   This extends to the copyviobot flag.^[10]

2. (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).

3. 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.

The interface administrator user group may be granted or removed according to the interface administrators policy.

A bureaucrat mailing list was established in March 2009,^[11] but was retired following a discussion in 2017.^[12] It was 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. For sensitive matters you may contact an individual bureaucrat directly.

• Special:Log/rights: log of user rights changes;
• Special:Log/renameuser: log of local username changes (global username changes between 9 July 2014 and 19 March 2015 affecting local accounts were not logged locally);
• m:Special:log/gblrename: log of global username changes (became available 9 July 2014);
• Wikipedia:Bureaucrat log: for Bureaucrat activity (user rights adjustments) before 24 December 2004;
• Wikipedia:List of resysopped users: listing of users resysopped by Bureaucrats;
• Wikipedia:Bureaucrats' noticeboard: discussion of Bureaucrat-related matters (please note that questions relating to decisions by particular bureaucrats should be directed to their talkpage in the first instance);
• Wikipedia:User access levels: general information on the English Wikipedia's user rights system;
• User:NoSeptember/crat stats: Bureaucrat activity statistics (historical through 2011);
• m:Stewards: information on users who can grant and remove all user flags
• Wikipedia:Bureaucrats/Message list: for use with Special:Massmessage
• {{User wikipedia/Bureaucrat}} – a userbox template to indicate you have the Bureaucrats user right
• {{Bureaucrat topicon}} – a top icon template to indicate you have the Bureaucrat user right – adds a category to page automatically