Wikipedia:Administrator recall

You are invited to refine and workshop proposals to the recall process at Wikipedia:Administrator recall/Reworkshop. After the reworkshop is closed, the proposals will be voted on at an RfC.

Administrator recall is a process by which the community can require an administrator to make a re-request for adminship (RRfA) to retain their administrative privileges. It is one of several ways that adminship can be reviewed or removed.

In most cases, disputes with administrators should be resolved with the normal dispute resolution process outlined at WP:Administrators § Grievances by users ("administrator abuse"). Other methods of dispute resolution should be attempted before a recall petition is initiated.

Petition

Any extended confirmed editor may start a petition for an active^[a] administrator to make a re-request for adminship if they believe that the administrator has lost the trust of the community. The petition may not be created within twelve months of the administrator's last successful request for adminship, request for bureaucratship, or re-request for adminship, or within twelve months of the administrator being elected an administrator or elected to the Arbitration Committee. If a petition fails, another petition to recall the same administrator may not be started for six months from the date the last one was closed.

If the prior dispute resolution method customarily entails closing and/or archiving a discussion, that discussion should be either closed or archived for the instance of dispute resolution to be regarded as a valid attempt. A reasonable waiting period measured in days^[b] should follow, allowing time for a perspective to be gained on the possibility that the issue has been adequately addressed by then.^[c] Following this, an editor should start the petition only if they are able to assert with evidence that the last attempt has not adequately addressed the issue and that prior dispute resolution methods have therefore failed.

The editor who starts the petition must notify the administrator on their user talk page using the {{subst:Admin recall notice}} template. They must also post a notice to the administrator's noticeboard using the {{subst:Admin recall notice/AN}} template.

Any extended confirmed editor may add their signature to a petition, with or without reasoning. An editor can sign no more than five active petitions. Any editor may comment in a discussion section on the recall petition page. Any signature or comment may be struck based on the same criteria used during requests for adminship.

If a petition reaches the required twenty five signatures within thirty days, it should be closed. The subject is then required to make a re-request for adminship or stand as a candidate in an administrator election. The same requirement exists when a petition is closed early at the subject's request or if they agree to make a re-request for adminship; it should also be closed early if they resign their adminship. A petition that has been open for thirty days and has not gained the required number of signatures should be closed without requiring the subject to make re-request for adminship.

If a petition is opened contrary to the requirements for opening a petition for any reason that cannot be quickly and easily fixed, it may be closed by any editor other than the subject administrator. Such invalid petitions are treated as never having existed for the purposes of determining when a new petition may be initiated and do not affect the subject's status as an administrator in any way.

Current petitions

This is a list of open administrator recall petitions.

none currently

Closed petitions

A list of closed recall petitions and resulting RRfAs may be found at Wikipedia:Administrator recall/Closed petitions.

Re-request for adminship

Shortcut

WP:RRfA

An administrator seeking to retain administrative privileges must have their re-request for adminship (RRfA) transcluded to Wikipedia:Requests for adminship within thirty days of the close of a successful recall petition. If an administrator election is scheduled within those thirty days, they may stand in it instead.

A RRfA follows the same process as a request for adminship, but with lower thresholds for passing. In an RRfA, any administrator who obtains at least 60% support will retain their administrator role. If the administrator receives between 50 and 60% support, the community's consensus will be determined by the bureaucrats. If the administrator runs in an administrator election instead of initiating a re-request for adminship, they must obtain at least 55% support to retain their administrative privileges.

The bureaucrats are responsible for ensuring that an RRfA is started within a reasonable time frame. If this does not happen, they may remove the administrator privileges at their discretion. Should the administrator fail to pass an RRfA or administrator election, bureaucrats may remove their privileges.

Notes

^
The status of an administrator who:
- has been notified about pending procedural removal of administrative privileges due to insufficient activity and whose status is listed as "Pending" in a way consistent with the administrator policy, or
- has been totally inactive for at least 3 months (Wikipedia:List of administrators/Inactive is a periodically updated list of administrators who have not edited in the last 3 months)
can not be the subject of a recall petition. Such a petition is summarily dismissed and has no effect on the administrator, as if it had never existed (it does not even count as failed), even if they resume activity while the petition is technically open.
Attempts to address the perceived issue through other methods of dispute resolution can be made throughout. If the issue is an emergency, see the relevant ArbCom procedure.
^ longer than any period which would usually be measured in hours and shorter than any period which would be usually measured in weeks or months
^ The petition may be started irrespective of the waiting period (but not without a valid prior attempt at dispute resolution) in the first instant of the dispute obviously showing as still active due to the same or similar disputed actions being taken again, or having been taken on an ongoing basis all along, by the administrator.