In response to the burden placed on developers in administering sysop access on the various wikis, and the dangerous nature of manual SQL queries, a new feature has been implemented, as proposed by Brion and implemented by E23 (Snok). This feature creates a new level of access called "bureaucrat". Bureacrats are able to create sysops on any wiki, even if they do not have an account at the target wiki. Thus, the approximately 150 wikis we now host can be effectively administered. The word "bureaucrat" was chosen because, according to Brion, "it sounded unattractive, no one will want to fight over it."
To attempt to get this feature off the ground, I have created a meta page on the subject, at:
http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucrat
I have also moved the central location for interwiki requests for adminship from Brion's todo list to
http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interwiki_requests_for_adminship
-- Tim Starling