Forum:Renaming user rights to user roles

I'd like to propose a small change. I think it might make sense for us to rename "user rights" to "user roles." I know that within the context of MediaWiki these are referred to as user rights, but I feel the name "user rights" might be misleading to inexperienced editors. Someone might see a link to User Rights and think that it was talking about rights as opposed to user groups or user permissions. I think the term 'user roles' more clearly and unambiguously gets to the heart of what we're talking about when we mention user rights; the sets of special permissions and tools given to designated user groups.

This rename proposal would involve moving the User Rights page to The Sims Wiki:User roles, and rewording our existing user rights pages to reflect the new wording. The MediaWiki terminology would be untouched, as would the "UserRights" special page.

Is there any opposition to this idea? Or does someone have a name they would suggest instead of 'user roles'? --  LostInRiverview talk · blog  ·  contribs 23:57, May 31, 2019 (UTC)


 * If it provides better clarity to the title, then I am not opposed to this potential change. Ѧüя◎ґ (talk) 16:45, June 2, 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm not opposed to this change, and agree it could provide better clarity of what actually is at issue. However, I don't think I understand how the pages will be re-written: which term will we use: "roles" or "rights"? You wrote that the MediaWiki page would be left untouched. Does that mean the content of the pages would not match with the new title? -- RoseGui ✿  ( talk ) 08:54, June 7, 2019 (UTC)
 * Let me give you an example. Currently The Sims Wiki has a page called The Sims Wiki:User rights. That page lists the different special positions and editing privileges that editors can apply for or be nominated for - things like content moderator, administrator, bureaucrat, etc. My proposal is first to change the page name from "The Sims Wiki:User rights" to "The Sims Wiki:User roles." After that, I'd change the text of the article to reflect the rename:
 * User roles refers to special privileges and tools given to active, experienced and helpful members of The Sims Wiki. These privileges are generally tiered, with acquisition and proper use of lower roles required for obtaining higher roles. These tiers are: 
 * MediaWiki refers to these roles as "user rights," so for instance I could say that I have the Administrator and Bureaucrat user rights. This is correct, but I think the term 'rights' can be misleading, thus my proposal. The changes wouldn't change how MediaWiki refers to these roles - they'd still be called "user rights" in the software. It's just a way of making it clearer to less-experienced users exactly what we're talking about when we discuss user rights. --  LostInRiverview talk · blog  ·  contribs 01:33, June 13, 2019 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I fully support this change. User roles is a much better way to refer to these things. Content moderator and admin for example don't feel like "rights". Definitely not. - SimDestroyer (talk) 16:52, June 13, 2019 (UTC)


 * Closing the thread, though there is no clear consensus to act one way or the other. --  LostInRiverview talk · blog  ·  contribs 17:16, 21 April 2021 (UTC)