ESB:User rights policy

The user rights policy outlines the procedures on the wiki for gaining user rights and also for the removal of user rights. This policy is useful as it allows the community to promote users based on community consensus to work with the community to help make the wiki as best it can be. In order for the promotion process to work smoothly, the following policies should be followed.

Roles policy

Additional user roles shall be bureaucrats, administrators, assistants, discussion moderators, and rollbacks. Other roles may be granted to certain users, including, but not limited to bots, social media managers, and Discord moderators.

When a user is promoted, they have more privileges than the average user. They are expected to use these powers with good judgment and follow all the rules. Administrators are privileged with the power to block other users and are expected to have good judgment when it comes to using this tool. Administrators and moderators are the only ones allowed to inform a user that they have been blocked or banned. All promoted users may keep their position as long as they want, unless they resign, retire, quit or are demoted per the article on demotions.

Promotions

Users requesting promotion to bureaucrat (link), administrator (link), assistant (link), or discussion moderator (link) must do so through a formal promotion request, linked in this section. Rollbacks may be promoted at the discretion of any administrator.

Applicants shall not use any images to advertise "support" for them or force other users to support them, so as to discourage unqualified users who seek the support of others who do not consider their qualifications. However, they are allowed to notify other users of such discussion, without imposing an agenda.

Nominating another user for any position requiring a request form is prohibited unless the nominating user is an administrator or bureaucrat. All other nominations will be closed as invalid. Administrator and bureaucrat requests may be posted on the forum to seek more input, and they may also be highlighted.

Promotion requests are to last no shorter than seven (7) days from the time the applicant makes the request, unless 90% or more of votes (including neutrals) either support or oppose after four (4) days. Any applicant must have at least 70% support of all votes (not counting neutrals) after seven (7) days to be considered for promotion. Successful requests may only be closed by those that have the ability to grant those rights while unsuccessful or invalid promotion requests may be closed by an assistant or administrator. If a user makes a promotion request but fails to be promoted, they must wait at least one (1) month before making another request.

User rights requests must by written solely by the user requesting the rights. If a majority of all active bureaucrats agree that the following is not valid then the request will be deemed invalid.

Invalid requests

A request is deemed invalid if the questions remain blank for more than two (2) hours after the creation of their request, the user is not eligible for the position, or the user has received a valid block while having a pending request. The user will also be prohibited from making any request until three (3) months after their block ends.

Discord moderator requests

Any user wishing to make a request for Discord moderator rights must first message a member of the administration on Discord, expressing their wish to request Discord moderator rights. When a user does this, a member of the administration will check that:

• The user has been a member in the Discord server for at least one (1) month continuously;
• The user meets the eligibility criteria for all positions (listed in the sub-section below).

Provided that the user meets both of the above criteria, a member of the administration will, within seven (7) days of the user initially sending their request to an administrator, post a message in the "announcements" channel of the server, indicating which user has requested and how to vote. This vote will be conducted using reactions to this message, will be open for a minimum of seven (7) days, and will be open to all members of the Discord server at that time, excluding the user requesting rights. The same rules for determining the result will be used as are used for requests for user rights on the wiki.

Eligibility

Generally, a user seeking promotion must demonstrate that all their contributions are positive, and further the goal of improving the wiki. They must demonstrate understanding of the how the wiki operates, familiarity with the policies, proper use of spelling and grammar, and they must also show they can hold the position with maturity. The community shall make an assessment on whether or not the user shall be promoted based on their standards that includes these as well as others. They must also demonstrate good reasons for any questionable contributions.

The requirements for all positions are:

a. At least three (3) months must have passed since the user's first edit.

b. The user must have at least one hundred (100) edits, of which at least fifty (50) are main namespace edits.

c. The user must have a clean block record for at least three (3) months, not counting invalid blocks.

d. If the nominee has a rate of support of 80% or above, the rights are granted.

e. If the nominee has a rate of support between 70% and 80%, bureaucratic discretion is to be used in determining whether rights are granted. Arguments from the votes provided and the responses of the nominee to questions will be considered.

f. If the nominee does not have a rate of support of 70% or above, the rights are not granted.

Repromotions

Any user who retires, resigns, or quits and returns and wishes to be repromoted must follow the same procedures and requirements as if they were a user who had never been promoted before. If a retired or resigned user returns to ESB, they cannot be promoted to any position until three (3) months following the announcement of their return or decision not to retire or resign. Any requirement of the repromotion policy can be waived by the majority vote of the active bureaucrats. This can be overruled by a majority vote of the active administrators (sysop only).

Demotions

A user may be demoted for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to: resignation, retirement, inactivity, rule violation(s), abuse of rights, destructive behavior, and/or an Emergency User Rights Review. Any user who no longer wants to hold a promoted position and thus resigns can demote themselves from the position. They can also notify a bureaucrat of the revocation of their rights. If an official resigns or resigns and cannot revoke their rights, FANDOM staff will be contacted to demote them.

