[WikiEN-l] Re: Arbitration Committee members granted checkuser tool

[Anthere]

BJörn Lindqvist wrote:
>>Seeing as there hasn't been much public discussion on this (at least on
>>the English-language Wikipedia) I thought it would be a good idea to let
>>you all know that Raul654, Fred Bauder, Kelly Martin, The Epopt and
>>Jayjg have all been granted access to the checkuser tool[1] (the tool
>>which allows for checking of sockpuppets by giving access to IP
>>addresses, including those of signed-in Wikipedians).
> 
> 
> My cents: I think this whole checkuser shit is totally re-tarded. It's
> a grave violation of privacy. I have accounts on Wikipedia only
> because I care about my anonymousity (otherwise I would edit as an
> "anon"). I do NOT wan't someone to connect my contributions to my
> identity. Especially not someone I don't know and who identifies
> itself with a random and totally meaningless userid!
> 
> Dumb dumb dumb. Stupid stupid stupid.
> 
> --
> mvh Björn

Hi Björn,

Checks should be done only on accounts doing abusive edits to Wikipedia 
(vandalism, insults, spam, defaming etc...)

If checks are done without any relevant reasons related to abuse, then 
those checks are abusive and the person with the checkuser access should 
(will) lose it.

The other point is "if you have 3 accounts and do nothing abusive with 
these three accounts, and if for some mysterious reason an editor with 
check user access publicly indicates these three accounts are owned by 
only one person", then, providing the information is abusive and the 
person with checkuser access should (will) lose it.

Note that what is "abusive" in having several accounts may vary 
depending on wikis. Generally, getting involved in an edit war under 
several names is abusive. Generally, voting several times under 
different accounts is abusive. However, using one identity to edit 
articles in history and another to edit articles related to sex is not 
seen as abusive.

Ant