User blog comment:Xean/Featured Wikian: Jazzi/@comment-5473581-20120605210731/@comment-5473581-20120607221822

Since it was listed under "5 tips for new folks ", I took it as meaning "Do not ask for rights when you first join a wiki".

But I do believe there are correct times in which it is okay to ask for rights.
 * If an admin has put out a request for people interested in rights. (Obviously!)
 * If current admins aren't active enough and more are needed. (Hopefully in a polite "Hey, could you use a hand?" way, rather than a "You're not doing your job" way)
 * If a user is constantly requesting admins to do admin-things. (A good admin should notice if a user needs admin rights in this way)

I don't see any personal benefit in having admin rights, and had no intention of becoming an administrator. However, I was constantly leaving messages with the admins to do admin-stuff (moving locked pages, etc), so it made sense for me to become one, although I still didn't want to ask for them. I would have been content being an active normal user indefinitely, but the admin rights definitely helped me improve the wiki much more than I would have been able to as a normal user.

I give out rollback rights to anyone who uses an undo on vandalism a few times, as it's a tool they can use to better do what they're already doing. In the same vein, I'll give admin rights to people who need to use those tools. I've only given out admin rights once, that user never asked, but has been a great contributor and was an obvious candidate.

I've only had to deal with a beggar once, and it was bizarre. On his first day editing, he posted saying he was intending on making many contributions and that he wanted admins rights to make it "worth his while", after I told him he no, he arguing about it. Really weird. (I can't find the conversation now, or I'd be more specific.) After that, I added a list of things admins are expected to do to the Staff page, with a note that anyone doing those things will be considered for admin rights, so that I can point to the list if anyone asks in future. Obviously they can't do admin-specific stuff, but they can contribute to admin-general stuff, like undoing vandalism, watching various SpecialPages for problems, and contributing to discussions.

There was also an issue with a former admin (before I became an admin) who claimed he "needed" admin rights to be a good contributor. I pointed out all the admin-things he should have been doing but wasn't, and the admin at the time, told him he'd re-considered him in the future, but that wasn't good enough for him, and he stopped editing. (As a side note, it's been a year and I'm still cleaning up old mistakes he made)

No-one "needs" admin rights. As I said earlier, there's no personal benefit : the time I spend "doing admin-stuff" takes away from the time I spend otherwise contributing. But someone's gotta do it.