User blog comment:Sannse/I Want to Be an Admin/@comment-33628828-20140515183134/@comment-452-20140515195316

Many "rules of thumb" say to "never" do something, but there are always exceptions.

Let's make a flow chart:

No reason to ask for admin rights No reason to ask for admin rights No reason to ask for admin rights Follow adoption procedures Follow application/nomination process Bureaucrats offer admins rights to likely candidates Good reason to ask for admin rights
 * User has few edits:
 * User has many edits
 * User has a history of "problems" on the wiki:
 * User is in good standing
 * The wiki has enough admins to deal with all admin tasks:
 * The wiki has no admins:
 * The wiki has active admins, but there is a backlog of admin tasks:
 * There is an existing application/nomination process:
 * The wiki is well-managed by attentive and responsible bureaucrats:
 * The wiki doesn't match the two preceding statements:

The majority of cases listed have no reason to ask for admin rights, so there is likely to be far more people who have no reason to ask for rights, therefore it makes sense for the default to be "don't ask".

The majority of the people who responded below are probably talking about well-managed wikis with attentive and responsible bureaucrats, who offer admin rights to likely candidates when the need arises.