Timwi wrote:
Sascha Noyes wrote:
On Wednesday 31 December 2003 09:38 pm, Timwi wrote:
The basic idea is to mark all accounts as "old" (and make them unloginnable), and require everybody to create a new account. Then allow users to merge their old contribution-lists into this new account provided they know the password to the old account.
So, for example, I would then create a "new" account named "Timwi" and then merge "old:en:Timwi", "old:de:Timwi", "old:fr:Timwi", etc. into it.
Umm, this sounds like an incredibly bad idea:
- Hassle
Any conversion process will involve some degree of hassle, but by the same token it is a one time hassle. Only nothing about it will make sure that it is a recurring hassle. I have no idea how big the account conflict problem really is. Once we move unconflicted accounts, users with equivalent multiple accounts (i.e. same name and password), and new users into the new database , how much will be leftover?
- Account stealing: This would be a feast day for any trolls or
malcontents (and wikipedia seems to have quite a few of those)
You're forgetting that this would require actually hacking into an account (i.e. cracking the password). Seeing as this is already possible, and no easier or more difficult, I believe this concern of yours is invalid.
This problem is possible but improbable. We are dealing with a transitional issue where the vulnerability will not be long-lived. Problem accounts will retain their problem status. Problem title accounts will be transferred just like anything else. During the transition concerned Wikipedians can be on the lookout for unusual activity.
The only problem with the merge is the collision of accounts (eg. there exists a [[de:Jan]] and [[en:Jan]], but they are not the same person). Your proposal does not solve this,
It does solve it. Perhaps you haven't quite understood my suggestion.
Maybe what you're thinking of is that these two people cannot both continue to use the name "Jan". But that's normal. It would be the same way if we had had single sign-on all the way through. Whoever comes first on that "day of the switch" will get the username Jan, and the next person will just have to pick another name.
OK, but I would not favour the name going to the one that was longest established. If one of the Jans joined more than a year ago then disappeared after contributing for one week, he should not have priority over the more recent Jan who may have become a steady contributor.
I also think that there should be an association segment to each user file. Each user will by default have an association with the wiki where he first registered, and each entry transferred from the old system will retain its association with each wiki where the owner is also registered (perhaps even retaining the registration number). If, as a registered user, I visit another project where I am not associated, I would be told, "If you want to be associated with this Wiki, please press here." I would then be assigned an association number with that project. This could also be useful if anyone wanted to have a list of all who are interested in a particular project, particularly a small one. A similar system could be used for accreditations as sysops or developers.
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