Help:User rights

Different users have access to different functions of the site.

Wiki founders are given administrator and bureaucrat access. They can make any other user on their wiki an administrator, bureaucrat, or give the rollback ability.

What can all users do on a wiki?
Anyone can read the wiki as well as create new pages and edit unprotected pages, including users without a user account. Any non-banned user is free to create a user account.

What can logged-in users do on a wiki?
Users who have created an account and logged in (this is free and only requires a username, password, and birth date) can:


 * customize the appearance and features of the wiki by setting their preferences.
 * maintain an article watchlist.
 * mark their own contributions as minor edits.
 * upload an image or other file to the wiki.
 * mark a page on recent changes as "patrolled" (where this feature is enabled)

Logged in users who have accounts four days old are given the 'autoconfirmed' user right.

Autoconfirmed users can move/rename pages and edit semi-protected pages.

A user with a confirmed email address can enable email messages from other users, and can request lost passwords. Some future social networking oriented extensions at Wikia may also require a confirmed email.

What is the rollback permission?
Anyone can revert vandalism and bad-faith edits, but it takes a couple of clicks in the page history to get it done. Users with the "rollback" permission are able to undo bad edits with one click, by using the rollback link on diff pages and user contributions list. They are just like logged-in users, only with one extra button.

It's important to note that sysops already have the rollback ability, so it doesn't need to be granted separately. Rollback is designed for helpful users who are not sysops but could use the tool to combat bad-faith edits.

Bureaucrats can give or revoke users' rollback rights by using Special:UserRights.

What can bots do on a wiki?
A "bot" is any automated process, program, or script that make it easier for a user to make tedious or repetitive edits on a wiki. When a bot makes many edits in quick succession, the recent changes log can sometimes be overtaken by quick and repetitive edits, making it harder to spot more substantial edits by regular users. Giving an account a "bot flag" will hide these edits from the RecentChanges list (although any editor can still choose to see them by clicking "show bots").

On Wikia, a user who wishes to use a bot should set up a separate account for it, then talk with other users on the wiki (using discussion pages or forums) about whether the types of edits the bot makes should be hidden. This depends on the bot's purpose, how often it edits, and how well the bot user is trusted by the community.

If the community agrees that the bot account should be flagged, contact the Wikia Community Team with a link to the discussion and the bot flag will be added.

What can administrators do on a wiki?
Administrators can:


 * delete pages and page histories. They can also undelete a previously deleted page, or undelete specific revisions of it.
 * delete and undelete uploaded images and other files.
 * rename pages in the File: namespace.
 * protect a page so that only users with certain access levels can alter it.
 * block an IP address or user name from editing.
 * revert bad edits more easily using a "rollback" link which appears on diff pages and user contributions lists.
 * edit the MediaWiki namespace to make changes to the interface.

For details, see the Help:Administrators' how-to guide.

On Wikipedia, an admin is defined as a "trusted user". You should be aware that this might not be the case on Wikia. The founder of a wiki will be given admin access to that wiki on the Principle of First Trust. If a user later turns out to be irresponsible with the admin access, it may be removed by one of the wiki's bureaucrats at any time.

If there is no active bureaucrat available to remove the rights, please contact the Community Team and provide a link to the community discussion showing why the user should no longer have admin access.

What can bureaucrats do on a wiki?
A bureaucrat can make other users into bureaucrats, and can grant and revoke administrator and rollback rights for users on their wiki. Unlike Wikipedia's bureaucrats, Wikia bureaucrats cannot grant and revoke "bot" status or rename user accounts.

Please contact the Community Team if the community decides bureaucrat access should be removed from a user.

How do I grant rollback or admin rights?


A bureaucrat can grant rollback, administrator, and bureaucrat rights using Special:UserRights. While bureaucrats can revoke rollback and admin rights, only staff can remove bureaucrat rights. There is a link to UserRights on the list of special pages, which is always available in the toolbox in the sidebar menu. Sysops have the rollback ability by default, so adding rollback to administrators grants no additional rights.

First enter the user's name (capitalization matters!) and click "Edit User Groups". The form shown at the right will be made available. Select the appropriate right(s) under "Groups you can change", fill in "Reason for change", and click "Save User Groups". Make sure you're giving rights to the right person by checking the links to the user page and the contributions! Once you save the form, a confirmation message will display which groups the user is now in, and the change in rights will be recorded at Special:Log/rights.

The user gains administrator access immediately. There is a link to the user's talk page on the form -- after receiving the confirmation, you may wish to use this to notify and congratulate the user, and perhaps provide links to Help:Administrators' how-to guide and any local policies for administrators on your wiki.

Who are users in the "vstf" group?
The Volunteer Spam Task Force, abbreviated to "VSTF", are experienced and involved Wikians who have administrator access to all Wikia. They also have tools allowing them to combat cross-wiki spam and vandalism.

See SpamTaskForce for more info, or Special:ListUsers/vstf for a list.

Who are users in the "helper" group?
Helpers consist of contractors and volunteer interns who are working for Wikia. They have administrator access to all Wikia.

See Wikia Helper Group for more info, or Special:ListUsers/helper for a list.

What are the users in "staff" group?
User in staff group are Wikia employees and they have full access to all Wikia wikis. They will be shown in Special:Listusers/staff on any wiki. Please see Help:Contacting Wikia for details on how to contact Wikia staff.

Staff members can use "oversight" (revision hiding) tools to remove certain revisions permanently (for instance, those that contain personal information such as addresses and phone numbers).

What can't blocked users do?
Blocked users can't:
 * Edit pages
 * Move pages
 * Upload files

In some cases, blocked users are also prevented from emailing other users, creating new accounts, and editing their own user talk page.

How can I find out who the admins or bureaucrats are?
See Special:ListUsers and choose the "administrators", "rollback", or "bureaucrats" check boxes, and click "Show". If you are logged in, you will see a column showing the date of the user's most recent edit, so you can find users that have been active most recently.

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