The Administrators Appointments Commission is a system that is proposed to supplement requests for adminship whenever the community determines that there is a shortage of administrators. The commission would not be a permanent body, but instead would be convened and its members elected by the community under a temporary mandate to appoint a number of administrators. The community would determine the approximate number of new administrators needed and the commission would endeavor to appoint more or less this number. The number is not set in stone and they may not be able to appoint as many as desired if there are not enough satisfactory candidates, and may appoint some more if there is an excess. If desired, the commission could be convened regularly on an annual basis.
The work of the commission would proceed as follows after it has been convened by the community :
- Phase 1 ( ~ 1 week) : discussion by the commission of the mandate set by the community and how to achieve it, exchange of views between members
- Phase 2 ( ~ 1 month) : search for candidates - candidates may nominate themselves, be nominated by others, or the commission may contact them directly
- Phase 3 ( ~ 1 week) : selection of suitable candidates - those who are clearly unsuitable or have withdrawn after discussing are not retained
- Phase 4 ( ~ 1 month) : announcement of the chosen candidates and invitation to provide feedback on the candidates to the commission privately
- Phase 5 ( ~ 1 week) : selection of successful candidates on merit, announcement of new administrators and dissolution.
The commission should thus be able to complete its mandate within three months, after which it is disbanded. The commission has no other mandate or responsibility. During the time of the commission being active, RFA is temporarily closed. It is not suggested that a commission be convened on a regular basis, but only when the circumstances make it necessary. The temporary nature of the commission should also make it more welcoming to members.
The commission would be composed of seven (resp. nine) members, three (resp. four) of them administrators, three (resp. four) of them non-administrators, and one bureaucrat. The bureaucrat would act as representative of the commission to the community. The Commission would have at its disposal a mailing list where members can discuss privately, and where non-members can provide feedback. Being a member of the commission does not grant any administrative responsibility on Wikipedia and as such, non-administrator members would not be granted adminship.
Administrators chosen through this process would have identical terms as those chosen through RFA.