[WikiEN-l] A modest proposal

[Casey Brown]

I have absolutely no problem with you discussing this even though you aren't
an English Wikipedia CheckUser, at least you know how the extension works.
:)

On 8/13/07, George Herbert <george.herbert at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 8/13/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 13/08/07, Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org> wrote:
> > > OK, but how is that even possible.  If neither the main account nor
> > > the sockpuppet are breaking policy, then a CU wouldn't reveal a
> > > correlation in the first place.  (I guess it's possible if a
> > > completely different user happened to have used the same IP address,
> > > but otherwise?)
> >
> > And in general, the editing pattern of two separate people on an IP
> > looks like the editing pattern of one editor keeping their accounts
> > thoroughly separate, and I generally presume it to be the former case.
>
> I have had CU on non-Wikipedia Mediawikis, but I can't speak for
> Wikipedia here specifically, but...
>
> If you leave a trail of evidence somehow connecting the accounts (log
> into one, edit and comment as if you were the other then change it
> back, etc) then someone may spot it.
>
> If you really truly keep them separate, the only trail there is if
> there are two and only two accounts which ever used that IP address.
>
> In which case, if they're not-abusive, there's little likelyhood that
> anyone ever CUs the address.
>
> As I understand how it's used on Wikipedia (again, I'm not a Checkuser
> here, so I may be talking out of my ass), in most cases the
> confirmation is a combination of common IP origin and behavioral.
>
> As was pointed out elsewhere, without a behavioral link, there's very
> little that a single IP in common necessarily tells you about two
> people.  Even a "home" ISP IP address could have unrelated people
> using it (I have a friend with a multi-thousand-user home system in
> Santa Cruz, California ...).
>
> If there's both a behavioral correllation and an IP in common, or
> nearby IP range in common...
>
> Again: If you're living your life right, you have little to fear from CU.
>
>
> --
> -george william herbert
> george.herbert at gmail.com
>
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-- 
Casey Brown
Cbrown1023

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