Tim Starling wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
In 2002, before the change of software, the ip information was visible even when users were identified under a pseudonyme. The information could be visible when people were just moving the mouse's pointer over the name of the user.
When the software was upgraded, this option disappeared and the ip data of registered users became *private* data.
I would like to know if that disappearance was discussed at that time and if it was on purpose that ip data of loggued in people became *private* data.
I'm pretty sure there was a bug report from Lee Daniel Crocker in SourceForge indicating that the behaviour was accidental and that he intended to fix it by reimplementing the mouseover feature. He was shouted down on that bug report, by Brion and various users. The expectation that IP addresses are private data was already well established by that time. I can't find the bug report now.
Once something is private, it's very hard to make it public again. There was a similar outcry when I proposed making watchlists public. If watchlists had been public from the outset, I doubt anyone would have even requested that they be made private, and their usefulness would have been pretty much the same.
-- Tim Starling
Well,
I remember quite well the previous feature, as the french wikipedia was switched to the new mediawiki 8 months after my arrival. During 8 months, we saw the "private" data.
I wonder if we might not argue that making this data private made somewhat more damages to the tissu of the community than if the data had been kept public. Legally speaking, it weakens our case. It goes against the principles of transparency and responsibility that we like to put upfront. It simplifies defense strategy against vandals and sockpuppets. It avoids power grabs (or perception there of) by the few members who succeed to get access to the data.
I am looking for some arguments to keep it private. Others than "well, this is the default behavior".
I did not find the past discussion. What happened ?
ant