Wikipedia:RfA reform 2011/Downturns

While declining RfA figures have been noted for quite some time, 2011, particularly from August on, has seen some very significant downturns, including several all time lows.

Good news

August saw the lowest number of unsuccessful candidacies (4) since August 2004.
Last month, September, saw only one unsuccessful RfA—the lowest number of unsuccessful candidacies since we began recording them (in April 2004)!
As can be seen from the above chart, the number of monthly unsuccessful candidacies has declined in general.

Bad news

August 2011 saw only one promotion, a monthly low that has only been reached one other time in RfA history (December 2010).
The number of monthly candidacies has reached an all time low, with August and September each seeing only 5 RfAs and October seeing only 6.
The number of promotions has also reached an all time low: So far, there have been 46 promotions this year. At this point in 2010, there had been 65 promotions. At this point in 2009, there had been 96. At this point in 2003, there had been 89 promotions.

Notes

For the purposes of this page, "RfA" refers to the current process (which was created in June 2003). "All time low" is not rhetoric, it literally means the lowest level in all of RfA history.

Tabular overview

(Courtesy of WereSpielChequers)

Shortcut

WP:RBM

Successful requests for adminship on the English Wikipedia^[1]
Year	Month												Mean	Passes	Fails^{[N 1]}	RfAs^{[N 2]}
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Mean	Passes	Fails^{[N 1]}	RfAs^{[N 2]}
2024	2	2	0	0	0	3	0	0	2	0	13	1	1.9	23	29	52^{[N 3]}
2023	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	12	7	19
2022	0	1	2	1	1	0	0	4	1	2	0	2	1.2	14	6	20
2021	1	1	0	0	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0.6	7	4	11
2020	4	1	2	0	3	0	1	1	3	1	0	1	1.4	17	8	25
2019	2	1	0	1	1	0	3	4	1	4	2	3	1.8	22	9	31
2018	0	1	1	1	0	2	1	0	1	2	0	1	0.8	10	8	18
2017	9	1	0	1	2	0	3	0	1	2	1	1	1.8	21	20	41
2016	0	1	1	1	3	0	2	1	1	1	1	4	1.3	16	20	36
2015	2	2	1	0	3	2	2	3	0	1	3	2	1.8	21	32	53
2014	3	1	4	3	2	1	1	1	0	0	5	1	1.8	22	38	60
2013	4	5	5	1	3	3	3	1	3	2	1	3	2.8	34	39	73
2012	1	3	1	3	1	1	6	4	0	1	5	2	2.3	28	64	92
2011	3	9	9	3	6	4	4	1	4	3	2	4	4.3	52	87	139
2010	6	7	2	8	8	6	7	13	6	7	4	1	6.3	75	155	230
2009	6	9	13	14	12	12	10	11	8	7	13	6	10.1	121	234	355
2008	36	27	22	12	16	18	16	12	6	16	11	9	16.8	201	392	593
2007	23	35	31	30	54	35	31	18	34	27	56	34	34.0	408	512	920
2006	44	28	34	36	30	28	26	26	22	27	33	19	29.5	353	543	896
2005	14	9	16	25	17	28	31	39	32	67	41	68	32.3	387	213	600
2004	13	14	31	20	23	13	17	12	29	16	27	25	20.0	240	63	303
2003	2	2	8	6	10	24	11	9	17	10	9	15	10.3	123	n/a^{[N 4]}	123
2002	^{[N 5]}						3	4	0	0	3	1	3.7	44	n/a^{[N 4]}	44
Totals														2252	2481	4733^{[N 6]}


Key
0 successful RFAs	26–30 successful RFAs
1–5 successful RFAs	31–35 successful RFAs
6–10 successful RFAs	36–40 successful RFAs
11–15 successful RFAs	41–50 successful RFAs
16–20 successful RFAs	51–60 successful RFAs
21–25 successful RFAs	More than 60 successful RFAs

Notes

Originally sourced from User:NoSeptember/Admin stats#Year to year comparison of promotions by months, copied here and colour-coded. Updates from Wikipedia:Unsuccessful adminship candidacies (Chronological)

Early 2003 from User:NoSeptember/RfA_chronological

Notes

^ Online only. By 2015 admins had started deleting "NotNow" RFAs which artificially reduces the unsuccessful figure
^ Except unsuccessful ones by email.
^ October 2024 RFA election results concluded in November. 11 were elected, 24 were not elected, and 3 withdrew from the election
^ ^a ^b Early RFAs were done by email and only the successes are known
^ 33 had been appointed in early 2002
^ Figures for unsuccessfuls for 2002 to 2003 are not available

References

^ Wikipedia:Successful requests for adminship

See also

Wikipedia:Desysoppings by month - similar list but for number of desysops per month

This project is divided into sub pages in order to keep discussions focused and on track.
Read the main page first, then join a discussion on the respective page.
Please do not start a new thread or a new sub page on something that is already under discussion - see the TOC on each talk page.

[2] Online only. By 2015 admins had started deleting "NotNow" RFAs which artificially reduces the unsuccessful figure

[3] Except unsuccessful ones by email.

[4] October 2024 RFA election results concluded in November. 11 were elected, 24 were not elected, and 3 withdrew from the election

[2001–02-5] Early RFAs were done by email and only the successes are known

[6] 33 had been appointed in early 2002

[7] Figures for unsuccessfuls for 2002 to 2003 are not available

[1] Wikipedia:Successful requests for adminship

[1]

[N 1]

[N 2]

[N 3]

[N 4]

[N 5]

[N 6]

v t e RfA reform 2011: Main page, sub pages, and their sections
Please add comments/new threads on the appropriate talk pages
Main page	About this project – Project overview Talk What this project is not about Goals Objectives Essential reading for task force members
Candidates	Minimum requirements – Proposal to include a minimum requirement for RfAs. Talk Criteria for candidates – Sortable tables and discussion on criteria for adminship. Ideas for WP:NOTNOW prevention. Talk Unsuccessful candidates – Tables: Tenure, edit counts, what they are doing now. More resources for WP:NOTNOW prevention. Talk
Voting	Voting – Extensive data, tables, and graphs on voting patterns and participation. Talk RfA questions – Sortable tables. Controversial questions posed by voters at RfA April 2010 – April 2011. Talk Tool: RfA Vote Counter. Complete breakdown of any editor's RfA votes.
Clerking	RfA Clerks – Ideas for clerks to moderate RfA. Talk
Draft proposals	Possible proposals – A basic summary of ideas that the task force is developing and queuing for development based on the active discussions above. Talk
Radical alternatives	Radical alternatives – Ideas and suggestions for entirely new RfA systems. Talk Pre-RfA proposal – Suggestion to have a "pre-RfA". Sysop on request - a radical alternative for creating a two-tiered admin process, where the one tier can be requested based on criteria.
Downturn	Downturns - Chart, stats, and summary of RfA nominations 2010 - 2011
Task force	Project coordinators Active participants
Current admin count: 848 (list all), 733 of them active (as of 10 September 2011). Activity is defined as 30 or more edits during the last two months. 235 have not edited in at least 3 months. (list)