In the case of inactivity, the promoted user cannot be demoted due to inactivity without communication between the relevant user and the rest of the administration. When a promoted user becomes inactive for two (2) months, the bureaucrats should discuss this with the relevant user to understand their intentions as to whether to continue in that promoted position. If a promoted user goes on an extended vacation or vacation of more than two (2) months with the intention of returning, they can notify the community of their intentions. If the promoted user is inactive for at least three (3) months without communication between them and the rest of the administration, they must be demoted. If the promoted user has been inactive for at least six (6) months IN communication between them and the rest of the administration, but has not made any effort to make any changes to the wiki, they should also be demoted.

User Rights Reviews

• A. Biannual User Rights Reviews

• 1. Every six (6) months, all bureaucrats, administrators, assistants, discussion moderators and Discord moderators are put through a review process so the community can assess their status to ensure the most qualified people remain in their positions.
• 2. Biannual user rights reviews will occur twice per year, beginning on the following dates: April 15 and October 15
• 3. If a user was promoted within one (1) week prior to the creation of the review, they will be exempt from the review.
• 4. The community shall vote on whether each promoted user should remain in their position or be demoted.
• 5. Each review period will last two (2) weeks. After two weeks, 70% of all participants must support the termination or suspension, including at least 50% of the participating administrators, in both cases not counting neutrals, in order for the user to be subject to demotion.
• 6. Bureaucratic discretion will be used to determine the outcome if the proportion of votes to remove/suspend the user is between 70% and 80%. Arguments from the votes provided and the user's responses to any questions asked will be considered.
• 7. If 80% or more of the participants overall and at least 50% of the participating administrators, in both cases not counting neutrals, support the demotion or suspension of any given user, that user will be demoted or suspended on the closing date of the review (April 29 or October 29).

• B. Emergency User Rights Reviews

• 1. General

• a. An Emergency User Rights Review may occur between the biannual user rights reviews if a promoted user is deemed to have seriously and/or repeatedly violated the wiki's policies, or if the user is deemed to have abused their additional tools.
• b. In such a case, a promoted user may be suspended, pending review, in accordance with this section.

• i. If the promoted user has received warnings on their message wall for serious violations during their tenure as a crew member, and the user in question is not an administrator, then the bureaucrat has the right to demote the promoted user without an Emergency User Rights Review.
• ii. If the promoted user does not stand down or admit to wrongdoing and thus the bureaucrat fails to resolve the issue, they may demote the promoted user for a suspension of one (1) week.

• c. After the suspension a bureaucrat must then create an Emergency User Rights Review discussion.
• d. The creation of a User Rights Review discussion by any non-administrator to have another user demoted from any position is prohibited and will result in the invalidation and closure of that discussion.
• e. Any user may submit a complaint or concern about any promoted user to a bureaucrat, on the wiki or otherwise, without any disciplinary action being taken against the complainant, regardless of the complainant's status on the wiki or the action (if any) taken as a result of the complaint.

• 2. Process

• a. If a promoted user is deemed to have met the conditions to have an emergency rights review created for them outlined above, then the bureaucrats and administrators will discuss whether or not the promoted user in question should have a review discussion to let the community decide if that user should be demoted.
• b. All active bureaucrats and a majority of the active administrators must support a review discussion in order for it to be created in the first place. If it is determined that this is not the case, the request is dropped and the promoted user retains their rights.
• c. Once all bureaucrats support the creation of a review discussion, they must notify the promoted user in question to give them the following choices:

• i. Resign from your current position. The bureaucrats can then decide whether this user should remain: an administrator, if this is a bureaucrat, or an assistant, if this user was an administrator.
• ii. If the user does not do so, they will be given the opportunity to write a defense for themselves to be posted in the user rights review, and the review discussion will be published three (3) days after the relevant user is notified, regardless of whether or not the user has provided a defense.

• d. Once the review discussion is posted, it will be in the following format.

• i. Each user will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on the matter, summing up what they believe should be done, whether it is a complete demotion, demotion to another position, suspension, block, and/or combination.
• ii. After seven (7) days of discussion, the first stage will close. All listed options will be put up for a vote.

• e. In order to terminate or suspend a crew member, 70% of all participants must support the termination or suspension in order for it to be valid, including at least 50% of the participating administrators, in both cases not counting neutrals. Where the proportion of votes to remove/suspend the user is between 70% and 80%, bureaucratic discretion is to be used in determining whether the user's rights are removed. Arguments from the votes provided and the responses of the user to questions will be considered. The discussion must last no less than seven (7) days. The promoted user in question does not have a vote and is not counted in the percentage for the decision but may make comments.
• f. If the termination is successful, the promoted user will be demoted, suspended, blocked, and/or combination. The promoted user will only be able to apply for the rights fourteen (14) days after the Emergency User Rights Review was archived.
• g. If the termination is not successful, the promoted user retains their rights on the same basis as any other user with those user rights.