Use of Admin Notes

Workflow for when and how to add admin notes to a GitLab.com account

Overview

The admin note serves as a quick reference for any account changes or action performed on a GitLab.com namespace. For example, it also helps to determine if the user was previously flagged for any violations to prevent any further abuse.

If you encounter a situation with the following cases, an admin note is required.

  • User requested change
  • Compute minutes reset
  • Legal case
  • Security or Abuse case

Adding the Note

Adding an admin note can be done using one of the following methods:

  1. Admin account
  2. Navigate to the admin page for the user (/admin/users/username) or top-level group (admin/groups/namespace_path)
  3. Click Edit
  4. Add the relevant admin note
  5. Click Save when done
  6. ChatOps (only available for users):
  7. Find the user to confirm it’s the proper account: /chatops run user find <username or current email>
  8. Add the admin note: /chatops run user note <username or current email> 'admin note here'

In general, the formatting should be standard in a one liner format:

  • Violation: Date | Note | Case | Link
  • Action Taken: Date | Note | Link

Slack conversations or issue links may be used for the link if no ticket is lodged for the type of request.

Viewing the Notes

There are two methods a team member can use to look up admin notes for a particular user:

  1. If the team member has admin privileges, they can navigate to the admin page for the relevant namespace where the admin note will be present.
  2. (Users only) Team members can use ChatOps to read admin notes for a particular user via the following command in a Slack channel where the chatops bot has been invited

    /chatops run user find <username or email>

Sample Notes

Disabling 2FA: 2024-01-16 | 2FA removed | user requested | https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/123

Email Address Change/Removal: 2024-01-16 | Primary Email Change - No Access | User Requested | https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/123

DMCA Request: 2024-01-16 | DMCA Violation | Abuse | https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/123

Abuse Case: 2024-01-16 | Flagged for terms violation | Abuse Case | https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/123

User Blocked: 2024-01-16 | User blocked by infra | https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/support/internal-requests/issues/441

Name Squatting Rename: 2024-01-16 | Name Squatting Request | https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/123

Compute minutes reset: 2024-01-16 | Compute minutes reset | Bug | https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/123

Last modified January 18, 2024: Clarify format for admin notes (1bdf9d7d)
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