Wikipedia:Functionaries

This is an information page. It is not a Wikipedia policy or guideline; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms or practices. It may reflect varying levels of consensus.

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Functionaries are users who perform specialized roles and have privileged technical access on the Wikimedia projects. Examples include users with checkuser or oversight access, as well as current and past members of the Arbitration Committee. These users have been highly and thoroughly vetted, examined, analyzed, and reviewed by the Wikipedia community, and have been determined to hold the level of knowledge, confidence, decorum, trust, respect, and level of judgment that's expected and required.

Functionary access must be authorized by the Arbitration Committee or the Wikimedia Foundation, and requires that the user be at least 18 years old, have reviewed and signed the Wikimedia Foundation's confidentiality agreement for nonpublic information, and have passed an "RfA or RfA-identical process"^[1] before they are added to any functionary-level user groups and granted with the advanced permissions associated with their respective roles. This is in contrast to users who are administrators, bureaucrats, or members of the Bot Approvals Group, for example, as these roles do not deal with private information.

Functionaries whose permissions and responsibilities are confined to the English Wikipedia are under the jurisdiction of the Arbitration Committee. These users include:

• Current members of the Arbitration Committee,
• Former members of the Arbitration Committee who remain in good standing and wish to remain subscribed,
• Current members of either the checkuser or oversight user groups and with access to those specialized roles,
• Former members of either the checkuser or oversight user groups who remain in good standing and wish to remain subscribed, and
• Select Wikimedia Foundation staff with trust and safety-related remits.

Sitting arbitrators and current holders of checkuser or oversight permissions are subscribed to the functionaries-en mailing list as a matter of course. Editors who voluntarily resign these permissions, and arbitrators whose term has ended, may remain subscribed provided they remain in good standing. In situations where these permissions are revoked from a user for cause, list membership is usually also revoked as well. In addition to being subscribed to the functionaries-en mailing list, checkusers are also subscribed to the global checkuser mailing list, and oversighters to the local oversight mailing list. These lists are private, and membership is granted only to current holders of those permissions.

Functionaries are held to a significantly higher standard of behavior and conduct than non-functionaries at all times – especially when it involves issues related to their area of responsibility. Users who demonstrate a lack of judgment in an area related to their functionary-level responsibilities or access to private information may have their status as functionaries revoked, whether or not an explicit abuse involving their level of access has occurred.

Functionaries have a very high profile within the project and are usually the face of Wikipedia both to its editors and to the wider world. Their decisions and actions can easily become the focus of high levels of scrutiny by the community, the public, single-issue advocates and groups, news and media outlets and journalists, and even world governments and legal entities – especially when they involve articles or topics that become extremely contentious to a significant number of people, such as major current events or global events. Because of this, functionaries are expected to hold a high level of decorum and trust by the community and maintain a neutral and level-headed position when controversies (inside or outside the project) arise. It is extremely damaging to the integrity of the encyclopedia and the project as a whole if a functionary is repeatedly found to be the subject of administrative noticeboard discussions involving their conduct, or repeatedly observed to be embroiled in controversy by the community. Functionaries may be removed from their position by the Arbitration Committee.

The functionaries-en mailing list is a venue for general discussion among current Arbitration Committee members, former arbitrators, advanced permission holders, and other editors with official Wikimedia Foundation affiliation or status. The mailing list is private and can only be used by its members; any emails that are sent to it from non-members are automatically rejected and not delivered.

Although current Arbitration Committee members are subscribed to arbcom-en, the scope of this list is broader. Its use allows for more effective collaboration among editors involved with sensitive and privacy-related areas within the community, and the handling of related issues—primarily on the English Wikipedia. The list also has a role in supporting the Arbitration Committee, being available to assist with various matters, and acting as a forum for discussion, input, and collective memory as needed.

As this list is private, it is not a place for unblock requests or other general queries. The appropriate volunteer response team queue is better suited for such issues.

