At most levels of user access, the decision to grant is made through community consensus. Local to the English Wikipedia, administrators and bureaucrats are selected by the community by requests for adminship, are expected to be "known and trusted member[s] of the community" before they are promoted. In some cases the subsequent behavior of the editor after being promoted may cause them to lose that trust.
For severe or acute abuse of administrator privileges, an administrator's powers can be removed.
The recall of admins edit
All administrators on the English Wikipedia project are open to recall. The method for so doing is to follow the dispute resolution process:
- The first step is to discuss the issue which has led up to the problem with the admin in question on the admin's talk page and attempt to resolve it.
- If no resolution is reached, you may query as to whether the user has any specific criteria for a recall process, if such is your goal. However, this is entirely a voluntary process on behalf of both the admin being recalled and the editor bringing the petition. It can be sidestepped by either the petitioner or the admin in favour of the next step.
- If the admin does not indicate a preferred method, or the preferred method is found unsatisfactory, launch a Request for Comment with the intention of removing the administrator's privileges. You will need to make your case, providing evidence and linking to page differences to support your assertions. You will also need to get a second user to certify this request. If you fail to do this, it is unlikely a consensus exists to remove administrator privileges from the user in question.
- If the RFC is certified, community input will determine the outcome and where the consensus lies. Either the consensus will be to support the admin, there will be no consensus or the consensus will be to desysop the admin. At this stage some administrators may choose to voluntarily resign their adminship if they recognise a consensus exists for that outcome. If this does not happen, the next step should be considered.
- If there is no consensus, the user bringing the RFC can consider taking the case to the Arbitration Committee. Where consensus exists to recommend that the Arbitration Committee desysop the admin, the user bringing the RFC should bring that fact to the attention of the Arbitration Committee since by policy the Committee will hear disputes according to the wishes of the community, where there is a consensus.