Help:User access levels

The user access level of a user determines their ability to perform certain actions on a MediaWiki-based website like The Sims Wiki. The access level of a user depends on 1) whether or not the user is logged in or not; and 2) the user flags (also known as user permissions or user rights) that have been assigned to the user's account.

By default, everyone can read The Sims Wiki, even if they do not have an account. Unless they are blocked, everyone can edit most pages on the wiki as well. Having an account is a technical prerequisite for certain advanced permissions, such as being granted the ability to quickly rollback a disruptive user's edits, or being granted administrator access to the wiki.

This page will only cover the user groups that are available on The Sims Wiki. The Sims Wiki is a public wiki, meaning that there are no restrictions on who can access the wiki.

Overview
All visitors to the site, including those who are not logged in, are automatically part of the ' ' (asterisk) group. Everyone who is logged in is part of the ' ' and ' ' groups. Other groups and flags are only granted manually upon request, or after a community discussion.

Each user group comes bundled with a set of rights that grant access to certain features on the website. A list of all user groups, along with the rights that they provide, can be found here.

Unregistered users
Unregistered users, also known as IP or anonymous users, are users who are not currently logged in to the website. They are identified by their IP address as opposed to a username. They can read all pages on The Sims Wiki (except for certain restricted special pages) and edit any page that is not currently protected. They may also create pages in any namespace (except the MediaWiki namespace), but cannot upload files. They may need to answer a CAPTCHA in order to perform certain actions. All users may also query the site API in batches of 500.

Unregistered users will see the following message when they try to edit a page:

Registered users
Users who log in are identified by a username that they can choose, hiding their IP address from most users. They may upload files and move pages. They may mark their own edits as minor. They may also customize their browsing and editing experience through their user preferences, or by adding JavaScript and CSS rules to their common.js and Special:MyPage/common.css pages.

Autoconfirmed users
Autoconfirmed users are generally registered users that have met or exceeded certain edit count and account age requirements (for example, accounts must be at least four days old and have made at least ten edits in order to become autoconfirmed ). These users can edit semi-protected pages and no longer have to answer CAPTCHAs. On most wikis, the majority of registered users who spend at least some time on the site are autoconfirmed.

Miraheze allows each individual wiki to customize the edit count and age requirements for obtaining autoconfirmed status. By default, accounts need to be at least four days old and have made at least 10 edits in order to become autoconfirmed. The requirements for getting autoconfirmed are determined by the user's local account on the wiki in question, not by their global account. As such, autoconfirmed status is not global; getting autoconfirmed on one wiki does not automatically grant it on others.

In some situations, it is necessary for accounts to be exempted from the confirmation period and be given the "confirmed" status right away. Bureaucrats can give users the  user group which grants all of the permissions of autoconfirmed right away. It is redundant to give this user group to users who are already autoconfirmed, since it provides the exact same abilities.

Administrators
Administrators on The Sims Wiki are highly trusted users that are able to perform a wide variety of tasks, such as blocking disruptive users, protecting pages from editing, and deleting inappropriate pages. They may also edit the MediaWiki namespace, changing the text of the site interface. Despite their name, administrators are volunteer users, just like everyone else, and may not use their tools to gain advantage in a dispute they are involved in. Administrators are considered to be equal to other users on the wiki, and are expected to be leaders by example rather than bosses.

Bureaucrats
Users in the bureaucrat user group can change the user groups of most other users. Specifically, they can add users to the administrator, bot, rollback, and bureaucrat groups. They can also remove users from the same groups, although they cannot remove the bureaucrat flag. While it is technically possible to grant the bureaucrat flag to a non-administrator, The Sims Wiki requires that all bureaucrats also be administrators.

Bots
A bot is a piece of software or a computer program that can perform automated or semi-automated tasks on a wiki. Bots can edit pages, leave messages on user talk pages, or simply monitor the wiki and generate logs and graphs. Bots that have been approved for use on the wiki can be given the ' ' flag by a bureaucrat, which will hide its edits from recent changes by default. They may also query the API in batches of 5,000 rather than 500.

Rollback
Rollbacks, also known as rollbackers, are users who have been entrusted with the rollback tool. This right is automatically assigned to administrators.

Autopatrolled
Autopatrollers are users whose edits are automatically marked as patrolled in recent changes. This right is automatically assigned to rollbacks and administrators.

Importer
Importers are users who have been granted the ability to import page revisions from other wikis onto The Sims Wiki using the Special:Import page. This right is automatically assigned to administrators.

Counter Vandalism Team
The Counter Vandalism Team, or CVT, is a volunteer group of users that help to clean up vandalism and spam and operate on all wikis on Miraheze. While anyone is able to help out, official members of the team will have the Counter Vandalism Team global user group. They have administrator access on all wikis on Miraheze, and will only utilize their tools to fight vandalism where no local administrators or bureaucrats are available.

The Sims Wiki welcomes the CVT to utilize their tools even when local administrators are present. To contact the Counter Vandalism Team, please email

Stewards
Stewards are a global user group that have administrator and bureaucrat access on all wikis on Miraheze. They are able to grant and remove users from the administrator, bureaucrat, bot, and rollback groups, and can make other changes to wikis, up to and including the creation of new wikis and the closure of existing ones.

Stewards are selected via a global community process on Miraheze's Meta Wiki and are expected to use their tools solely for maintenance purposes.

The Sims Wiki does not control or monitor steward actions on Miraheze. To contact a steward, please email.

Staff
Miraheze does not employ any paid staff members as of February 2019. The bulk of Miraheze's staff are technical staff members who have the sysadmin user group. They have administrator access on all wikis on Miraheze. Unlike stewards, the bulk of their operations are primarily focused on the technical operation and stability of the Miraheze infrastructure.

The Sims Wiki does not employ any staff members of its own. To contact Miraheze staff, please email