As of 4 July 2026, the subscribers are:

Advanced permission (checkuser and/or oversight) operators

Alison (former CU / former OS), Amorymeltzer (OS), Anarchyte (OS), Avraham (former CU / former OS), Blablubbs (CU), Daniel Quinlan (CU/OS), DatGuy (CU), Dbeef (CU), Dreamy Jazz (CU / former OS), Dweller (OS), EdJohnston (former CU), Ferret (former CU), Fluffernutter (former OS), Fox (former OS), GB fan (former OS), Giraffer (CU/OS), Ivanvector (CU), Keegan (former CU / former OS), Kj cheetham (OS), Lofty abyss (OS), LuK3 (OS), Mz7 (CU/OS), NinjaRobotPirate (CU), Oshwah (CU/OS), Philippe (former CU / former OS), Ponyo (CU/OS), Reaper Eternal (CU), Richwales (OS / former CU), RoySmith (CU), Snowolf (former OS), Someguy1221 (former OS), Sphilbrick (former OS), SQL (former CU), ST47 (former CU / former OS), Stwalkerster (CU/OS), The Blade of the Northern Lights (OS), TheresNoTime (former CU / former OS), TonyBallioni (CU/OS), Vanamonde93 (CU/OS), Versageek (former CU), Xaosflux (OS), Yamla (CU), Zzuuzz (CU)

Current arbitrators

Aoidh, Asilvering, CaptainEek, Daniel, Elli, Girth Summit, Guerillero, HJ Mitchell, HouseBlaster, Izno, KrakatoaKatie, ScottishFinnishRadish, Sdrqaz, SilverLocust, Theleekycauldron

Former arbitrators

AmandaNP, Arcticocean, Barkeep49, BDD, Bradv, Cabayi, Callanecc, Casliber, Courcelles, David Fuchs, Doug Weller, Drmies, Firefly, FloNight, GeneralNotability, GorillaWarfare, Jpgordon, Ks0stm, L235, LFaraone, Liz, Mailer diablo, Mkdw, Moneytrees, Newyorkbrad, NuclearWarfare, Opabinia regalis, Paul August, PhilKnight, Primefac, Risker, Salvio giuliano, Seraphimblade, Thryduulf, ToBeFree, Wugapodes, Xeno, Z1720

Wikimedia Foundation

Maggie Dennis (Vice President, Community Resilience & Sustainability)
The list above is served from Template:Functionaries.

Most functionary-level actions occur completely behind the scenes and are neither visible to the community nor publicly logged, such as private communication between members of the team or the use of the CheckUser tool to query technical information from Wikimedia's servers. Some functionary actions, however, can be seen after they occur – such as revisions or logs that have been suppressed from ordinary access, which are visible on relevant log pages, edit histories, and user contribution pages as entries with two lines struck through them.

Some functionary actions are performed and logged publicly, but are based on private and confidential information, evidence, or data that is not available to users who are not members of the respective functionary groups. Examples include CheckUser blocks and Oversight blocks placed on accounts, IP addresses, or IP address ranges, which are applied in the same manner as administrator blocks, except that they are labeled as functionary-level actions in the block summary. Actions that are publicly logged or specifically identified as being a functionary-level action (such as a block being labeled as a "CheckUser block" or "Oversight block" in the action summary) should not be loosened, modified, or reversed by an administrator who is not a member of the particular functionary group without first receiving approval from a member of that group.

Functionary-level actions are logged in the CheckUser log or Oversight log, which are only accessible by members of the respective functionary-level user groups. Functionary-level actions and their associated logs are regularly reviewed and audited by members of the functionary team, the Arbitration Committee, members of the Ombuds commission,^[2] and certain Wikimedia staff members to ensure compliance with all applicable policies.

Complaints involving the release of personally identifying information or other potential violations of the Wikimedia Foundation's Privacy Policy should be made to the Ombuds commission. Other complaints or inquiries about potential misuse of the CheckUser tool or the use of suppression should be referred to the Arbitration Committee.

• Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/CheckUser and Oversight
• Checkuser and oversight statistics
• Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a bureaucracy
• Access to nonpublic personal data policy/Noticeboard