Regular user levels
- Anonymous users
- New users
- Autoconfirmed users
Special user levels
- Administrators
- Bureaucrats
- Stewards
The regular user levels are appointed automatically by software and special user levels are granted by the community. Each type of user has its own specific privileges or constrictions, such as the ability to (semi-) protect pages or edit these type of pages. This feature is needed when so-called ‘edit wars’ arise around one particular article due to controversy.
Applying the so-called wiki-logic to decision making processes has been explored by law professor and information law expert Beth Simone Novek in her book “Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful.” In this book she describes how she worked with a team of experts to help inexperienced citizens participate in patent examination. They used the Internet to create communities of self-selected experts to contribute their time and effort to the policy process. And thereby, exemplifying its title, showing how technology can be used to create a participatory culture of government.