Admin Forum:What are a few qualities you look for in a good admin?

Hey everyone! I've been helping out with Adoption Requests recently, which lead me to thinking: What are some great qualities to look for when promoting a new user to admin status?

On wikis that I frequently visit, the admin teams are very social. They like to engage with editors either through talk pages or in the comments section of various articles. From what I've seen, good admins work together as a team.


 * What are some of the best qualities you look for when promoting new admins?
 * Quality of edits?
 * Engagement with the community?
 * Eagerness to contribute?

Feel free to share your ideas and opinions! :) Trellar http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 00:45, November 15, 2011 (UTC)


 * Godisme
 * To me, a good admin should fit the following criteria:
 * 1.High level of knowledge on the subject material - they may be a good contributor but if they do not know the source material, they are not going to make a good admin.
 * 2.Good edit history - an admin should always do good work. They should not have a troubled past on the wiki and should be making good quality edits.
 * 3.General knowledge of wikimarkup - an admin should be able to edit without the use of the RTE. Formatting and template creation are two things most admins should be working on and the RTE is not good for those.
 * 4.Commitment - I recently ran into a problem with an admin on one of my wikis. He did good work but he just was not committed to the site, only showing up once a month or so. A good admin should be active on the site and willing to help when needed. They don't need to be there every day but the more time they can put in, the better.--

Some qualities I look for are:
 * Jäzzi
 * Mainspace edits out weighing other edits.
 * Quality edits like rewriting pages or fixing mark up
 * Helping other users out on their talk page when they need help.
 * I'd like them to be active in the community, as admins are users people look up to.
 * And eagerness to contribute is good, and I'd like to see them stay eager before and after they are promoted. While everybody has a life and has other commitments, I would like to see them edit at least once a week to check in and make sure nothing happens on the wiki and that they haven't missed anything. –  Jä zz  i  00:58, November 15, 2011 (UTC)

I think any admins should have qualities of: All in all, there are more items an admin can go through to become better suited for the position, and in some ways, there are less. Since I listed these in my opinion of order of importance, I think a strong and firm friendship with the community is by far the best quality for an admin to have. &mdash; Wattz  2000  01:05, November 15, 2011 (UTC)
 * Wattz2000
 * 1) Respect and courtesy to most if not all users within the community.
 * 2) Quality contributions and determination for their expansion of content.
 * 3) Knowledge of the material and content to better show what they can do to help out the wiki.
 * 4) Knowledge of Wiki syntax is always good and usually a definite item to have, and even minor knowledge of css and js can be quite helpful.
 * 5) Knows the organization of the wiki by working through categorization and files uploaded to the wiki.

I believe admins should: These are most of the important things I can think of at the top of my head. I believe users who can prove themselves to be worthy of all those excellent qualities and be decided upon community consensus can be great admins!
 * Technology Wizard
 * Be trustworthy
 * Have the ability to interact with the community
 * Have a certain need for admin tools
 * Be motivated and dedicated
 * Brighten the wiki in many different ways
 * Promote new ideas for the wiki
 * Introduce projects to the community
 * Be kind, caring, respectful, optimistic, responsible, organized, mature, and active


 * Hollowness
 * What are some of the best qualities you look for when promoting new admins?

In my case it was froma next to dead wiki and (still) building the community


 * Since I have only edited for gaming wikis it helps knowing how addicted the user is to the game and time they spend online :P ;). If I play the game with them and known them for 6 months or longer (if it is possible online wise) if they are a shinning example of the perfect helper: giving help to new people and loyal and a team player, and are known for the nice or friendly mannerism, even with less wikia experience and edits could sway me if admins are needed and long term editors/contributors are not available.


 * Quality of edits?


 * Knowing they want to fill the wiki with as much info and correct info and/or want to improve the wiki (making it as easy to use/read and as pleasing to look at). Quality of edits is filling in needed/missing information or helping out on outstanding wiki community projects. Their reasoning is as simple as "we want to help make things easier for people".


 * Engagement with the community?


 * Friendly, and willing to both input ideas and collaborating with others.


 * Eagerness to contribute?


 * Eagerness is good but curious and wanting to just help is just as good.

As an new admin my 2 new admins were both with no prior experience but wanting to help and ready to learn. I was ready to help from simple beginners how-to -> to advance editing. I'd trust either of them with the wiki indefinitely. 01:31, November 15, 2011 (UTC)

Admins should be: That's my RfA rational. 01:33, November 15, 2011 (UTC)
 * Ajraddatz
 * Active
 * Competent
 * Mature
 * Have a need for the tools