 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Administrators should consider how their use of the tools is perceived by non-administrators and act in ways that do not perpetuate authoritarianism. |
Wikipedia administrators are editors with specific permissions to perform various administrative tasks, sometimes referred to as sysops, the traditional term for computer bulletin board administrators. There are three primary tools that administrators can use to affect the day-to-day editing of non-administrators: preventing user write access to certain pages (page protection), preventing user read access to certain pages (page deletion), and preventing user write access to nearly every page on Wikipedia (blocking).
This best practices guide is a collection of opinions and is not binding. It is based on the perspective of experienced users regarding how administrators can, intentionally or unintentionally, upset users without administrative privileges.