On 1/6/06, Habj <sweetadelaide(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Quite a few wikipedias have by now appointed
checkusers. How have
people reasoned on the various projects while appointing their
checkusers - do they need to be "tech folks" or not? To what extent
should a checkuser have some prior knowledge, that can not easily be
picked up by a trusted but not very tech-knowledgeble person? I have
heard both opinions, both "it is very important" and "it is not very
important" but not very much resoning for either side.
On "en" we limited the choice to members of the Arbitration Committee
who indicated either experience in network security or the willingness
to learn. In my opinion, having some understanding of how the
Internet is organized (e.g. subnets, tier 1 and tier 2 providers,
netblock assignments and reassignments, DHCP subranges, etc.) is
important to interpreting CheckUser results. However, any reasonably
intelligent individual can learn what is required in a relatively
short time.
I think it is more important to weigh the candidate's ability to
exercise discretion and judgment than their technical skills at
interpreting IP data. Note also that there is a mailing list for
editors with CheckUser rights; someone who wants help interpreting a
particular set of results can always ask for help there.
Kelly