Difference between revisions of "Administrators"

Revision as of 19:28, 13 July 2025

Current Administrators

The current list of wiki administrators can be found at Special:ListUsers/sysop.

Active Admins

Because players (even wiki admins) take breaks from Project 1999 and its wiki, finding an active admin can be challenging.

One option is to go through the above list and check each admin's editing history, looking for an admin who has edited anything within the past few months.

Another option is to contact Loramin (via wiki talk, or preferably through the more friendly forum PM system). Loramin has been helping the wiki since 2013, and remained available even when not playing on Project 1999, so while it can't be guaranteed, he almost certainly is active.

Administrator Standards

This wiki isn't big enough to have formal administrator standards: administrators are simply chosen by other administrators, after demonstrating an especially strong commitment to improving the wiki.

Because new administrators open up the possibility of massive wiki damage, only individuals who have demonstrated consistently good behavior, over at least a year of wiki work (preferably more), should be chosen.

Becoming an Administrator

The wiki currently has a healthy number of administrators, and so is not in need of more at this time.

If any administrator feels the wiki needs more, they are strongly encouraged to discuss the matter with other wiki administrators (and then invite new administrators).

What is an Administrator's Job?

Delete Inappropriate Content

When administrators find content which doesn't meet the Editing Standards (eg. it's not EQ-related, or related to out-of-era content), they should delete it. Ordinary editors can't delete pages, so they will instead add the Template:Delete. Administrators should (fully) delete these pages whenever they encounter them.

Solve Problematic Editors

First, a note: administrators should always default to assuming good editor intentions: no one should ever be penalized for making a good faith effort to improve the wiki.

However, when an individual clearly violates this wiki's (extremely open) Editing Standards, administrators should address the problem:

• • Warnings should be issued for minor or unintentional violations, especially if the offender is new to the community
  • Temporary (eg. one week) suspensions should be issued for deliberate violations
    • The administrator should always explain what the editor did wrong as they "put them on a time out"; offenders should know why they're being punished and be able to communicate their concerns (which may even result in the suspension being revoked, if the administrator missed key information)
  • Permanent bans should be issued if the individual has been warned or suspended previously, but continues to violate standards. Also, admins can jump straight to this punishment for non-community members, such as a penis pill spammer.

NOTE: Wiki admins are not here to make other people have a bad day! Try to have as much empathy as possible for offenders, while still upholding wiki standards.

If there's doubt, warnings should be issued before punishments, and permanent bans should only be used after lesser measures have failed (again, except for spammers and other non-community members).

• (If technical)
• (If Rahvin) do the same with back-end customizations
  • NOTE: Rahvin is only very rarely involved with the wiki at this point, which means it's extremely unlikely to ever get new back-end improvements

Wiki Customization Projects (Technical Admins Only)

Administrators who are also programmers can help install, maintain, and debug issues with wiki front-end customizations. Customizations include features like the "loc maps" (which display maps when you hover over a "loc" in the wiki), or the Per-Level Hunting Guide's filtering form. These customizations depend on special CSS and JavaScript that only administrators can add.

Non-technical admins (or non-admins) who have created customizations can contact a technical wiki admin (eg. Loramin). That admin should first inspect the code to ensure its safety and functionality, and then add it to the site (contact Loramin if you have technical questions).

While it is possible for a user to be granted admin privileges to install a customization themselves, for safety reasons this is strongly discouraged unless that user has an exemplary background.

Back-End Wiki Customization Projects (Rahvin-Only)

Only one admin, the wiki's original creator Rahvin, can install back-end Mediawiki PHP customizations (such as the wiki's dynamic zone lists or the auction tracker feature).

However, Rahvin stopped playing and administering the wiki many years ago. While he still comes back on rare occasions to help with wiki emergencies, he's otherwise unavailable. This means it's extremely unlikely that the wiki will ever get any new back-end customizations, or changes to existing ones.

(That being said, the code for the wiki's back-end extensions is available at [1], and it is hypothetically possible for a motivated PHP programmer to use it to create new custom code, and then convince Rahvin to install it ... it's just going to be a very hard sell.)

Make Great Edits

Ordinarily, "admin duties" shouldn't take up that much of an administrator's time, so normally their time will just be spent as an ordinary community member, improving the wiki and/or helping others do so.

Do "Advanced" Wiki Work

Some things in the wiki (eg. templates, especially ones with logic) don't actually require programming knowledge ... but they do require somewhat advanced wiki knowledge.

Any wiki editor can do "advanced" wiki work, but administrators in particular are encouraged to look for ways to use their expert wiki knowledge to simplify the wiki for others (eg. by creating a new template for something they see repeated in several places).