Help:When to place technical requests in "Administrator needed"
 | This is an information page. It is not an encyclopedic article, nor one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect differing levels of consensus and vetting. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Most requests at RM/TR can be done by non-admins, except those involving move-protected or salted titles. |
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Wikipedia:Requested moves/Technical requests is a common place for editors both new and old to seek assistance. It's also a part of projectspace which editors, especially newer ones, may not entirely understand the inner workings of. Many editors are confused about whether a move they can't perform themselves should be placed under "Uncontroversial technical requests" or "Administrator needed". The overwhelming majority of moves most editors will take to RM/TR do not require an administrator, but some will; this page explains what requests should be placed where.
What moves require administrators?
[edit]Moves require administrators when non-administrators are prevented via protection from executing the move. Specifically, when the page at its current title is move-protected or its intended title is fully creation-protected, an admin needs to perform the move.
Move protection, to the surprise of some editors, does not permit page movers to edit through it. Move protection was established long prior to the unbundling of page mover rights in 2016, and many extant move protections were placed in the 2000s due to persistent page move vandalism now handled through the title blacklist. Many of these protections have since been lifted in a review of indefinite move protections, but some have since slipped through the cracks. Frustratingly for page movers, many admins continue to indefinitely move-protect pages during transient move wars even when an RM is open, making these RMs difficult for page movers (the significant majority of RM closers) to close when they resolve days later.
Similarly, if the target title is fully "salted" (creation-protected), only admins are able to move to it. Be careful to check that this is indeed a full salt; many pages are only 'ECP' salted and can be made by any extended-confirmed (500+ edits and 30+ days tenure) editor. Please note that salted titles are often such because they have been repeatedly deemed inappropriate. New editors seeking to have a page, especially a draft, moved to a salted title may be strongly encouraged to go through the Articles for Creation process to ensure the article is actually appropriate for inclusion in Wikipedia.
Special case: title blacklist
[edit]Contrary to the warning given when trying to perform them, title blacklist moves are not admin-only! Creating a page on the title blacklist, or moving a page to a blacklisted title, is possible for all administrators, page movers, and template editors. As page movers make up the majority of RM/TR's watchers, these moves can be performed by almost anyone watching the page and are correctly placed under "Uncontroversial technical requests".
The source of the confusion here is that the error message given to people without any of those user rights attempting to create a page at a blacklisted title only mentions administrators. Consensus has not yet formed for an alternative wording, so people place blacklisted moves under "Administrator needed". Nonetheless, these moves can be executed by any page mover.
What moves do not require administrators?
[edit]In short, everything else. Edge cases exist that this page cannot cover, but the substantial majority of moves not involving protected articles are doable by any page mover.
Page mover right
[edit]The page mover right allows editors to perform a variety of page moves otherwise impossible for non-admins. Page movers can move pages without leaving a redirect (allowing for moving a page to a title that currently redirects to it), move all of a page's subpages at once, and move pages over pre-existing redirects as long as they only have a single edit, along with a variety of more niche permissions.
Not everyone making their first foray to RM/TR is aware the page mover right exists, let alone that most people who patrol the page have it rather than the bit. This can lead people to assume moves they can't personally do can only be enacted by administrators. Gently correct this misconception when it arises, perhaps with a link to this very page.
Because of RM/TR's page mover dominance, requests placed under "Administrator needed" often take longer to be resolved; some may sit there for extended periods while requests around them are handled. This is one reason placing things in the right section is important, as moves executable by page movers may be missed and languish.
The page mover role has moderate requirements (roughly six months tenure,[note 1] at least 3,000 edits, and a demonstrated understanding of the process through proxies such as RM participation). People who find themselves routinely making RM/TR requests may be well-served by putting in an application. Page movers who in turn find themselves filling many requests and being stymied by admin-needed moves they're unable to perform might well be administrators without tools -- why not run the gauntlet?
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Account age is used as a somewhat unfortunate proxy for tenure. People do get rejected for the right when the bot calls out their account's age as just barely short of the mark, while others who were inactive for long periods and have accounts much older than their true tenure get approved.