Stewards policy
From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki
| ←Policies and guidelines | Steward policies |
| This page outlines policies and guidelines for Stewards. For instructions and other documentation, see Steward handbook. |
Contents |
[edit] Policies
[edit] Don't decide
Stewards do not make decisions, such as whether a user should (or should not) be promoted. Their task is to implement valid community consensus. If there are any doubts as to whether an action should or should not be performed, stewards should not act unless it is an emergency situation requiring immediate action or there are no active local users to do it.
Stewards should always be neutral. They can vote in elections, but when executing the result of the election the steward has to act according to the result, even if they disagree.
[edit] Don't promote users on projects with existing bureaucrats
Local bureaucrats are responsible for granting sysop, bureaucrat, and bot rights. Stewards should only grant these rights on a project if there are no active bureaucrats available on that project.
If a steward also has bureaucrat access on a particular project, they should grant rights using the local bureaucrat interface rather than the stewards' interface on Meta. This increases transparency, since the action will be logged on the local wiki, and reduces confusion about which role the user is acting as.
[edit] Avoid conflicts of interest
Stewards should use their judgment to avoid conflicts of interest, situations where they are not impartial to the decision. Such situations should be left to neutral stewards. These include:
- using steward access on any wiki where they have been blocked;
- changing rights on home wikis (wikis where they are active community members), except for clearcut cases (such as self-requested removal or emergencies).
[edit] Transparency
Requests for steward action should be made on the relevant steward request page. When a community asks that rights be changed, a link should be provided to the page where the action was discussed and agreed upon by the community. Steward activity is visible in the Meta logs. When a request is fulfilled, stewards should note this on the Meta request page, and ideally on the local request page if there is one.
Discussion of steward actions should occur on Meta, rather than privately, so editors can understand the stewards' decisions. If a steward has doubts about a request, they should let the other stewards know so the request will not be granted by another steward.
[edit] Check local policies
Should a wiki have existing policies regarding the steward action, stewards must ensure requests conform to the relevant policy before granting, or that a consensus in favour exists.
[edit] Processes
[edit] Elections
[edit] Candidates
Steward elections are usually held annually or when new stewards are needed, and are announced on Meta. Voting is typically open for three weeks.
Because stewardship may require actions with legal consequences, only those individuals who have attained the age of 18 years are eligible to stand for election. You must identify yourself personally to the Wikimedia Foundation office and supply proof of your age and real-life identity. The granting of administrative powers through stewardship is not to be taken lightly. These requirements are the same as those required of persons running for the Board of Trustees.
Applicants must attain the following criteria during voting to be eligible for stewardship. The Board will select a number of users from the eligible candidates.
- at least 30 votes in favor;
- at least 80% overall votes in favor, with neutral votes not counting toward the overall total;
- have an account on Meta with a linked account on another project;
- be active for at least 3 months on that project;
- preferably be active on Meta as well. Link to your contributions, mention user rights such as administrator access, and write short statement regarding your background on Wikimedia, current activity and anything else you consider relevant.
[edit] Voters
Anyone can vote provided that they have a valid account on meta with a link to at least one user page on a project where they participated in the project for at least three months (not just edits to their own user page).
[edit] Loss of steward access
[edit] Inactivity
Any steward inactive (as a steward) on meta for a full year will have their steward permissions removed. "Inactive" means no steward action in the past 6 months and fewer than 10 steward actions in the last year. They may re-apply through the regular process.
[edit] Poll after a year
Stewardship is not a lifetime status. Users get it if they need it, keep it if people trust them, and lose it if they do not need it or are no longer trusted. Steward status is granted until the next yearly elections, where users will be invited to comment and in particular to ask for removal of status. Should the stewards determine that consensus exists for a steward's rights be removed, the steward will lose their status.
