User:Tamzin/wild ideas/Admin reconfirmation

The following is a draft working towards a proposal for adoption as a Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process.
The proposal must not be taken to represent consensus, but is still in development and under discussion, and has not yet reached the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as policy, guideline, nor yet even as a proposal.

A group reconfirmation vote regarding up to 10 administrators is held from the 21st through 27th of every month. The 10 are chosen on the 2nd^[a] of each month, drawn from these three categories, in descending order, with ties broken by who is most "overdue" for reconfirmation.^[b]

Early reconfirmation:
- If a user's RfA closes as successful in the "discretionary range", the closing bureaucrat may at their discretion set an initial reconfirmation date of less than five years.
- Either a consensus at the administrators' noticeboard or its incidents subpage, as determined by an uninvolved bureaucrat, or a decision of the Arbitration Committee, may move up an administrator's reconfirmation date, to no sooner than the subsequent calendar month.
Someone scheduled for early reconfirmation may always choose to move up their reconfirmation month if they wish.^[c]
Quintennial reconfirmation: An administrator is due for reconfirmation if at least five years have passed since their last successful request for adminship (RfA), request for bureaucratship (RfB), election to the Arbitration Committee, or reconfirmation.
However, an administrator will not be put up for quintennial reconfirmation if, as of the 2nd of the month:
1. they have been an admin for less than 60 days in the four preceding calendar months;
2. they have made no edits nor admin actions in the preceding calendar month;
3. or they have received their 3-month warning of desysop for inactivity criterion 2.
Voluntary reconfirmation: An administrator may choose to stand for reconfirmation at any time, if there are spots available after the monthly list is assembled from the two categories above. Voluntary spots are available on a first-come-first-served basis.

If an administrator wishes to participate in their own reconfirmation but will be unavailable, they may temporarily resign until they are able to participate.

Notification

Administrators should be notified at the start of the month before they are likely to be put up for reconfirmation, with the understanding that an influx of higher-precedence candidates may bump them to the next month. The notification must explain that if they wish to delay reconfirmation, they must resign before the finalization of the list.

Once the non-voluntary slots in the reconfirmation list are finalized, all selected administrators must be notified promptly. The notification must explain the procedure to them, and explain that if they resign with reconfirmation pending, they will not be able to regain adminship without a new RfA.

Process

Reconfirmation is a light-weight process, designed to make minimal demands of the candidate and leave minimal room for conflict among voters.

Candidates may, but are not required to, include a brief statement (usually one or two paragraphs) about themselves. They may also use this space to respond to comments from voters, if they wish.

Voters may vote either "Confirm" or "Refer to RfA", with up to one sentence of civil commentary.^[d] They may not ask questions to the candidate and may not reply to one another. They may not vote any other option, nor leave general comments, on the vote page or its talkpage.

Bureaucrats, or users to whom they delegate this authority, may redact, strike, or remove inappropriate comments.

Voting ends automatically at the end of the 27th. Bureaucrats tabulate the results and notify candidates of the outcomes. Voting is a head count, discounting comments that have been struck or removed as inappropriate.

If a candidate receives at least 60% "confirm", they receive a new five-year mandate of adminship. Otherwise, the candidate has two months to submit a new RfA (see below), or may instead choose to resign.

Re-RfA process

A re-RfA works the same as an initial RfA, except that a successful outcome results in no change of permissions (but a new mandate of adminship) and an unsuccessful one results in a loss of adminship. If the candidate is also a bureaucrat, this permission will also be removed upon an unsuccessful request.^[e] If they are also a checkuser or oversighter, the closing bureaucrat should notify the Arbitration Committee, which should assess whether the user should still hold the right(s).

The discretionary zone is not changed in a re-RfA, but, in assessing consensus, bureaucrats should keep in mind that administrators may be more likely to attract spurious opposition.

Resignations

A will not have the option to regain the tools by a request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard if they resign:

While facing a proposal to compel early reconfirmation
After they have been put on a month's finalized reconfirmation list as an early or quintennial reconfirmation
In the two-month re-RfA window after referral from reconfirmation
During re-RfA

Users who resign under other circumstances may regain the tools by a request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard (assuming all other requirements are satisfied). If a user facing early reconfirmation is resysopped after their intended reconfirmation date, they are scheduled for the next month's reconfirmation. Strategic resignations by any administrator to avoid reconfirmation may result in the bureaucrats denying resysop.

Notes

^ The 1st of the month is used for inactivity desysops and notices.
^ Because of how the system is structured, few administrators will be put up for reconfirmation on the exact date of eligibility. Thus a user up for quintennial reconfirmation may in fact be 100 days past the 5-year mark, for instance.
^ To do so, an administrator should make a request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard prior to the 2nd of the month in question. If there are remaining slots after all as-scheduled early reconfirmations, they will be added, before the addition of quintennial or voluntary reconfirmations.
^ Linking to comments in past interactions, such as a statement in an arbitration request involving the administrator, is permitted, but merely linking to a longer vote comment written elsewhere is not.
^ There is not any policy prohibiting users from running for restoration of their bureaucrat permissions as a non-admin, although to date no such request has succeeded.

[1] The 1st of the month is used for inactivity desysops and notices.

[2] Because of how the system is structured, few administrators will be put up for reconfirmation on the exact date of eligibility. Thus a user up for quintennial reconfirmation may in fact be 100 days past the 5-year mark, for instance.

[3] To do so, an administrator should make a request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard prior to the 2nd of the month in question. If there are remaining slots after all as-scheduled early reconfirmations, they will be added, before the addition of quintennial or voluntary reconfirmations.

[4] Linking to comments in past interactions, such as a statement in an arbitration request involving the administrator, is permitted, but merely linking to a longer vote comment written elsewhere is not.

[5] There is not any policy prohibiting users from running for restoration of their bureaucrat permissions as a non-admin, although to date no such request has succeeded.

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