On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 3:36 AM, David Richfield davidrichfield@gmail.comwrote:
So User:mfgaowener should get an automated mail saying "because you did a pagemove with edit summary "Haggggers!" you were checkusered. Please be more subtle in your vandalism next time."
I trust the current checks and balances, and I don't think the system is getting significant levels of abuse.
+1 on this. The methods that checkusers have are heavily constrained as it
is by privacy concerns, and they are very fragile. They only work effectively within the tight privacy restrictions with a certain amount of security through obscurity. For one, a checkuser needs to be able to monitor a situation sometimes to be sure that they are casting a wide enough net for a block to be effective. For another, the standard of reasonable suspicion placed on the checkuser tool is high enough that with enough practice, vandals would learn to be careful to never justify a checkuser request within the privacy guidelines.
We're between a rock and a hard place, because to give the transparency being asked for, we'd enter an arms race where we'd quickly have to relax the checkuser standards to the point where it becomes "anything goes so long as you don't disclose it".
-Stephanie