The information previously on this page about the list of admins as of 20 September 2002 has been moved to User:NoSeptember/Early admins (20 Sept 2002)

• 2001 - Sept 2002 = #000000
• Oct 2002 - Dec 2002 = #110000
• Jan 2003 - March 2003 = #101000
• April 2003 - June 2003 = #100100
• July 2003 - Sept 2003 = #100010
• Oct 2003 - Dec 2003 = #100001
• Jan 2004 - March 2004 = #001000
• April 2004 - June 2004 = #000100
• July 2004 - Sept 2004 = #000010
• Oct 2004 - Dec 2004 = #000001
• Jan 2005 - March 2005 = #6E6817
• April 2005 - June 2005 = #6E6807
• July 2005 - Sept 2005 = #6F6807
• Oct 2005 - Dec 2005 = #2E8C58
• Jan 2006 - March 2006 = #2F8C58
• April 2006 - June 2006 = #FE7619
• July 2006 = #FE7609
• August 2006 = #FE7709
• September 2006 = #FE7719
• October 2006 = #C31F3A
• November 2006 = #C41E3A
• December 2006 = #C31F3B
• January 2007 = #C41F3B
• February 2007 = #C31E3B
• March 2007 = #C41E3B
• April 2007 = #C41F3A
• May 2007 = #C31E3A

See these discussions:

• Wikipedia:Bot requests/Archive 8#Color change
• Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing#Request help on converting hex strings on a page
• Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing#Sort or count by word and the resulting User:Oskar Sigvardsson/List of administrators

Go to the user page to see how these colors are used. The purpose of the color scheme is to emphasize the most recently created admins (the most recent are in red, a color that stands out), with the more senior admins showing in more sedate colors. The periodic changes are necessary to keep this idea current as time moves on. The red date range should never cover too large of a time period or it would lose its value in identifying "recent" admins.

This page was started on 27 January 2006, with the color scheme:

• Black, 2001-2004
• Green, first half 2005
• Orange, second half 2005
• Red, 2006 and beyond until next phase implemented

The late 2006 scheme will be:

• Black, 2001-2004
• Olive, first half 2005
• Green, second half 2005
• Orange, first half 2006
• Red, second half 2006 and beyond until next phase implemented (Each month having a slightly different hex string)

The early 2007 scheme will be:

• Black, 2001-2004
• Olive, 2005
• Green, first half 2006
• Orange, second half 2006
• Red, 2007 and beyond until next phase implemented

The late 2007 scheme will be:

• Black, 2001-2004
• Olive, 2005
• Green, 2006
• Orange, first half 2007
• Red, second half 2007 and beyond until next phase implemented

The 2008 scheme will be:

• Black, 2001-2004
• Olive, 2005
• Green, 2006
• Orange, 2007
• Red, 2008 and beyond until next phase implemented

The 2009 scheme will be:

• Black, 2001-2004
• Olive, 2005-2006
• Green, 2007
• Orange, 2008
• Red, 2009 and beyond until next phase implemented

The 2010 scheme will be:

• Black, 2001-2004
• Olive, 2005-2006
• Green, 2007-2008
• Orange, 2009
• Red, 2010 and beyond until next phase implemented

I am not following this plan exactly, but am following the general idea of it. I am changing colors whenever the red group of admins gets too big, and such a change is due shortly. NoSeptember 12:31, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Better color scheme?

If you have a better color scheme that makes the page easier to understand at a glance (in terms of quickly recognizing the seniority of the admins listed), please add your suggested scheme (or ideas) here:

Instead of having it so that only those admins who were elected before a certain date get a certain colour, those admins who have been elected for a certain amount of time get a certain colour;

• New administrators - 6 months : red
• 6 months - 12 months : orange
• 12 months - 2 years : green
• > 2 years : black

That way, they aren't ranked on first in best dressed, they are ranked on experience. Harryboyles 05:26, 29 July 2006 (UTC) reply

I have tried to keep the red category as a short time period, and orange fairly short as well, so that the admins stand out as potentially inexperienced. Not until 2008 would Orange represent a year instead of six months, and this can be reconsidered. NoSeptember 14:09, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Hex string

