Editing Encyclopedia:Administrators (section)

== Review and removal of adminship ==
{{anchor|Removal of adminship (desysopping)}}
{{shortcut|WP:DESYSOP}}
If an administrator abuses administrative rights, the rights can be removed via a ruling of the [[Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee|Arbitration Committee]]. Arbitrators can also opt to place lesser penalties against problematic administrators, including the restriction of their use of certain functions or placement on administrative probation. 

The community may start a [[Wikipedia:Administrator recall|recall petition]] to require an administrator's status to be reconfirmed through a re-request for adminship (RRfA).<ref name="recall" /> Some administrators will voluntarily stand for reconfirmation under certain circumstances. See {{Section link|#Administrator recall}}. Users may also use [[WP:DR|dispute resolution]] to request comment on an administrator's suitability.

The technical ability to remove the administrator user right from an account is granted to the [[Wikipedia:Bureaucrats|bureaucrat]] and [[meta:Stewards|steward]] user groups (see [[Special:ListGroupRights]]). In emergency situations where local users are unable or unavailable to act, stewards are permitted by the [[Wikipedia:Global rights policy#Stewards|global rights policy]] to protect the best interests of Wikipedia by removing administrative permissions or [[Meta:Global locks|globally locking]] accounts and advising the Arbitration Committee after the fact.

{{tracked|T6055}}{{green|'''Technical note'''}} – Removal of rights performed by stewards does <u>not</u> show up in the usual user logs. Use {{tlx|Userrights|''username''}} for full links to user rights information and full logs, including the stewards' global logs on [[meta:|meta]] as well, or '''[[Special:ListUsers]]''' to verify a user's current rights.

=== Procedural removal for inactive administrators ===
{{see|Wikipedia:Inactive administrators}}
{{policy shortcut|WP:INACTIVITY}}

Administrators who meet one or both of the following criteria may be desysopped for inactivity:
#Has made neither edits nor administrative actions for at least a 12-month period<ref>[[Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/suspend sysop rights of inactive admins]], June 2011</ref>
#Has made fewer than 100 edits over a 60-month period.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)/Request for comment on administrator activity requirements]], March 2022</ref> 

This desysopping is reversible in some cases (see {{Section link|#Restoration of admin tools}}) and never considered a reflection on the user's use of, or rights to, the admin tools. The admin must be contacted on their user talk page on two occasions before the desysopping depending on the criterion:
:For criterion (1): One month before the request for desysopping and again several days before the desysopping goes into effect. 
:For criterion (2): Three months before the request for desysopping and again one month before the desysopping goes into effect. 
In addition, any editors who are falling lower than an average of 50 edits per year over a 5-year period should be notified by talk page message annually that they are at risk of falling below the required level in the future.

Desysopping on inactivity grounds should be handled by English Wikipedia [[Wikipedia:Bureaucrats|bureaucrats]]. The summary in the user rights log should make it clear that the desysopping is purely procedural.

If necessary, the user's userpage should be edited to clarify the status&nbsp;— particularly if any categorization is involved.

=== Voluntary removal ===
Administrators may request that their access to administrative tools be removed at [[Wikipedia:Bureaucrats' noticeboard]].

=== Disputes or complaints ===
{{see|Wikipedia:Dispute resolution}}

In most cases, disputes with administrators should be resolved with the normal dispute resolution process. If the dispute reflects seriously on a user's administrative capacity (blatant misuse of administrative tools, gross or persistent misjudgment or conduct issues), or if dialog fails, then the following steps are available:

==== Administrator recall ====
{{main article|Wikipedia:Administrator recall}}

The community may start a [[Wikipedia:Administrator recall|recall petition]] to require an administrator's status to be reconfirmed through a re-request for adminship (RRfA); administrator privileges will be removed if the administrator does not start an RRfA within 30 days of a successful recall petition, or does not pass the RRfA.<ref name="recall">Recall RFCs: {{blist|1={{slink|WP:Requests for adminship/2024 review/Phase I|Proposal 16: Allow the community to initiate recall RfAs}} and {{slink|WP:Requests for adminship/2024 review/Phase I|Proposal 16c: Community recall process based on dewiki|nopage=y}}|2=[[WP:Requests for adminship/2024 review/Phase II/Administrator recall]]|3={{slink|Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)|Administrator Recall}}}}</ref>

In addition to this procedure, individual administrators may [[Wikipedia:Administrators open to recall|pledge to voluntarily step down]] if specified criteria are met. These criteria are set by each administrator for themselves, and usually detailed in their userspace. Administrators who made such pledges may change them at any time, or decline to adhere to previously made recall pledges. Most of these voluntary pledges were made before the RRfA procedure was introduced for all administrators.

==== Arbitration Committee review ====
This is an involuntary process. Generally, the Arbitration Committee requires that other steps of dispute resolution are tried before it intervenes in a dispute, such as raising the issue at [[Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents]]. However, if the matter is serious enough, the Arbitration Committee may intervene early on. Remedies that may be imposed, at the discretion of the committee, include warnings, admonishments, restrictions, and removal of administrator privileges.

=== Administrators subject to bans ===
{{shortcut|WP:BANDESYSOP}}
In general, administrators who are subject to restrictions such as topic bans, interaction bans, or blocks of any length keep their tools unless one of the above removal processes applies. However, as with [[WP:BANNEDRIGHTS|all other granted user rights]], the administrator tools will be removed from a user who is subject to an indefinite sitewide [[WP:CBAN|community ban]].<ref>[[Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)/Archive 181#Alternate proposal (Procedural community desysop)|2023 ''Procedural community desysop'' RfC]]</ref>