Administrators reviewed changes and kept the structure of the wiki consistent. The role was mostly editorial. An administrator did not need to be the most experienced developer, but did need to read carefully and to ask a clear question when a page was unclear.
Responsibilities
- Review changes to high traffic pages.
- Resolve duplicate pages by merging them into one clear page.
- Keep the index pages complete and in a sensible order.
- Protect a page when an edit war made progress impossible.
- Explain a revert with a short, specific note.
What the role was not
Administrators did not own the content. A page could be improved by any member, and a good edit from a new contributor was welcome. The role existed to keep the wiki readable, not to decide which opinions were allowed.
Editorial rule. Prefer the specific over the general. A note that names the release, the file and the error is more useful than a note that describes a general principle.
The list was short by design. A large administrative group tends to slow decisions without improving quality.