Administrator training

1. Administrator Training

Introduction

Becoming a MediaWiki administrator is a significant responsibility within a wiki community. Administrators are entrusted with the tools and permissions to maintain the health, security, and functionality of the wiki. This article serves as a comprehensive guide for aspiring administrators, outlining the necessary skills, knowledge, and ethical considerations required for the role. It’s designed for beginners, assuming little to no prior administrative experience. This guide will cover everything from understanding core MediaWiki concepts to navigating complex administrative tasks. Understanding the principles of Help:Contents is crucial even before applying for adminship.

What Does an Administrator Do?

Administrators perform a variety of tasks vital to the smooth operation of a wiki. These tasks can be broadly categorized as follows:

• **User Rights Management:** Granting and revoking user rights, including administrator, bureaucrat, and other custom rights. This is a crucial responsibility requiring careful judgment.
• **Blocking Users:** Temporarily or permanently preventing disruptive users from editing the wiki. Blocking is a serious action and should be used judiciously, following established Blocking policy.
• **Deleting Pages:** Removing pages that violate policy, are irrelevant, or are redundant. Deletion requires adherence to the Deletion policy.
• **Protecting Pages:** Restricting editing access to specific pages to prevent vandalism or edit wars. Different levels of protection are available, from full protection to semi-protection. See Protection policy.
• **Merging Pages:** Combining content from multiple related pages into a single, more comprehensive article.
• **Suppressing Revisions:** Hiding problematic revisions from public view while preserving the edit history.
• **Oversight:** Dealing with sensitive content such as personal information or copyright violations. This usually requires additional permissions and training.
• **Template Editing:** Maintaining and updating templates, which are reusable building blocks for wiki pages.
• **Category Management:** Ensuring correct categorization of pages for easy navigation and organization.
• **Responding to Reports:** Investigating and addressing reports of vandalism, spam, or policy violations.
• **Technical Maintenance:** Occasionally, assisting with technical tasks such as database maintenance or software updates (depending on the wiki's setup).

Prerequisites for Adminship

Before applying for administrator status, you should demonstrate several key qualities and skills:

• **Familiarity with Wiki Policies:** A thorough understanding of the wiki's policies and guidelines is paramount. This includes understanding content policies, behavioral expectations, and dispute resolution processes.
• **Active Participation:** Regularly contributing to the wiki by creating and editing content demonstrates commitment and understanding of the wiki's scope.
• **Trustworthiness:** Administrators must be trusted by the community to exercise their powers responsibly and impartially.
• **Neutrality:** The ability to remain neutral in disputes and make decisions based on policy, not personal opinions.
• **Communication Skills:** Clear and concise communication is essential for interacting with other users and explaining administrative actions.
• **Patience and Diplomacy:** Dealing with disruptive users and resolving conflicts often requires patience and diplomacy.
• **Technical Proficiency:** A basic understanding of MediaWiki syntax and functionality is helpful, but not always required. However, a willingness to learn is crucial.
• **Understanding of Conflict resolution:** Knowing how to mediate disputes is essential.
• **Knowledge of Edit summaries:** Using clear and informative edit summaries is a good practice for all editors, but especially for administrators.

Core MediaWiki Concepts

Administrators need a solid understanding of the underlying principles of MediaWiki:

• **Namespaces:** Different areas of the wiki used for different types of content (e.g., Article, User, Talk, Template). Understanding namespaces is crucial for navigating the wiki and managing content.
• **Pages and Revisions:** Every change to a wiki page creates a new revision. Administrators need to be able to view and compare revisions.
• **Watchlists:** Users can "watch" pages to receive notifications of changes.
• **History Pages:** Each page has a history page that shows all previous revisions and the users who made them.
• **Diffs:** Administrators frequently use "diffs" to compare different revisions of a page and identify changes.
• **User Rights:** Permissions that control what users can do on the wiki. This is where administrator rights come into play.
• **Special Pages:** Pages that provide administrative tools and information, such as user lists, log files, and statistics. See Special:ListUsers for example.
• **API (Application Programming Interface):** While not essential for basic administration, understanding the API can be useful for automating tasks.

Administrative Tools and How to Use Them

MediaWiki provides a suite of administrative tools accessible through the "Special:" namespace and user preferences. Here's a breakdown of some key tools:

• **Special:BlockIP:** Used to block users or IP addresses from editing the wiki. Carefully consider the duration of the block and the reason for blocking. Always provide a clear reason. See also: [IP blocking strategies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address_blocking).
• **Special:Delete:** Used to delete pages. Deletion should only be used for pages that violate policy. Deletion logs are publicly accessible. [Deletion policies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_policy) are crucial.
• **Special:Protect:** Used to protect pages from editing. Different levels of protection are available. Protection should be used to prevent vandalism or edit wars. [Page protection guidelines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Protection_policy) are important.
• **Special:UserRights:** Used to manage user rights. This is where you grant and revoke administrator, bureaucrat, and other rights. [User rights management best practices](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:User_rights).
• **Special:Logs:** Accesses various log files, including block logs, delete logs, and rights changes logs. Logs are invaluable for tracking administrative actions and identifying potential problems. [Log file analysis techniques](https://www.sitepoint.com/log-file-analysis/).
• **Special:ListUsers:** Allows you to browse and search for users.
• **Special:VersionHistory:** Displays the revision history of a page.
• **Special:ComparePages:** Compares two different revisions of a page.

