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Functionaries are users who perform specialized roles and haveprivileged technical access on the Wikimedia projects. Examples include users withCheckUser orOversight access, as well as current and past members of theArbitration Committee. Functionary access must be authorized by the Arbitration Committee or the Wikimedia Foundation, and requires that the user sign theconfidentiality agreement for nonpublic information before being granted any of these permissions. This is in contrast to users who areadministrators,bureaucrats, or members of theBot 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 functionaries include:
Sitting arbitrators and current holders of checkuser or oversight permissions are subscribed 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. Where permissions are removed for cause, list membership is also usually revoked.
In addition tofunctionaries-en, checkusers are subscribed to the global checkuser mailing list and oversighters to the local oversight mailing list. These lists are private and membership is open only to current holders of those permissions.
Functionaries are held to a higher standard of behavior than non-functionaries, especially in issues related to their area of responsibility. Users who demonstrate a lack of judgment in an area related to their special access may have their status as functionaries revoked, whether or not an explicit abuse of their privileged access has occurred. As functionaries have a high profile within the project and are the face of Wikipedia both to its editors and to the wider world, it is damaging to the integrity of the encyclopedia as a whole if these users are repeatedly embroiled in controversy. Functionaries may be removed from their position by the Arbitration Committee.
Thefunctionaries-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 toarbcom-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 isnot a place forunblock requests or other general queries. The appropriatevolunteer response team queue is better suited for such issues.
As of 3 October 2025, the subscribers are: