Help:User rights

On a wiki, users can have different rights that give them extra abilities. This page will provide an overview of them.

Unregistered users
On most wikis, signing up for an account is not required. Users without an account are called "unregistered users" or "anonymous IPs" because their IP address is shown as who made a particular edit. Such users can usually edit a page and look at the history of the edits.

On the Despicable Me Wiki, having an account is required as a means of complying with the U.S. COPPA law. Any wiki hosted by Wikia has this requirement if the majority of their visitors are likely to be under 13. In short, Wikia is based in the United States and recent changes to that law mean that even recording the IP address of the computer or smartphone used by under 13 years old is considered "collecting information", which would be against that law. Requiring registration puts the burden on the person signing up for the account to tell the truth when they say "I am 13 or older".

Registered users
A registered user has signed up for an account and gets their own profile page and a profile header where they can say a little about themselves. (Not too much, to help protect yourself.)

Registered users can choose the type editor they want to use and other preferences. Besides editing and looking at the history of a page, they can also rename it. A redirect from the old name to the new name is created automatically.

Patrol rights
A person with patrol rights will see red exclamation marks next to each edit when looking at the Recent Changes list. These show edits that have not been checked yet.

When they look at each edit, a "Mark as patrolled" link will appear on the page. They click on it to show they have looked at the edit and remove the exclamation mark. If the edit was not okay, the person will have to use Undo or re-edit the page in order to fix it. If there are any major problems with the edits, they should notify an administrator.

Rollback rights
A person with rollback rights has the ability to undo several edits by the same person in one step. This should be used to help fix vandalism. Note that the rollback function doesn't allow you to enter a reason why this is being done in an Edit Summary. If it is not a clear case of vandalism/trolling/spam/etc., using Undo or going back to an earlier version of the page and re-saving it may be better, to show why changing it back was necessary.

Chat moderator
A chat moderator is someone can help keep order in the Chat room. They have the ability to "kick" a user out or "ban" them. A "kick" is a temporary measure, along the lines of "stop being annoying and you can come right back in". A length of time and a reason can be specified for a "ban" and they cannot come back in until the ban expires.

Bureaucrat
A bureaucrat has the ability to add or remove the rights for other users. However, once someone has been made a bureaucrat, only a Wikia staff member can remove that user right.

Administrator
An administrator has the most abilities, from blocking users to changing the functionality and appearance of the wiki. A more thorough list of their rights can be found on the Despicable Me Wiki:Administrators page.