WickedGov:User groups

This policy page documents the rights of various user groups on WickedGov. A detailed technical list of rights is available at Special:ListGroupRights.

Automatically granted groups

Registered users

Registered users enjoy a variety of additional privileges, such as creating a watchlist, marking edits as minor, and the possibility to gain further permissions. While it is not mandatory, registration is encouraged for all regular contributors. Use of a real-life name is not required, and users do not have to specify any personal information.

Autoconfirmed users

Autoconfirmation (autoconfirmed) is granted to any registered user who registered at least three days ago and has made at least five edits.

Autoconfirmed users can edit semi-protected pages and are exempt from certain rate limits imposed by the wiki software.

Confirmed users

Trusted users can be manually confirmed by any administrator or bureaucrat prior to reaching the usual requirement. These users are part of the confirmed group.

Manual confirmation is generally only granted to authorized alternative accounts of autoconfirmed users, or users that are under in-person administrative supervision and have a demonstrable need for the permission.

Once confirmed users are also autoconfirmed (3 days, 5 edits), they can remove the confirmed group from their own account at Special:UserRights.

Extended confirmed users

Users become extended confirmed (extendedconfirmed) with at least 100 edits and at least a 14-day-old registered account. This group can also be manually granted, although rarely.

Extended confirmed users' sole additional privilege is editing extended-protected pages.

Users should not make many useless edits to reach the 100-edit mark; this is considered gaming the system and will result in revocation of the permission by an administrator.

Specialized permissions

These groups are granted to experienced, knowledgeable users who need the permission.

IP block exemptions

Normally, blocks against IP addresses do not affect logged-in users from that IP address. However, on some IP addresses, such as open proxies and other addresses that are persistently abused, logged-in editing is also disabled. Users in the IP block exemptions group (ipb-exemption) are immune to these blocks.

IP block exemptions should be granted only with demonstrated need, and should be granted for not longer than 2 years (with possibility of renewal if necessary).

Exemptions should not be used for other purposes than the purpose for which they were granted.

In addition to manually placed IP blocks, IP block exemption access also gives the ability to bypass Tor blocks, which are automatically imposed by the software.

Administrators and bureaucrats have all IP block exemption rights as part of the sysop and bureaucrat toolsets.

IP block exemption access can be granted and revoked by administrators and bureaucrats.

Patrollers

Patrollers (patroller) are trusted users with experience in anti-vandalism, welcoming new users, recent changes patrolling, and new pages patrolling. Patrollers are given three additional privileges:

• Mark others' edits as patrolled (patrol)
• Have one's own edits automatically marked as patrolled (autopatrol)
• Quickly rollback the edits of the last user who edited a particular page (rollback)

The patroller group may be granted upon request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard to users who demonstrate an understanding of all relevant policies (vandalism, etiquette, etc.) through experience. Bureaucrats may grant and revoke patroller permissions.

Administrators have all patroller rights as part of the sysop toolset.

Extended uploaders

Extended uploaders (uploader) are trusted users with experience in file management. Bureaucrats may grant and revoke extended uploader permissions.

Extended uploaders can:

• Move files (movefile)
• Overwrite existing files (reupload)
• Upload files from a URL (upload_by_url)

Extended uploader permissions may be requested at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.

Administrators have all extended uploader rights as part of the sysop toolset.

Revocation of specialized permissions

The ipb-exemption, patroller, and uploader groups should be removed by a bureaucrat:

• Upon self-request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.
• Immediately and without discussion when:
  • It is clear that the tools are being used for vandalism or blatant disruptive editing (including edit warring), or
  • It is clear that the account is compromised.
• Upon consensus at the bureaucrats' noticeboard or another high-profile location.
• When the user is indefinitely banned.
• When the user becomes part of another group (such as sysop or bureaucrat) that makes the specialized permissions redundant.
• When the account has made no edits or logged actions for 2 years.

When specialized permissions are revoked for any reason, they may be regained through the regular avenue (the bureaucrats' noticeboard).

Administrators

Revocation of administrator permissions

The sysop group should be removed by a bureaucrat:

• Upon self-request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.
• Immediately and without discussion when:
  • It is clear that the tools are being used for vandalism or blatant disruptive editing (including edit warring), or
  • It is clear that the account is compromised.
• Upon consensus at Requests for Permissions § Removal of access.
• When the user is indefinitely banned.
• When the account has made no edits or logged actions for 1 year.

Restoration of administrator permissions

When administrator permissions are revoked for inactivity or by resignation, they may be regained upon request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard, unless access was removed while there were substantial concerns about the user's fitness to be an administrator ("under a cloud").

Bureaucrats should use the following criteria in determining whether to restore access:

• Confidence that the account has not been compromised.
• Confidence that the user intends to return to active editing.
• Whether it has been 1 year or longer since revocation of access (in these cases, access should not be restored).

In all other cases, administrator permissions may only be regained through a request for permissions.

Advanced permissions

Interface editors

Interface editors (interface-admin) are experienced administrators with the technical ability to edit sitewide and user JavaScript and CSS pages, such as MediaWiki:Common.css. Editing of these pages is restricted because of the potential to insert malicious code which can affect many users.

Administrators may request interface editor access at the bureaucrats' noticeboard. Interface editor access may be granted temporarily to carry out a specific task (or indefinitely if necessary).

Checkusers

Checkusers (checkuser) are experienced administrators with the technical ability to check users' IP addresses and related information. This is done to prevent sockpuppetry and other abuse. Use of the CheckUser tool is governed by the CheckUser policy.

Administrators may request checkuser access at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.

Bureaucrats are generally added to the checkuser group when they become a bureaucrat.

Suppressors

Suppressors (suppress) are experienced administrators with the technical ability to hide revisions and log entries from view, even by administrators. Use of the suppression tool is governed by the suppression policy.

Administrators may request suppressor access at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.

Bureaucrats are generally added to the suppressor group when they become a bureaucrat.

Revocation of advanced permissions

The suppress, checkuser and interface-admin groups should be removed by a bureaucrat:

• Upon self-request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.
• Immediately and without discussion when:
  • A bureaucrat reasonably suspects that the tools have been abused or seriously misused, including any violation of the Privacy Policy, or
  • A bureaucrat reasonably suspects that the account is compromised.
• Upon consensus at the bureaucrats' noticeboard only.
• When the user is indefinitely banned.
• When the account has made no edits or logged actions for 180 days for checkusers and suppressors or 60 days for interface editors.

When advanced permissions are revoked for any reason, they may be regained only through the bureaucrats' noticeboard.