Since I will being using a bot to make these changes, the hex strings for each post-2004 six month period must remain unique for future possible alterations. For example, in the early 2007 scheme, all of 2005 will be Olive, but the actual colors for each half year will be slightly differenct (too minor to be visible to the naked eye). Starting in July 2006, I will also use a different shade of red for each month (again not visible to the eye) indefinately. At some point I can use this as a way to have a bot count or sort the number of entries for each month, or something. Just a bit of built in flexibility, although a bot could probably just sort on the actual date string instead. NoSeptember

It is now October 2006 and I think it is time to change to the color scheme indicated above (the late 2006 color scheme that introduces Olive for the first time).
> First, if you think there is a better selection of colors I should use, then that should be discussed before any changes are made.
> Second, Maru has suggested here that this can be accomplished by a good text editor, if you know what you are doing, go ahead and change the colors to the late 2006 color scheme listed above. These are the changes to be made:

• #2E8B57 --> #6E6807
• #FF7518 --> #2E8C58
• #C41E3A --> #FE7519
  

(note that many 6 digit hex strings are different by only a single digit, so follow the above three 6 digit string changes precisely) In each case, change all instances of the 6 digit string listed first into the 6 digit string listed second.
> Third, let me know if this is not something you want to do, I can ask someone else to do it, not a problem. Thank you. NoSeptember

May to August 2006 inconsistency
No longer an issue. To see the list go to the history of this page, the list was removed on 13:41, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

August to October 2006 inconsistency
I merged semi-active into the active section to avoid this and future inconsistencies. Only inactive and former admins are tracked separately now, but semi-actives are still identified at WP:LA.

Current Inactives on this list that are not not listed as inactive on WP:LA:

• Aris Katsaris
• Bluemoose
• Chancemill
• Chris Roy
• DanKeshet
• Dvyost
• Evilphoenix
• Gdr
• GregAsche
• JHK
• Kcordina
• Khym Chanur
• Lachatdelarue
• Minesweeper
• Niteowlneils
• Peter Winnberg
• RedWordSmith
• Tillwe
• Tom-
• Water Bottle
• Yacht

This list is a month or two out of date at the moment NoSeptember 12:31, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

• This is what the 8 color test looks like. It is based on the primary colors of the visible spectrum.

• When I replaced {{ admin-abbr}} with {{ admina}} the page size was reduced from 90 kilobytes long to 85 kilobytes long (test on 6 December 2006).

This should be computable from the database dumps, no? davidwr/( talk)/( contribs)/( e-mail) 22:18, 12 June 2008 (UTC) reply

The opening has a sentence: Those dated with just the year 2002, were promoted prior to September 20, 2002 (and includes those promoted in 2001)..

This isn't technically correct, as no-one was "promoted" in 2001. When Wikipedia started it ran on UseModWiki, there was no "admin" as such, at least not in the Wikipedia sense. Jimbo, Larry Sanger and Tim Shell were the only people who had direct server access, and things like deleting pages had to be done at the server level. Tim was the "real" admin, as he had physical access to the server. However in 2001 Tim was a BOMIS employee, and as far as I could tell, he regarded Wikipedia as an annoying footnote to his actual (paid) duties.

The admin class was created with the first version of (the PHP script that eventually became) MediaWiki which went live in January 2002. At the same time Larry Sanger left the project, so the appointment of admins was a footnote to the much larger drama of Larry leaving. Tim, Jimbo and Magnus were the first admins in the Wikipedia sense (Larry was excluded). Jimbo then appointed a bunch of admins in January 2002 via email. And believe it or not, back then an admin had full SQL access to the database. Manning ( talk) 01:23, 7 May 2013 (UTC) reply

Actually, the SQL access was limited to an additional (and now removed) "sysop" privilege. I know Brion and myself had that, not sure who else. -- Magnus Manske ( talk) 19:34, 7 May 2013 (UTC) reply

Hello there, a proposal regarding pre-adminship review has been raised at Village pump by Anna Frodesiak. Your comments here is very much appreciated. Many thanks. Jim Carter through MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 06:47, 28 May 2014 (UTC) reply

I have been an administrator since September 2007. Edison ( talk) 19:07, 1 February 2017 (UTC) reply

I should be listed as retired. I became an admin on 6 August, 2007 and resigned a few weeks ago. -- Bduke ( talk) 02:29, 27 May 2021 (UTC) reply