[WikiEN-l] An Open Letter to Mr. Wales

[Ron Ritzman]

On 3/17/07, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at waterwiki.info> wrote:

> >Hm. As a rule, checkuser doesn't lie.

> Checkuser doesn't lie, but results can easily be misinterpreted.

Agreed. Many people still use ISPs that assign IPs dynamically. This
is even true for many DSL and Broadband providers. In such cases the
only thing a checkuser will tell you is that both accounts in question
are (for example) Comcast users in Chicago or Bellsouth DSL users in
Birmingham. A few years ago I was blocked for a month. So was every
other user in Atlanta whose ISP used Level3 POPs all thanks to some
dickhead called alberuni who was also an earthlink subscriber in
Atlanta (or another ISP in Atlanta using Level3 POPs) . If someone
suspected me of being a sockpuppet of user:alberuni, a checkuser would
likely say I was.

>I think there have been a number of instances of troublesome users seizing
> on an inaccurate interpretation of checkuser to contest remedies which are
>directed at the troublesome behavior shared by both accounts in question.
> If both accounts are making the same kind of trouble...

If user:foo and user:bar are both being wp:dicks, then unless you are
99.998% certain
then one is a sock of the other, both should be judged solely on their
own dickery. If you accuse one of being a sock of the other and it
turns out they are 2 separate dicks, it makes you look like the dick
and the dicks look like victims.