Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/Wiki-Project Management (Jonathan Obar)/Group 3 Sandbox/Bookshelf Sandbox/Beginner Section

Beginner Section
This section is dedicated to users that are new to Wikipedia and would like to learn about the basics about the site and about being an administrator. In this section you will learn about the founding principles of Wikipedia, policies, tasks that are performed by Wikipedia administrators, and more.

The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
The Five Pillars of are a basis for all of Wikipedia. The pillars are a guiding foundation that all of Wikipedia is built around. It is important for all editors to know these principles and it is even more important that all admins know and understand them. The five pillars are as follows: I. Wikipedia is an Encyclopedia II. Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view. III. Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use, modify, and distribute. IV. Editors should interact with each other in a respectful and civil manner. V. Wikipedia does not have firm rules.

For more information on the pillars, please visit the five pillars article WP:PILLARS

Policies
As noted in the Five Pillars, Wikipedia does not have any firm rules or rules that are unchangeable. However, even though there are not permanent rules, there are various policies and guidelines that are used to provide guidance to administrators and editors about how they should conduct themselves on Wikipedia. While it is difficult for anyone to know all of the specific policies and guidelines, it is helpful to at least familiarise yourself with them. Below are a few examples of guidelines to give you an idea about what they contain. For more information on these you can visit WP:PG for information about the policies and POLICYLIST for a list of all the policies and guidelines.

WP:NPV Neutral Point of View: One of the more important policies of Wikipedia is Neutral Point of View. This policy means that every article should be written without a bias and should be written with facts rather than opinions. This Neutral Point of View is what helps keep wikipedia reliable.

WP:BITE Please do not bite the newcomers: It can be intimidating for someone to begin getting involved in Wikipedia. If a new user is scolded or reprimanded unnecessarily, they will not want to contribute, and the community will suffer from lack of growth. Keep this in mind when dealing with newcomers, and provide constructive criticism rather that just scolding someone for their mistakes.

About Administrators
Administrators on Wikipedia play an important role in the successful operation of the site. Made up of 1,504 volunteers, these administrators, commonly referred to as admins, are experienced editors who have been given special tools to aid them in moderating the site.

Requirements
To become a Wikipedia administrator, there are several steps and measures to be taken before one even qualifies for a Wikipedia administrator position. The position of Wikipedia administrator is considered to be one of utmost responsibility, work ethic, and trust to use its power for the benefit of the Wikipedia community by performing several, and in some cases considered arduous, tasks. The formal process that a contributor undergoes is called the Request for Adminship (RfA). WP:RFA is the page on Wikipedia that describes it as the process by which the Wikipedia community decides, playing on the concept of a social network, who will become an administrator and who cannot. The page goes on to describe that to become an administrator, there needs to be a clear consensus that one is committed to Wikipedia and can be trusted to know and uphold it’s policies and guidelines.

Consensus (WP:CON), another important Wikipedia policy, generally refers to the primary method in which decisions are made on Wikipedia. It is also accepted as the best method to reach the goal of Wikipedia as a web encyclopedia8. In terms of Requests of Adminship, it means whether the Wikipedia community develops a consensus on whether an editor should be given administrator rights. To describe the step-by-step process of how an editor requests for administrator privileges, we can take a look at a successful request for adminship by a user named Dpmuk. Firstly, there has to be a nomination involved. This can be done by another editor nominating the user for an admin position, or by the user nominating himself. In this case, Dpmuk chose to nominate himself by stating that he has been active on Wikipedia for quite a few years, and that he feels he is ready to become an admin. In his nomination statement, he also mentions his edit count at 7000, and explains his lack of edits in a time period due to writing his PhD thesis. He also vows to pick up his editing levels as he has settled into a new job and has more time on his hands. After nomination, the candidate has to answer 3 questions that every editor must answer thoroughly and competently, along with optional additional questions posed by RfA contributors. The 3 questions are as follows:


 * 1) What administrative work do you intend to take part in?
 * 2) What are your best contributions to Wikipedia, and why?
 * 3) Have you been in any conflicts over editing in the past or have other users caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future?

