Brian McNeil wrote:
I will start by highlighting that I have CheckUser on
the English Wikinews.
This means I am on the CheckUser-l mailing list and have seen the discussion
that has privately taken place about a global blocking mechanism.
My understanding of the requested functionality is that it is primarily for
the most irritating IP addresses. We're not talking about someone who might
reform if they go to another project, we're talking about people who create
dozens of socks and take a perverse joy in making people clean up after
them. The people who project hop in the hope of vandalising undetected; the
really persistent vandals, not the strongly opinionated. We're talking
"Willy on Wheels", not "Wendy on Wako".
If you build an
environment of trust this concept would go through more
easily, but the enthusiasm that some have shown for the proposal is
worrisome. There is no confidence that everyone advantaged by this tool
would use it wisely.
It is one thing to say that the tool would only be used against the most
flagrant violators; it is quite another to believe that everyone will so
limit himself in using a process which must often be performed in
secrecy.
The autonomy of projects is important, and members of projects need to
feel that the autonomy will not be compromised by others making
decisions without consultation with the members of the affected community.
Ec