In the Marvel Database, the roles of bureaucrats, administrators, and moderators are reserved for distinguished members of the community, who are entrusted with added authority, responsibility and powers. Regular users are promoted first to moderators, and can subsequently become administrators, and then bureaucrats. These roles are open to almost any editor in the Marvel Database.
The bureaucrat role is a special position required to assign any other roles. In the unlikely case that there is no active bureaucrat without notice, administrators are required to vote a new one.
Requirements
The following are the attributes we are looking for in contributors to be granted either of these roles:
- Amicability: Administrators and moderators should strive to foster a friendly and healthy environment for fellow contributors. They are also expected to engage regularly in interactions with other users in a fair and restrained manner.
- Familiarity: Knowing the ins and outs of the Marvel Database, both as an encyclopedia and as a community, are vital for would-be administrators and moderators. Similarly, so is having a good breadth of knowledge of Marvel. Users do not need to have a firm grasp of every facet of Marvel, but it is expected to showcase a moderate level of familiarty with content both old and new, from the comics and other media.
- Conformity: Potential staff members need to show that they can work within the framework of our wiki's Policies and Guidelines and participate in reaching consensus.
- Quality: The contributions of staff members should be of substantial value, either content-wise or maintenance-wise.
- Consistency: Editors of the caliber to be staff members are expected to contribute to the wiki often enough their presence is tangible, and to have done so for at least 6 months to be eligible for moderator role, 2 years for administrator role, and 4 years for bureaucrat role.
- Variety: It is preferable if administrators and moderators involve themselves in different areas of the wiki, whether it is the creation of articles, edit-patrolling, or copy-editing. Their track record needs to show that they will benefit from the additional power and tools.
Nomination and Voting
Staff roles are not positions that can be self-nominated, but any user can recommend another peer of the same rank or below (a regular contributor can only nominate for a moderator position, a moderator can nominate for the roles of moderator and administrator role, and an administrator can nominate for moderator, administrator and bureaucrat). However, users that wish to cast a nomination need to have been similarly involved in the Marvel Database for a period of at least 6 months.
A nominator must bring their candidate to the attention of current staff members, preferably by reaching out to a single administrator or bureaucrat on their Message Wall and providing a comprehensive argument to substantiate their nomination. Staff members can be collectively reached out in the wiki's official Discord server, using the callback @Administrators, preferably in the channels #general or #wiki_matters (please note that verification for the latter is required beforehand via #wiki_matters_access). Staff members will evaluate if the nominee meets the requirements listed above, and voting will take place if the nominee accepts the candidacy. The rejection of nominations is not permanent: editors can be nominated again after 1 year. Contributors that have been blocked in the past due to severe policy violations are automatically ineligible.
Voting will subsequently take place in the Elections subpage of this article. Contributors are called through an announcement, as well as via the relevant Discord callback @Wiki Contributor in the Discord server and redirected to this page. Voting participation is limited to currently-active Marvel Database contributors. Editors who have performed fewer than 100 contributions in the last 6 months at the moment of the election may have their vote excluded from the tally at the discretion of the administrators. Abusing multiple accounts or recruiting non-active contributors to manipulate the votes is strictly forbidden and is a blockable offense.
Votes are cast on a Yes/No basis, but contributors are encouraged to argument their decision, whether it's in support or in objection. Consensus is achieved when one of the two options has more votes than the other by a ratio of at least 1.5:1, with a minimum of 10 votes required and no new votes being cast. Vote will be open for 1 week. Once votes have been tallied, their effect will be immediate in case the promotion is green-lit by the community.
User Demotion
Contributors that have been granted staff roles will lose their status if they have been inactive for a period of one year without previous notice. They can also willingly step down from their duties and ask a bureaucrat to demote them. If a staff member begins editing sporadically, in a way that doesn't make use of their powers or that doesn't heed to their responsibilities, their role may be called into question by other staff members, which can lead to an internal vote to decide if the staff member is demoted. Staff members will also instantly lose their status if they commit any violation of the site's policies and guidelines. If you are a regular editor who has come across a policy violation from a staff member, don't hesitate to raise any concerns to other staff, or to our Fandom-appointed Community Manager, Spongebob456.
Demoted staff members will lose their extended user rights, and will be granted the cosmetic role of alumnus to reflect their service to the Marvel Database. Demoted staff members are eligible for nomination if they resume editing and meet the pre-established criteria.