Volunteer Response Team/Access policy
Volunteer Response Team
For prospective volunteers
This policy is an internal policy subject to VRT agents and queues. It is posted on Meta-Wiki for transparency and informational purposes, as this policy is not viewable by everyone. If edits are necessary, they should take place on VRT-wiki. |
The following policy outlines the general requirements for receiving an VRTS account as well as the types of agent accounts that exist.
Community queues
Access to community queues (including, but not limited to, "info", "permissions", "photosubmissions" and the various sister projects queues) is processed via application at volunteering page. Users who receive VRTS access to community queues:
- Are subject to the Activity Policy.
- Will receive VRT-wiki accounts and access to other associated resources.
Chapters
Official chapters approved by the Wikimedia Foundation are eligible to apply to utilize Wikimedia VRTS. Official chapters are listed at Wikimedia chapters#Existing chapters.
Generally a member of the Executive Committee (or similar body within the chapter) is used as a liaison between the VRTS administrators and the chapter for matters including queue maintenance including adding and removing people from the queue.
- All chapters are entitled to use the domain name "wikimedia.org" (eg. examplechapter@wikimedia.org).
- All users who have VRTS access to a chapter queue:
- Will not receive VRT-wiki access unless deemed necessary by the VRTS administrators.
- Will not be subject to Activity Policy standards with regards to chapter-related queues.
- Will be subject to the Activity policy with regards to non-Chapter related queues.
User groups
It may be necessary for an Affiliations Committee approved User group to request a VRTS queue. The VRTS administrators are happy to review all such requests. They can be sent to the VRTS administrators mailing list at otrs-admins@lists.wikimedia.org.
Please note:
- Only user groups approved by the Wikimedia Foundation are eligible to apply to use VRTS for a queue. These usergroups are listed at Wikimedia user groups#Approved user groups.
- The application by a usergroup to use VRTS, and all access decisions relating to that queue, will be handled by the contact(s) listed in the "Approved user group" table. The VRTS administrators will contact the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee ("AffCom") should they need to confirm the accuracy of a usergroup VRTS queue application.
- All usergroups will use the domain name "wikimedia.community" (eg. exampleusergroup@wikimedia.community).
- All users who have VRTS access for a usergroup queue:
- Will not receive VRT-wiki access unless deemed necessary by the VRTS administrators.
- Will not be subject to Activity Policy standards with regards to the user group related queues.
- Will be subject to the Activity policy with regards to non group related queues.
- A usergroup queue will be closed (as well as the accounts associated with the queue, unless the account has access to other roles):
- If the usergroup is inactive, both on VRTS and/or generally across Wikimedia or the contacts for the usergroup are unresponsive.
- If the usergroup loses its "Approved" status from the Affiliations Committee.
Role accounts
Certain subsets of Wikimedia users are using VRTS as part of their on-wiki duties. Such groups include Stewards, Wiki Loves Monuments, users with "oversight" rights on projects utilizing VRTS to process requests, etc. These users:
- Will retain access for the tenure of their on-wiki role(s) requiring access.
- Will not be subject to Activity policy standards with regards to the queues that they require access.
- Will be subject to the Activity policy with regards to non-role related queues.
- Will receive VRT-wiki accounts.
Staff
Certain Wikimedia staff members and contractors require access to the VRTS system as part of their work. Staff accounts:
- Are generally created/closed as directed by members of the Community Advocacy department of the Foundation.
- Are assigned only access to those queues necessary for their work.
- Will not be subject to Activity policy standards.
- Will receive VRT-wiki accounts and access to other associated resources.
Temporary access
Occasionally it will be necessary for users to acquire access to VRTS and/or its resources for a temporary purpose or project. Such reasons could be for special events, coordination of the Wikimania or other convention-related queues, etc. Agents in this category:
- Will retain access to VRTS for the duration of their project (a time-frame should be predetermined).
- Will receive access to only those resources (wiki, mailing lists, etc.) necessary for completion of their project.