Help:User rights

I am sure you have heard the term user right. There are three user rights:

• Rollback - The ability to quickly undo edits by a user on a page.
• Sysop - The ability to protect pages, delete pages, edit protected pages, to block people and etc.
• Bureaucrat - The ability to give user rights to a person.

When you have a certain user right, you are placed in the corresponding user group. You can be placed in more than one user group. When placed in a user group, you obtain the ability. This is one thing cleared.

User rights are not RANKS. I hate it when people misunderstand the definition of a user right. There is no such thing as promotion. This means, if you are a bureaucrat it does not mean you are a sysop as well. You have to be in both user groups to have both abilities. Many users are considered b-crats, but it doesn't mean they have the same ability as a sysop. You have to have both user rights. This is unlike the sysop/rollback user right. If you are a sysop, you do have the ability to rollback people, even if you aren't in both groups. This brings me onto a message to some 'crats out there: when giving a user admin rights, when they already have rollback right - please take away the rollback right as it only gives off server lag.

What we think now, is this: rollback -> sysop -> bureaucrat. This is wrong, there is no such things as ranks, therefore someone can be a 'crat without even being a rollback.

Now that we have understood what user rights are, we need to consider when and why we should give these user rights to someone.

Rollback

User rights are not ranks. This means Rollback isn't the first step up a tree. Subsequently, you can become a sysop without having to be a rollback. Now, rollback rights should be given to a user who is actively involved in removing vandalism. People apply for rollback rights thinking they are a step up there. Except they are not. Edits do not matter with the rollback ability. A rollback can only rollback edits. So, when making applying for rollback, please think: are you going to use this power. You are better off without the power if you are not going to be removing vandalism. This means you can apply to sysop rights, instead of having to be a rollback first.

When thinking who to give rollback rights, you must consider how many times they have fought off vandals. Stuff like having an active Vandal Watch, or involved in anti-vandalism projects. These are good factors to consider.

Sysop

Now, the sysop right a very important right. Yet, we misunderstand that. Giving a user adminship rights on here is the equivalent of giving adminship on a forum. A lot of you, I guess, go on forums. A lot of you, I guess, crave that adminship right. The adminship right is the most important of them all. It is not below the the b-crat rank, because like I said: being a bureaucrat means you can only promote people. Bureaucratship is a minion compared to sysopship.

We have cleared the fact that user rights are not ranks. This brings us onto the next matter of why someone should be a sysop.
Someone can apply to be a sysop without having to be a rollback. This doesn't mean that if you are denied rollback ability you will be accepted sysop ability. There is a huge responsibility that sysops hold. A sysop can block others. That is scary enough. They are the so called "heads" of the wiki (ability-wise). They do not lead the wiki, but they have the power to block, delete, protect, edit the interface. Applying for sysopship should be a huge responsibility. This all links with the no ranks issue.

So, applying for sysop is a huge responsibility. Someone should only be a sysop if they are trusted by the community, are experienced with wikicode, have a lot of edits, are involved in a lot of projects and so on. I am not giving any guidelines, as there are no guidelines. I am simply pointing out you have to be trusted a lot by the community. When disusing the powers, you will get demoted according to the new policy.
A total amount of edits above a 1000 is recommended with a 40% mainspace portion, and you must be actively involved in projects. This is the closest to a rule.

You have to be trusted to handle the massive powers you have. You may be a good editor, but the choices you make affect everyone.

Bureaucrat

This is a difficult one. I did say that there are no ranks, but being a sysop before having 'crat rights is recommended. In reality though, bureaucrat promotions should be closed. I think there should only be some 4 bureaucrats. The ability is unneeded anyway. I don't see the point of applying to be bureaucrat. Purely because there are already 4 people who can promote people, which is enough. Like I said 'crat isn't a step up the tree. It is simply a power. If someone drops out, then maybe someone else can apply to take their place. This is as far as I am going, 'crat ability is unneeded to the average sysop.