[WikiEN-l] Checkuser for fun, for profit, for mild curiosity, for sharing, for whatever

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 8/13/07, Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org> wrote:
> One thing I expect is to know when checkuser is run against me.  I
> expect to know about this before it happens, and I expect a chance to
> argue against it happening.
>
> But, even if this were fixed I still doubt I'd feel comfortable with
> the system.  I think I'd have to vote for abandoning the tool
> completely.

Anthony, When you were caught using a sock the folks who investigated
the sock decided to extend you an assumption of good faith and took
your claim, that you didn't intend the negative outcome which followed
from, at face value. Your actions were not publicly disclosed in that
case, even though only your reputation would have been hurt and not
your privacy.

I think it is sad that you are, apparently, so unwilling to extend
trust to others even after benefiting from it yourself. I assume you
know what they say about people who live in glass houses?

Wiki(p|m)edia isn't an anonymity service and becoming one would not
further our mission.

It's believed by some that the limited level of anonymity we already
provide is counter to our mission as well as the public good, although
I don't personally share that view.

No realizable improvements would likely satisfy the desires of those
who want better privacy enough to say something. What these people
should want is a level of privacy which can only be provide by special
tools (like TOR), and may not really be possible in open editable
system because it is so easy to leak personally identifiable
information.

I do, however, support the arguments you've made about increasing our
friendliness towards outside anonymity services. We should do that to
the greatest extents which are possible without damaging our ability
to further our primary activities.