Contents → Best practices for administrators Administrators, also called admins or sysops (system operators), are users with additional tools to help with more advanced wiki maintenance (such as deleting and protecting pages). They also have wiki moderation tools like the ability to block users. This gives admins a lot of power, but there's often a question as to what the role of an admin should be and how that power should be used: Are admins meant to be the boss of a community, or are they meant to be something else?
Admins should serve the community[]
On Memory Alpha, admins are expected to serve the community. What this means is that admins don't make the rules alone and don't make unilateral decisions. Ideally, admins should use their tools to carry out the will of the community. The administrator role makes others expect you to take responsibility for your community: this includes many things, like keeping discussions civil and helping make the articles as complete, accurate, and easy to read and edit as possible.
As an example, let's take one of our central policies: the content policy. This policy was not a created by the admins alone, but had input from the community and has been "ratified" through many discussions over the years that have given rise to a strong community consensus in favor of the policy. When one of our admins enforces that policy, they're not enforcing their own arbitrary ideas about what you should do. They're relaying what the community would like you to do. That's very important, because it brings a form of democracy to the community.
Just like in a democracy, when the community discusses and votes on decisions rather than all decisions being made by an admin, it sets up an important relationship between admins and the community that says the community is the most important decision-maker for the community. Admins have lots of extra editing tools that non-admins don't have, but community decisions put admins into the position of not being the most important part of a community.
Admins should not be thought of as bosses or rulers, but as guides who are no more or less important or influential than any other user in the community. All users on Memory Alpha are equal, even those who have a few extra editing tools. After all, if admins were the only important people on the wiki, then there would be no need for users. That would certainly make building a community difficult! The title of administrator would not mean anything were it not for the non-administrators that make up most of our community, because admins are there to serve the community.
Admins should be friendly guides[]
We've established now that admins aren't rulers and that decision-making is something done by the entire community of users. You may be asking, though, if admins aren't there to make all the decisions, what can admins really do except push buttons?
Admins are often those who interact with the largest number of community members. This may be to give out warnings, provide corrections, or block users in some cases. Before an admin ever gets to that point, it's a good idea to remain helpful and to try and guide users to an understanding of the community-decided rules. Admins should be willing to provide in-depth support for users as they learn to contribute and better understand local policies.
Let's create a scenario where someone isn't italicizing starship names, in violation of the Manual of Style (titles). Here is one way an admin could talk to a user about that:
- Hello. Please read our title style guides. Your recent edits have not followed our rules, and you need to read and follow them when you make your next edits. Further infractions may lead to being blocked for a short time. Thank you for your cooperation.
Here is another way:
- Hi there! I've been following some of your edits and you've done a really good job so far, but there are a few things that could use some improvement so that they follow our Manual of Style (titles). First, you want to make sure that you are italicizing the names of starships. For example, write USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) instead of USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). But make sure not to italicize the prefix (USS) or the registry number (NCC-1701). I know the rules can seem overwhelming, but I'm here to help. Feel free to leave me a message whenever you want, and I'll be happy to lend a hand. Thanks!
If you were to take a look at those two styles, which do you prefer? In terms of being helpful, the second one is undoubtedly better than the first. The first one makes a general statement about how someone is not following the rules, but it does not say how. It threatens the user rather than offering assistance, which can be pretty discouraging – especially for new editors. It also feels very mechanical and not at all personal, as if a robot had written it instead of a real person.
The second one, on the other hand, is much more helpful. It tells someone exactly what it is that they need to improve upon, as well as how to improve upon it. It offers a clear sense that they can get help when they need it, and doesn't include threats. If someone ignores you after multiple attempts to help, then you can move on to giving warnings. This way, you can help users and guide them towards becoming great contributors. Being an aggressive admin might lead to an unhappy community.
Of course, the first of these two is shorter and, for busy admins, far easier to use. It doesn't need to be personalized to the exact situation at hand, and does provide some helpful info, such as a link to the relevant policy. Plus, taking the time to right a more personalized message can feel tedious when many users make the same mistake. However, it is always important to take that time, because every new user is important. Even though they may seem like more trouble than they're worth, in the long run, they'll become the next generation of editors, so it's crucial not to scare them away.
Admins are important![]
You don't want to mistake deference to the community for unimportance. Basic admin tasks like deletions and blocking may make the role of an admin seem mundane. However, admins play a crucial role in making sure that a community operates smoothly. While admins should not make all of the decisions, they can certainly be very helpful in making sure that users know how to follow local rules.