In this article
Promoting someone to administrator is not one decision. It is a screen of separate switches, and the difference between ticking all of them and ticking two is the difference between a moderator and a second owner.
This page is about that screen: what each right actually allows, which combinations are sensible, and why the habit of granting everything is the most common mistake in community management.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Read the permission list and know what each switch lets someone do.
- check_circle Promote someone with the rights their job needs and no more.
- check_circle Recognise the two switches that are effectively irreversible.
- check_circle Check afterwards who did what, from the log the group keeps for you.
Every switch on this screen is independent — the list is not a ladder from junior to senior.
admin_panel_settings Three levels, and only one of them is fixed
A group has one owner, who can do everything including deleting the group and handing it to somebody else. Below that are administrators, each with whichever rights they were given. Ordinary members have whatever the group's own permissions allow.
The important property is that administrator is not a rank. Two admins in the same group can have entirely different powers, and the screen does not present them in order of seniority. You are assembling a role, not choosing a level.
What each switch actually does
Grouped by what they put at risk rather than by the order they appear in.
delete Delete messages, ban users, pin messages
edit Change info, invite links, video chats
block Add new admins, and remain anonymous
how_to_reg Three combinations that work
The working principle: grant what the job needs this week, and add the rest when it turns out to be needed.
settings Promoting someone
- Open Administrators Tap the group name, the edit pencil, then Administrators.
- Add the person Pick them from the member list.
- Turn off what they do not need The switches start generously. Working down and unticking is faster than the reverse and produces a better result.
- Give them a title Sixteen characters at the bottom of the same screen. It tells members what this person handles.
- Save, and tell the group A new name with a badge appearing unannounced is how members conclude the room changed hands.
workspace_premium The owner is a single point of failure
Only the owner can transfer the group, and the transfer has requirements that take days to satisfy. A community whose owner has stopped answering messages cannot fix that from inside — there is no vote, no succession and no appeal.
The practical answer is to arrange it while it is boring. The owner should have a cloud password set well in advance, because the transfer needs one that is at least a week old, and there should be a second person who could receive the group. Neither costs anything, and both are impossible to arrange after the fact.
This page is the switches and three roles that work. The curriculum step takes the principle further: designing a permission structure for a large team, the failure modes each right creates, and how to audit an administrator list that has grown without anyone deciding it should.
At a glance
- 1Read each switch
Every admin right covers more than its name suggests.
- 2Give the minimum
Grant only what the role needs.
- 3Two risky switches
Adding admins and staying anonymous are hard to undo.
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