How Do I Become an Admin on Wikipedia?
Adminship on Wikipedia (or “sysops,” for short) is a highly coveted and important position that allows trusted users to do things like delete pages, protect them from vandalism, or block other editors. However, administrators are not paid or employed by the Wikimedia Foundation, and are instead volunteers.
You can become an administrator by being nominated to be one by another editor. You’ll need to make a substantial amount of useful edits and contributions to the site in compliance with the editing guidelines before you can be nominated.
After you’ve made enough edits, your name will be voted on by other editors in a process known as a request for adminship. This process is sometimes compared to “hazing” since it can be grueling and demoralizing if your nomination does not get approved.
Becoming an administrator is a specialized, high-level job that can take a long time to achieve. You’ll need to be active on the site, make a significant number of edits, and have a good track record of working well with other editors.
In addition, you’ll need to be able to follow community guidelines on behavior and the use of administrative tools. Misuse of administrative tools is considered a serious issue on Wikipedia, and can lead to sanctions or even removal of an administrator.
What’s more, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to become an admin on Wikipedia. The average tenure is 18 months, and you need to have a significant amount of experience on the site before being nominated for adminship.
Once you’ve been nominated to be an administrator, your application is reviewed by the community and may be referred to bureaucrats for further review. After around a week, a bureaucrat will close your RfA and decide whether you’re eligible for the role.
Usually, if you are nominated and receive 75% or more support from the community, your RfA will be approved by a majority of the wiki’s community. Occasionally, your RfA may be delayed or denied by bureaucrats who disagree with your nomination.
If you’re still on the fence, here are a few tips that can help you get started:
Set up a user page: Once you have a good idea of the basics of Wikipedia, it’s time to set up your user page. It’s where you can tell the community about your skills, interests, and goals as an editor. This will help other editors know if you’re a good fit for the site.
Add references: References are essential on Wikipedia to ensure that all information is accurate. You can add them to your own articles, or to pages that need more information.
Improve infoboxes: Infoboxes on Wikipedia provide summary facts and statistics about a topic. Adding or improving these features can improve the overall quality of an article and help it rank higher in searches.
Join a project: There are many projects on the English Wikipedia that need new contributors. These are places where you can meet other editors and discuss new pages or existing ones that need improvement.
