This page is a translated version of the page Bureaucrat and the translation is 5% complete.

Within Wikimedia projects, a bureaucrat is a user who has the technical ability to:

  • Promote other users to administrator or bureaucrat;
  • Grant and revoke a user's bot flag;
  • Add and remove users from the interface-admin group;
  • Add and remove users from custom local groups created by local consensus like account creator, deleter, etc.;
  • Remove a user's administrator and/or bureaucrat flags on some projects listed below.

Stewards fulfill these roles on wikis without bureaucrats using the requests for permissions page. A small community generally doesn't require a local bureaucrat, because stewards can easily handle the low traffic of requests from that wiki with little delay; generally a user with this access is not needed until several local administrators are present. Other positions may be subject to global policies like the Checkuser policy and the Oversight policy, which define minimum community requirements.

The default configuration of the МедијаВики software permits bureaucrats with access to Special:UserRights to add and remove users from all user groups. On Wikimedia projects only stewards have full access to Special:UserRights, while bureaucrats can add/remove only a subset of rights.

Promoting users and bots

If you are a bureaucrat, to give or remove another user administrator, bureaucrat or bot access (or any other access), go to Special:UserRights on the wiki where you are a bureaucrat. There is a link to this on the list of special pages.

You will see the following form:

Screenshot showing the interface of Special:UserRights on a local wiki.

Type the user's name into the box, and enter a reason for the change. Choose the rights you wish to assign/remove to the user by ticking/unticking the relevant boxes. Note that if the user group has an asterisk (*) next to it, you will not be able to remove it yourself. When you are done, press the Save user groups button.

The user will gain their access immediately and the action will be recorded at the User rights log.

If you make a mistake and need to remove an access level which you cannot remove, contact a steward.

Removing access

Below is a list of public wikis where bureaucrats can remove sysop and/or bureaucrat access. Normally these removals have to be done by the stewards. On all private or fishbowl wikis, bureaucrats are able to remove both administrator and bureaucrat flags.


both administrator and bureaucrat flags
Wiki Bug Fixed on Notes
Meta bug 13509 2008-04-24 Removed per phab:T106291.
ru.wikisource bug 14568 2008-07-05 It looks like this was set inadvertently. Now removed phab:T44105
se chapter wiki bug 14665 2008-07-05 It looks like this was set inadvertently, but the Swedish chapter board wishes to keep this configuration.
no.wikibooks bug 13853 2009-06-03 It looks like this was set inadvertently.Now removed bugzilla:42105
fi.wikipedia No bug 2009-03-04 Originally very likely to have been set inadvertently in March 2009.
bug 42114 2013-01-04 Local consensus reached (see bugs 42114 and 42105, and this summary).
fi chapter wiki bug 25668 2010-10-27
wikimania2014 wiki bug 55480 2013-10-11 Wiki closed, reset to default.
br.wikimedia задачата T65345 2014-04-17 consensus
hu.wikipedia bug 72055 2014-10-16
pt.wikipedia bug T107661 2015-08-11 Local consensus
co.wikimedia task T300779 2022-02-02 Non-fishbowl chapter wiki.
only administrator flag
test.wiki
wikitech
en.wiktionary No bug Per a community vote and bug 42113, enwiktionary bureaucrats lost the power to remove the bureaucrat right (which was apparently never asked for).
pa-us chapter wiki T12611 2008-09-16 Wiki was closed.
uk chapter wiki T19388 2009-02-26 Wiki was redirected.
simple.wikipedia T22271 2009-09-24 Community consensus
simple.wiktionary T24522 2010-02-22
outreach.wiki bug 23118 2010-04-09 Ability to remove bureaucrat flag was removed in phab:T214133.
en.wikinews bug 23392 2010-05-08 Community consensus
hi.wiktionary bug 29702 2011-07-11 Removed per задачата T214765.
en.wikipedia bug 18390 2011-08-11 Community consensus
ru.wikipedia bug 30307 2011-08-11 Community consensus
ba.wikipedia bug 33769 2012-01-17 Community consensus
fr.wikipedia bug 35258 2012-04-12 Community consensus
en.wikivoyage bug 43851 2013-01-17 Community consensus
test2.wiki T131037 2016-04-04
fa.wikipedia T140810 2016-07-20 Community consensus
nyc.wikimedia задачата T226591 2019-06-26 Wikimedia New York City Chapter wiki.
bd.wikimedia задачата T251078 2020-04-28 Wikimedia Bangladesh chapter wiki
commons задачата T261481 2020-10-06 Community consensus
de.wikipedia задачата T331921 2023-04-20 Community consensus
foundationwiki задачата T370097 2024-07-18 Wikimedia Foundation managed wiki
wikidata задачата T379635 2024-11-14 Community consensus