Wikipedia:Adminship coaching with tools RfA reform proposal

One of the perennial discussions on Wikipedia is how to get more people to apply for and become admins. This is often tied to the criticism that RfA has become a true hell week wherein people's smallest offenses are brought up and doom the chances of productive members of the community. Another issue surrounds that of making it easier to remove the bit after it has been approved. Over the past few weeks these issues have been garnering steam at RfA, as the number of active admins has been decreasing. This led to the proposal of a new form of admin coaching, one wherein coachees were granted access to the tools during the coaching process. This proposal is being called "Coaching with Tools"

Under the proposal, coaches would be allowed to request that their coachees are given the tools. As such, the coach would be (partially) responsible for the actions/behavior of the coachee. The factor that differentiates this proposal from temporary or provisional adminship, is that the coachee is never an admin, but is acting as an extension of an established admin. This concept was brought forth on Sept 14, 2009 and was brought here for additional discussion.

Coaching with Tools

Is a proposed process wherein an existing admin would temporarily confer his/her admin abilities to a coachee for a period not to exceed four months. During this Coaching with Tools period, both the admin and the coachee would have access to admin functions, but the coachee would be acting under the direct supervision of an established admin. This will allow potential admins to gain confidence and understanding of the tools without having to undergo the RfA process.

Coaches' Responsibilities

Under the new proposal, the coach would be responsible for:

1. A prospective coach would apply to become a coach at WP:BN. The assumption would be that any admin who has been an admin in good standing for at least a year could become a coach. Each coach will be allowed to have a maximum of two coachees, but this number could be adjusted upwards upon 'crat descretion for coaches who have a solid track record or downward for coaches who do not.
2. Once approved, a coach will enter into an agreement with the coachee on how the coaching will be conducted. The exact details of the coaching will be left to the individual coach/coachee; however, in accepting the coachee, the coach accepts a portion of the responsibility for the coachees actions.
3. The coach is expected to gain enough confidence that the coachee is a viable candidate. This can be done by previous experience with the candidate or by reviewing the candidates edits. The coach is also expected to ensure that the candidate meets certain expectations outlined below. Once the coach feels confident with the arrangement, the coach will then request that the bit be granted to the coachee on WP:BN
4. The coach will be expected to review the coachee's admin actions. Blocks, deletes, protections, etc are deemed to being performed under the tutelage of the coach. Thus, improper actions by the coachee can affect the coach as well if not monitored.
5. The coach will be expected to ensure that the candidate understands the operations of Wikipedia and have the proper temperament.
6. As the coachee is operating under the coach's Admin Umberella, the coach will have unilateral discretion to remove the buttons from a coachee he/she decides he/she cannot trust or properly monitor. A coach who does so regularly may not be granted future coachees and may not be sought out by others. This does not mean that other mechanisms could not also remove the bit; for example, a request from ANI would be sufficient. However, actions should ideally be discussed with the coach.
7. At the end of a coaching period (generally about 2-3 months) the candidate can apply for adminship via an RfA. At this point, the assumption should be that the person operated as a coachee for several months without breaking the project or abusing the tools. Thus, the RfA period should be easier to evaluate.
8. The coach realizes that the coachee is acting as their apprentice. Negative actions by the coachee can reflect poorly upon the coach. Unmonitored and repeated misconduct by a coachee can be seen as the coach failing to perform his/her duties!

Coachees' Responsibilities

1. While the coachee will be granted the use of the tools during the coaching process, they are not themselves admins. They will be acting under the direct supervision of their coach and any actions they take will be deemed extensions of the coach.
2. The coachee is expected to listen and adhere to any rules/requirements established by the coach.
3. If a coachee is informed by the coach or another admin to stop using the tools, they should do so immediately. Failure to do so could result in an emergency desysopping. As the coachee is acting as an extension of the coach, the coach can ask to have the bit removed.
4. The coachee is expected to run for admin within four months of being given the bit. Under no circumstances should a person be allowed to keep the bit longer than four months without going through an RfA. Similarly, if a coachee's coach retires or becomes inactive, the coachee would either have to find another coach or relinquish the bit.
5. To avoid gaming the system (e.g., having a friend provide the bit under the guise of becoming a coach only to run for admin a week later (and then possibly fail at the RfA incurring unnecessary crat/stewart actions)), a person who enters into coaching agrees not to run for admin for at least two months.
6. The coachee would add a user box to their page identifying themselves as a "Admin Coachee" that provides a link to their coach and to their admin coaching page.

Coachee Qualification

While there are no requirements to becoming an admin via RfA, the Coaching with Tools process grants admin capabilities to individuals without wider community input. Thus, it is imperative that potential coachees meet the credentials that are generally expected of admins. People who enter the Coaching with Tools program should be the type that would pass an auto screening if such existed. This is a similar concept that is used at WP:CSD, at CSD the criteria for speedy deletion are set in such a way that an article deleted via CSD should be uncontroversial. Similarly, candidates who become Coachees with Tools must exceed the basic requirements to such a degree that most people will agree they have the appropriate experience. This means that the coachees should (as a minimum):

• Have not been blocked or banned in the past year. (Erroneous or overridden blocks can be ignored.)
• Have not been the subject of an ArbCOM case in the past year. (Even if exhonerated the existence of an ArbCOM case would raise enough flags to make an auto promotion unfeasible.)
• Have not been the subject of an RfC in the past six months. Again, even if exhonerated, an RfC would be enough of a flag that granting of the tools should not be automatic. However, at a coach's request, the 'crat could review the case to determine if the RfC should impede a coaching process.
• Have a generally clean record with no repeated warnings for issues such as CIVIL, 3RR, NPA, etc. Even if they were never actually blocked, the candidate's history should be clean.
• Have a minimum of 3,000 manual edits.
• Have a minimum of four months experience (the expectation being that with 2-3 months coaching that they would have 6-7 months before becoming an admin.)
• Have exposure in different areas of the project.
• Have not failed an RfA in the past six months for any reason other than lack of experience. (Individuals who fail RfAs may, with 'crat discretion, be eligible for coaching. It is up to the 'crat to determine if the principle reason for failure could be rectified in three months and if coaching would be a viable option.)

Coaching with Tools is not an option for somebody who has previously been an admin or used their four month Coaching with Tools exemption. Individual coaches are free to set higher expectations for their coachees. Coaches may, as in past, assign different tasks for coachees to perform while in this program. It is expected that during the Coaching with Tools period that coachees will be exposed to different areas of the project.