On 3/17/07, Fred Bauder fredbaud@waterwiki.info wrote:
Hm. As a rule, checkuser doesn't lie.
Checkuser doesn't lie, but results can easily be misinterpreted.
Agreed. Many people still use ISPs that assign IPs dynamically. This is even true for many DSL and Broadband providers. In such cases the only thing a checkuser will tell you is that both accounts in question are (for example) Comcast users in Chicago or Bellsouth DSL users in Birmingham. A few years ago I was blocked for a month. So was every other user in Atlanta whose ISP used Level3 POPs all thanks to some dickhead called alberuni who was also an earthlink subscriber in Atlanta (or another ISP in Atlanta using Level3 POPs) . If someone suspected me of being a sockpuppet of user:alberuni, a checkuser would likely say I was.
I think there have been a number of instances of troublesome users seizing on an inaccurate interpretation of checkuser to contest remedies which are directed at the troublesome behavior shared by both accounts in question. If both accounts are making the same kind of trouble...
If user:foo and user:bar are both being wp:dicks, then unless you are 99.998% certain then one is a sock of the other, both should be judged solely on their own dickery. If you accuse one of being a sock of the other and it turns out they are 2 separate dicks, it makes you look like the dick and the dicks look like victims.