On Nov 29, 2007 4:08 AM, Guy Chapman aka JzG <guy.chapman(a)spamcop.net>
wrote:
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:45:16 +1100, "private
musings"
<thepmaccount(a)gmail.com> wrote:
The fact that you were 'right' about my
misdeeds in no way alters the
nature
of your unethical behaviour.
No, my behaviour was ethical. I asked a few trusted friends for
advice before blocking one of your accounts. That is a sane and
reasonable thing to do.
Guy, I think I see where both of you are coming from, but I'd like to
interrupt here with a few questions. As I understand it, Private Musings
shared information about his prior accounts with you, one of which had
direct ties to his real-life identity, is this correct? Is it also correct
that he gave you no indication (or you had no indication) _at the time_ that
one of those accounts was tied to his real identity?
I ask, because, to me, discussing PM's accounts with trusted friends is
different to me than discussing someone's real life identity. The first, PM
needs to understand, is about protecting the encyclopedia. And when we say,
"JzG is a trusted member" that's what we mean. We trust him to do
what's in
the encyclopedia's best interests. They're janitors, not priests. If you
tell them in confidence you plan to break into the school, they'll act on
it. I'm rather glad Guy would discuss things with others before
acting...it's an entirely calm and rational thing to do.
At the same time, we trust that no one need 'sacrifice' an individual's
privacy for the project, which is why Checkuser is such a special and
restricted role. Guy, if you knew you were in possession of PM's real-life
identity and were sharing that with others, then I'm afraid I would find
that "unethical" for a Wikipedia admin. For a Checkuser, that sort of thing
would result in an Ombudsman investigation and likely lead to a revocation
of their rights.
I haven't been following too closely, but the impression I got from the AN/I
threads was that it wasn't too clear which of PM's previous accounts related
to his real-life identity (or how). I honestly don't think Guy knew at the
time, and probably didn't care. Because his concern wasn't about someone's
real life identity but their accounts on Wikipedia and what it was doing to
the project.
Makes me wonder if there's anything about anonymity and choosing account
names on-wiki anywhere. Could be a good idea for a useful guideline/essay.
InkSplotch
--
"Stercus, stercus, stercus, moritus sum!"