[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #37593: Replace "Super Admin" with "Network Administrator"

[WordPress Trac]

#37593: Replace "Super Admin" with "Network Administrator"
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 Reporter:  flixos90                           |       Owner:  vizkr
     Type:  enhancement                        |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                             |   Milestone:  4.7
Component:  Administration                     |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                             |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch 2nd-opinion ux-feedback  |     Focuses:  multisite
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Comment (by jeremyfelt):

 Replying to [comment:11 flixos90]:
 > My personal assumption is that "administrator" denotes a user while
 "admin" denotes an administration panel, so we should use the first here
 (these names are far from perfect, but somehow established themselves).
 Another opinion on this would be much appreciated though, what do you
 think @jeremyfelt?

 I think this is correct. A user is a "super admin", now a "network
 administrator". The area used to manage the network is the "network
 admin".

 We do seem to have a mix of "super admin" / "network admin" / "network
 administrator" in the help text. In one code comment we even use "super
 administrator". :)

 It'd be nice to decode help text such as `Super admin privileges cannot be
 removed because this user has the network admin email.` into something
 that made more sense with all of this in mind.

 Replying to [comment:12 johnbillion]:
 > The term `Super Admin` is not only used in core but also in
 documentation, tutorials, and blog posts across the web, and the
 `is_super_admin()` function becomes less clear when the "role" of `Super
 Admin` no longer exists.

 This is a good point. If we're committing to "network administrator" here,
 we need to make sure that's communicated well.

 Also, before committing to changes in terminology here, let's make sure
 things are future proofed a bit.

 Here's the future of roles in multisite that I imagine, plausible or not:

 * Site administrator (one or more sites)
 * Network administrator (one or more networks)
 * Global administrator (full control of WordPress installation)
 * Super Admin (sudo mode, emergency access controlled via global
 `$super_admins`, etc...)

 With that, I think modifying our current uses of "super admin" to be
 "network administrator" does make sense, but I would want to be careful
 that we're not doing this again in a couple years.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37593#comment:15>
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