How to Act As a wikiHow Admin

Last Updated: January 25, 2025

To report something that needs immediate administrator attention, please post it on our Administrator Notice Board .

Administrators are those dedicated fanatics who willingly undertake some additional responsibilities to help ensure that wikiHow keeps on being a great place for all readers and contributors. Here are some admin duties that you can carry out.

Steps

1
Be kind in all situations. One of the things that brings users back to wikiHow after making mistakes is that the members of wikiHow are understanding and give second chances. You can't control whether or not other users do this, but as a wikiHow admin, you should always be polite and kind to other users, even when they're clearly out to cause trouble. Assume good faith. Who knows - maybe a troll that you end up coaching will turn out to be a wonderful contributor because you approached them kindly!
- It's understandable to get frustrated with a user who's continuously causing trouble or not listening to coaching, but never say this where they can see it. It's okay to vent to other users privately, but avoid stating your frustration on wikiHow.
. When carrying out administrator duties, you may anger others who don't understand why you reverted their edits, merged their page, or so forth. When this happens, listen carefully to the complaint and then respond in a fair, calm and civil manner. You are entitled to seek assistance from other admins, and you are also entitled to ignore or seek help for trolling, baiting and abuse.

Advertisement
3

Approve or reject suggested topics. It's important to make sure that junk doesn't get into the requested articles! Additionally, if you come across an article title in the article requests that's a clear violation of wikiHow's Deletion Policy or find one on the page of Suggested Topics to Delete, delete it using the Manage Suggestions tool.
4
Delete problem articles. You should exercise caution doing this. While spam, profanity, and nonsense pages can be deleted immediately, borderline cases should be simply nominated for deletion by writing {{nfd|reason for deletion}} on the page and the edit summary. Leave a comment on the discussion page explaining whether you think the article should or shouldn't be deleted.
- If an article has been tagged as {{speedy}}, it's often a courtesy to notify the article starter; however, this isn't a necessity.
- To delete an article immediately, check under the Admin tab for a button that says "Delete"; click on it, enter the reason for deleting the article, and confirm the article deletion.
5
Block users who are repeatedly attempting malicious acts like vandalism and harassment. While a short block lasting a few hours is often sufficient to discourage a person, longer blocks may be necessary in some cases. Feel free to block users for up to one month at your discretion. Even longer blocks are acceptable for repeat offenders and spambots. When spam is posted on wikiHow, see How to Add a Website to the wikiHow Spam Blacklist.
- Aim to avoid blocking users. Coaching is a better approach. Only block a user if multiple coaching attempts haven't worked or if they've been continuously severely disrupting the site (e.g. creating multiple offensive speedy articles, and recreating them after they get deleted).
- Don't block someone without warning unless they're a malicious sockpuppet. Check the user's Talk page and its history; if the user has not been warned, warn them by sending an appropriate template such as {{warning}}. If the behavior persists, then you may want to consider blocking them.
- Blocking is meant to prevent people from making continuous disruptive edits to the site. Blocking someone as a punishment or because you don't like them is unacceptable .
articles that need a new one. Rename or move popular pages carefully. In general, we want page names to be the simplest, most commonly searched way to describe the activity. That said, don't simplify titles to the point of subtracting meaning from the title.
7
Apply protection on certain articles . Protection is usually necessary for pages that are under vandalism attacks, are vandal-prone due to being a controversial topic or because they've been posted onto social media, and to stop edit wars. Try to remember to unprotect these pages once the attack has passed, or set a time for when the protection will expire.
- There are two levels of protection: semi-protection (only autoconfirmed users and admins can edit), and full protection (only admins can edit). Use discretion and good judgment to decide which level of protection to apply. Try to aim for only semi-protection if protection is even necessary.
- The most extreme type of protection, cascading protection, should rarely, if ever, be used. This kind of protection fully locks not just the page you are protecting but also any pages transcluded on that page .
8
Learn how to use the Administrator Notice Board . You probably used the ANB to report troublemakers before you became an admin, but now, as an admin, you're part of the team that's expected to handle those troublemakers. Learn how to use the ANB as an administrator, and when to step back and let another administrator (such as a checkuser) deal with the situation. Being an administrator doesn't mean you have to handle every report, but try to tackle the ones you can.
- If you're ever confused on what to do about a situation, don't be afraid to ask a more experienced administrator or a staff member. They'd be happy to help guide you.
Advertisement

Community Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Question

How can I block a user on wikiHow, and should I include a block duration?

Aasim

Top Answerer

To block a user on wikiHow, go to the Special:Block page, enter the username or IP address you want to block, specify a reason, set the block duration, and then click "Block."

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 4 Helpful 8

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Tips

Understand that adminship is not a trophy or reward. Administrators are simply normal wikiHowians who are willing to help out with extra responsibilities on the site.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Experience with patrolling can help make a wikiHow member a more attractive candidate for adminship. Patrolling is a great way to gain knowledge of our community policies and develop administrator skills in handling different types of situations. If you have a question about how to handle a situation, feel free to ask one of our administrators for help.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Volunteer for specific administrator projects such as maintaining the categories, nominating articles for featuring, and other housekeeping projects that appear from time to time. You can dream up your own project ideas, too.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Show More Tips

Warnings

Administrators are entrusted with responsibilities to ensure that wikiHow works the way it should for everyone in the wikiHow community. In the rare event than an admin might be found to be abusing such responsibilities, they may be subject to a loss of admin privileges. This is not done lightly because the community trusts you and expects that trust to be returned. If you are having difficulties at any stage with any aspect of the admin responsibilities, immediately request assistance from other admins, wikiHow's founder (Jack H), wikiHow's community manager (Jayne G) or the wikiHow staff.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Admins may not be under the age of 13. If an admin is appointed without revealing that they are under this age and this is later discovered, adminship will be decommissioned immediately. This is not a personal reflection but a rule about adminship on wikiHow that meets both legal and ethical requirements.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Additionally, admins are expected to use wisdom in applying the responsibilities vis-à-vis all users; there is no tolerance for misuse or unethical usage of admin powers in relation to other users on the site. (This warning does not relate to appropriate use of the powers in relation to vandals and spammers).

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Adminship is not a trophy. Admins are equal in status with all regular contributors on wikiHow. Practically speaking, admins take on some additional responsibilities requiring an exercise of reasoned judgment that ensures the smooth running of wikiHow for the whole community. In doing so, we also recognize and appreciate the efforts and willingness of admins to take on such responsibilities and do not place unrealistic expectations or burdens on our admins.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
If someone asks if you are an admin and you are not, be honest about it. Impersonating an admin is a way to get blocked.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Keep a strong password. If your account is compromised, then your admin rights will be revoked and your account will be blocked. Check Have I Been Pwned? to make sure your password is not stolen.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
If you are found misusing your admin rights, they will be revoked.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

How to Act As a wikiHow Admin

Steps

Community Q&A

Tips

Warnings

You Might Also Like

About this article

Did this article help you?

About this article

You Might Also Like

Explore Categories