On 1/6/06, Habj sweetadelaide@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