Wikimedia:Accounts policy

This page outlines the accounts policy for the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki.

Registered accounts

Register account

Anyone with a registered Wikimedia account has an account on the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki.

Editor group accounts

Accounts with editor group access are Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors approved by the Communications or Legal departments to have editor rights to this wiki to perform their work duties.

Expectations

Members of the editor group are expected to:

• Operate within this wiki's policies, guidelines, and procedures, in particular:
  • Conduct policy
  • Content posting guidelines
  • Namespaces guidelines
  • Scope
  • Translations guidelines
• Follow this wiki's manual of style.
• Familiarize yourself with this wiki's editors toolbox and user manual.
• Join the internal #governance-wiki Slack channel.
• Contact the wiki's Core Administrators Team with questions, problems, or for assistance.

Administrators

Administrators on the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki are Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors approved by the Communications or Legal departments to have administrator rights to this wiki to perform their work duties.

Stewards and Global sysops

Volunteers elected to serve as Stewards or selected to serve as Global sysops also have administrator rights on the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki. However, they may not edit actual content within the main content namespaces without first checking with the Foundation.

Translation administrator rights

Global sysops or Stewards interested in supporting efforts to address vandalism within translations may request to be added to the "Translation administrators" group. While Global Sysops and Stewards have many of the sysop rights on this wiki, rights associated with the Translation administrators group are necessary to manage pages setup for translation.

To request being added to the Translation administrators group, please post a request on the Babel page or contact the Foundation's Communications department (talktocommswikimediaorg) with your request.

Requesting editor or administrator rights

Staff may contact the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki Core Administrators Team via the internal #governance-wiki Slack channel once receiving approval from a manager within Legal or Communications. Staff can also check the Foundation Governance Wiki page on Office Wiki for contact information on the current project lead for Foundation Governance Wiki.

Steps for Wikimedia Foundation staff requesting editor rights

1. Receive and document (via email or Slack) authorization from your manager to request editor rights on this wiki.
2. If your manager is not within the Communications or Legal department, you must also receive and document (via email or Slack) authorization to receive editor rights on this wiki from a manager in either the Communications or Legal department.
   • If you are going to use the talktocommswikimedia.org email process to make your request for editor access, you may also use your email as a request for manager approval from the Communications department.
3. If you do not already have one, establish a Wikimedia Foundation affiliated account for use on Wikimedia project wikis by having your manager contact Wikimedia Foundation IT Services (techsupportwikimedia.org). Creation of an account is generally done as a part of onboarding.
   • You do not need to request an additional account for this wiki, and your login credentials for Wikimedia project wikis should work on this wiki. However, your login credentials for Office Wiki are separate and may not work on this wiki.
4. Contact the wiki's Core Administrators Team and request editor group rights. It may be easier for your manager to make the request, but you should either include them in the request or provide documentation of manager approval(s). As of March 2024, the preferred methods of reaching the Core Administrators Team with requests for addition of rights are to do one of the following:
   • Reaching the Core Administrators Team via the internal #governance-wiki Slack channel.
   • Putting in a request to Communications department via the talktocommswikimedia.org email process.
   • Contacting a member of the Core Administrators Team via Slack.

Wikimedia Foundation staff requesting administrator rights

Generally, administrator rights are not necessary for most staff and board activities on this wiki. However, if you believe you may require these rights to do your work, please contact the current Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki project lead on Slack or the wiki's Core Administrators Team via the internal #governance-wiki Slack channel to begin a conversation on your needs.

Wikimedia Foundation Board Trustees requesting editor or administrator rights

Any member of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees seeking editor or administrator rights should contact the Office of the CEO, who will then document the access and request processing by the wiki's Core Administrators Team.

Wikimedia Global Sysops and Stewards requesting translation administrator rights

Thank you for your interest in supporting the efforts of Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki! If you would like translation administrator rights simply:

• Make a request on Babel.
• Or contact a member of the wiki's Core Administrators Team.

Removal of rights

Due to departures, changes in roles, or unfortunately sometimes misconduct - removal of rights from an account is sometimes necessary.

Blocks and bans

Please refer to the Blocks and bans section of this wiki's Conduct policy for more information on blocks and bans on this wiki.

Staff departures or change in roles

Requests for removal of rights from staff accounts should be sent by the accountholder's manager, People department representative, or an IT Services representative to this wiki's Core Administrators Team.