The community then has a minimum of 7 days to engage in discussion, asking the candidate questions and presenting their opinions, voting Support, Oppose, or Neutral, and stating their reasons for doing so. Here is an example of a contributor and his supporting statement: “Support Given your good reason for wanting the admin tools, thoughtful and sensible responses to the questions and good track record as an editor, I think that you'd use the admin tools responsibly. Nick-D (talk) 10:32, 13 February 2012 (UTC)”

Other than the vote count, he demonstrated to the contributors that he possesses the skills and knowledge to become a successful admin, he also provided to them the qualifications they would expect from a becoming admin. Below are some of the qualities contributors look for in approving an RfA: All in all, successful RfA’s are not mandatory to display all the items on the list to become an admin, but nonetheless they are strong indicators that an editor is ready to become an admin and serve the Wikipedia community as diligently as possible.
 * 1) Strong edit history
 * 2) Varied experience
 * 3) User interaction
 * 4) Trustworthiness
 * 5) Helping with chores
 * 6) High quality of articles
 * 7) Observing Consensus
 * 8) Edit Summaries
 * 9) A clean back log

Request for Adminship
Request for Adminship (RfA) is the process a Wikipedia user must successfully complete in order to become an administrator. The RfA process invites all members of the community to review the candidate, and ask the candidate questions or express their thoughts and opinions. While there is a log of users who support, oppose, or are neutral toward the candidate, the ultimate decision for granted adminship is decided by a Wikipedia bureaucrat. More details regarding the RfA process can be found at Requests for adminship.

It is advised for users who have been nominated, or wish to be nominated to the RfA process to review past RfA cases. Useful information can be gathered by from previous RfA cases, and can show aspiring administrators what qualities the Wikipedia community looks for in an individual when choosing a new administrator. More information on past successful and unsuccessful RfAs can be found at Successful requests for adminship and Unsuccessful adminship candidacies.

Ethics for All Users
The Wikipedia Ethical Code applies to all users not just administrators. The ethics policy describes some considerations that an editor should keep in mind while working on the site. Some of the items mentioned in the code are to allow different points of view, avoid personal agendas, and to be honest. These points can help to guide a user while making edits so that the site remains true to the five pillars. The full ethical code can be found at: [Ethical Code for Wikipedians].

Additional Considerations for Admins
Wikipedia administrators are given extra powers over the site, and therefore there is more that is expected of them and their conduct. Admins are expected to use care and their best judgment when using any of the admin tools. The tools that are used by an administrator can cause a lot of trouble for other users and Wikipedia s a whole if not used carefully and thoughtfully. Administrators tend to be some of the more active users on Wikipedia and should try to set a good example for new and inexperienced users. It is important for administrators to be aware that they are held accountable for their actions when using the administrative tools. In most cases a user can question the actions of an admin if they believe the admin acted unjustly, and should expect a reasonable response. More detail on the expecations of admins can be found on the WP:ADMIN page and at or more specifically here: Expectations of Adminship.

Tasks
There are many tasks on Wikipedia that require the attention of an administrator. If a new administrator is looking for guidance on where they can help out, the Administrator Noticeboard is a good place to start. WP:AN is a listing of content on the site that requires admin attention. The items on this page are usually things that are backlogged or need to be cleaned up by an admin,. Below are a few examples of tasks you might find on WP:AN. Policies under Social Network Tasks: Policies under Encyclopedia Tasks:
 * WP:CFD : Categories for discussion is a place users can go to discuss actions regarding pages such as deletions or merges.
 * Requests for Closure is a list of incidents that are waiting to be closed by an administrator.
 * Users may come here to appeal their bans to the admin community.
 * Banning Policy
 * Blocking Policy
 * Harassment Policy
 * Protection Policy
 * Sock Puppetry Policy
 * Vandalism Policy
 * New Page Patrol Policy
 * Recent Changes Policy

Links on this page
Five Pillars / WP:Pillars Policies and Guidelines / WP:PG List of Policies / WP:POLICYLIST Request for Adminship / WP:RFA Successful Request for Adminship / WP:SRFA Unsuccessful Adminship Candidacies / WP:UAC Administrator Noticeboard / WP:AN Categories for discussion / WP:CFD Requests for Closure Expectations of Adminship