| abstract
| - Administrators do not have "command authority" in the sense that some imagine. They can draw a line based on policies and norms and judgment, and enforce that line with the tools; they often have good insight and suggestions to users; and they should be good at gaining others' cooperation and working with people. But they do not, ever, act as "managers" to people in the business sense. They implement policies which the community in broad has agreed upon. Thus for example:
* They do not "decide what people see". An administrator who deletes a page can only do so under circumstances the community has decided pages should be deleted, and in accordance with that communal decision, for the majority of the time. They implement this, they do not decide the policy. Likewise they implement a standard of editorship and use of blocking and protection which has already gained consensus via a discussion in which admins have absolutely no special authority of any kind.
* They do not need to know how "everything works". Every administrator has their strengths and weaknesses—some more than others. However, admins need to know enough not to misuse their sysop tools, and to conduct themselves well in the eyes of the community. The emphasis is on "not making mistakes," rather than being able to "do it all." Users do things, admins just handle the few exceptions where for practical reasons we don't let every new user do so. Even very experienced admins, including those elected to higher positions than administrator, don't know how "everything" works usually. However, work as a team—draw on each other's strengths, augment each other's weaknesses, and build a strong and solid admin-team.
* Administrators are users the community trusts. Simply put, they are trusted to operate the sysop tools provided by Wikia. This is very, very simple: Administrators should act responsibly in whatever (if anything) they do act upon.
* Admins should gain broad respect, but frankly no user is obligated to respect or listen to them (it's not a requirement of editing), and many will not. The only way you're ever going to gain respect is to first be respectful of others. This doesn't mean being a pushover, or not using your position to protect the community. Simply put, you're in a position that was given to you by the community—don't, in turn, disrespect the community by thinking you're above them. Blocking is not merely a tool used due to failure to know how to talk to people. Re-read that last sentence. After that…read it again. High standards are needed, but many people will have misconceptions of what it is that admins actually do. Mostly, admins are:
* users the community has decided based on experience that it trusts…
* users who adhere to a consistently good standard on general conduct as editors…
* users who are allowed to act as custodians of those tools that for pragmatic reasons need to be restricted in their access (due to the presence of many people on the internet who would use them for purposes that don't help the project)…
* users who are trusted to only use them to enact a decision within the standards that the community has decided, and not otherwise.
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