As of March 2024, the preferred method of reaching the Core Administrators Team requests related to removal of rights from staff accounts is to contact a member of the Core Administrators Team via Slack or email. Due to the sometimes sensitive nature of these requests, they should not be made via large group channels (such as group emails or Slack channels).

Board departures

Requests for removal of rights from accounts held by departing members of the Foundation's Board of Trustees should be sent by a representative from the Office of the CEO, IT Services, or People department.

As of March 2024, the preferred methods of reaching the Core Administrators Team with requests for removal of rights from Trustee accounts are to do one of the following:

• Reaching the Core Administrators Team via the internal #governance-wiki Slack channel.
• Putting in a request to Communications department via the talktocommswikimedia.org email process.
• Contacting a member of the Core Administrators Team via Slack.

Processes for account maintenance

The below is intended as helpful reminders for the wiki's Core Administrators Team when processing account related requests.

Granting editor access to Foundation staff or Board accounts

Any member of the wiki's Core Administrators Team may provide editor access once a request is formally made.

Anyone granting editor group rights to Foundation staff or Board should:

1. Verify the person making request has approval from their manager, and if not a member of the Communications or Legal departments, a manager from one of those two departments.
   • If request is made via talktocommswikimedia.org email address without prior approval from Communications or Legal manager, verify that Communications has approved the request.
   • If request is made by a current member of the Foundation Board, no verification is needed.
2. If account has not been created locally, use Special:CreateLocalAccount to create a local account.
3. Provide requested account access to editor user group for indefinite amount of time, unless a specific end date was associated with the request.
4. Post {{welcome}} message to user's talk page using {{subst:welcome}}.
5. If possible, add accountholder to the internal #governance-wiki Slack channel.
6. If accountholder is a member of the Foundation Board, notify Office of the CEO that access has been granted.

Granting administrator access to Foundation staff or Board accounts

As of September 2024, only the Core Administrators Team's Project Lead has the bureaucrat rights on their staff account required to provide administrator rights. The Trust and Safety team can also provide administrator rights if the project lead is otherwise unable to process the request.

Anyone granting administrator rights to Foundation staff or Board should:

1. Follow above steps if also providing editor access.
2. Verify the person making request has approval from their manager.
3. Verify the account's need for administrator access has been established by the Core Administrators Team.
4. Provide requested account access to administrator user group for indefinite amount of time, unless a specific end date was associated with the request.
5. Notify the Core Administrators Team via the internal #governance-wiki Slack channel that access has been granted.
6. If accountholder is a member of the Foundation Board, notify Office of the CEO that access has been granted.

Granting translation administrator access to Global Sysop or Steward accounts

As of September 2024, the Core Administrators Team is able to provide translation administrator rights. The Trust and Safety team can also provide translation administrator rights if the Core Administrators Team is otherwise unable to process the request. Stewards may also grant translation administrator rights at their discretion, or refer any requests to the Core Administrators Team.

Anyone granting administrator rights to Global Sysops or Stewards should:

1. Verify the account is held by a Global Sysop or Steward.
2. Provide requested account access to translation administrator user group for indefinite amount of time, unless a specific end date was associated with the request.

Removing editor or translation administrator rights from accounts

Any member of the wiki's Core Administrators Team may remove editor or translation administrator rights once a request is formally made.

Anyone removing editor group rights should:

1. Verify the request has appropriate manager, Office of the CEO, Office IT, or People department approval.
   • If person has publicly departed from their role, no additional verification is necessary.
2. Disable requested account's access to the editor or translation administrator user group.

Removing administrator access from accounts

Only the Wikimedia Foundation Trust & Safety team has the necessary access and authorization to remove administrator rights from an account on this wiki.

An accountholder's manager, Office of the CEO, Office IT, People department, or this wiki's Core Administrators Team may send any such requests, with documentation or explanation as needed, to the Trust & Safety team via their cawikimedia.org email address.

Regular audit of user group rights

At least once a fiscal year, the Core Administrators Team should conduct an audit of all accounts with editor, administrator, or translation administrator rights and verify each accountholder's association with the Foundation.

Any staff, Board, Global Sysops, or Stewards no longer in their roles should have their associate user group rights removed. Members of the Core Administrators Team may remove editor and translation administrator rights as needed. Requests for removal of administrator group rights should be sent to the Foundation's Trust & Safety team.