Dealing with Common Administrative Issues

• **Vandalism:** Quickly reverting vandalism and, if necessary, blocking the vandal. Utilize tools like [Vandalism detection bots](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Vandalism_Filter).
• **Spam:** Removing spam links and blocking spammers. Consider using [SpamBlacklist](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SpamBlacklist).
• **Edit Wars:** Attempting to mediate the dispute and, if necessary, protecting the page or blocking involved users. [Mediation strategies](https://www.mediate.com/articles/mediation.cfm).
• **Disruptive Users:** Addressing disruptive behavior through warnings, blocks, or other appropriate measures. [Dealing with difficult users](https://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-Difficult-People).
• **Copyright Violations:** Removing copyrighted material and potentially blocking users who repeatedly infringe copyright. [Copyright law basics](https://www.copyright.gov/).
• **Personal Information Disclosure:** Suppressing revisions that contain personal information. This often requires oversight permissions. [Data privacy regulations](https://www.gdpr.eu/).
• **Content Disputes:** Facilitating discussion and helping users reach consensus. [Consensus building techniques](https://www.beyondintractability.org/bk/consensus).

Ethical Considerations

Administrators have a significant amount of power, and it's crucial to exercise that power responsibly and ethically:

• **Impartiality:** Make decisions based on policy, not personal opinions or biases.
• **Transparency:** Be transparent about your actions and provide clear explanations for your decisions.
• **Respect:** Treat all users with respect, even those you disagree with.
• **Due Process:** Give users a chance to explain their actions before taking disciplinary measures.
• **Avoid Abuse of Power:** Do not use your administrative tools to silence dissent or impose your views.
• **Confidentiality:** Respect the confidentiality of sensitive information.
• **Follow the Golden Rule:** Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Advanced Administration Techniques

• **Regular Expressions (Regex):** Useful for identifying and removing patterns of vandalism or spam. [Regex tutorial](https://www.regular-expressions.info/).
• **SQL Queries:** For advanced data analysis and manipulation. [SQL tutorial](https://www.w3schools.com/sql/).
• **API Scripting:** Automating administrative tasks using the MediaWiki API. [MediaWiki API documentation](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Main_page).
• **Extension Management:** Installing and configuring extensions to add functionality to the wiki. [MediaWiki extensions directory](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension_directory).
• **Server Administration:** (If applicable) Managing the wiki server, including software updates and security patches. [Server security best practices](https://owasp.org/).
• **Monitoring Website traffic and user activity:** Using tools like Google Analytics or dedicated wiki analytics extensions.
• **Analyzing User behavior patterns:** Identifying potential issues before they escalate.
• **Implementing Security audits regularly:** Identifying and addressing vulnerabilities.
• **Understanding Database optimization techniques:** Ensuring the wiki performs efficiently.
• **Utilizing Caching mechanisms to improve performance:** Reducing server load and improving response times.
• **Staying updated with MediaWiki releases and security patches:** Ensuring the wiki is secure and up-to-date.
• **Implementing Content Delivery Networks (CDNs):** Improving performance for users in different geographic locations.
• **Using Monitoring tools to track server health and performance:** Proactively identifying and resolving issues.
• **Understanding Load balancing techniques:** Distributing traffic across multiple servers to improve performance and reliability.

Resources for Administrators

• **MediaWiki Handbook:** [1]
• **MediaWiki Developer Documentation:** [2]
• **MediaWiki Extension Directory:** [3]
• **Wikimedia Foundation Wiki:** [4]
• **Your Wiki’s Specific Documentation:** Consult any locally created documentation specific to your wiki.

Conclusion

Becoming a MediaWiki administrator is a challenging but rewarding experience. It requires dedication, responsibility, and a commitment to the principles of collaboration and community. By understanding the concepts, tools, and ethical considerations outlined in this article, you can prepare yourself for the role and contribute to the success of your wiki. Remember that continuous learning and community engagement are essential for effective administration. Learning about Technical indicators and Trading strategies can help you understand how information is presented and analyzed, which can be useful in evaluating user contributions and identifying potential issues.

Help:User rights Help:Blocking Help:Deletion Help:Protection Help:Talk pages Help:Editing Help:Contents Manual:Configuration settings Manual:FAQ Special:ListUsers

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