Mailing List Archive

Re: (volunteer) job position : Ombudsperson checkuser (or checkuser Ombudsperson or whatever)
Kelly Martin wrote:

>On 6/16/06, Michael R. Irwin <michael_irwin@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Nathan Carter wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I would be interested in assisting in this area if there were to be two
>>>people doing the job.
>>>
>>>
>>Is Checkuser is kind of Wikipedia specific or has this function spread
>>to all wikis?
>>
>>
>CheckUser is available on all Wikimedia projects.
>
>
>>Two is excellent for alternate viewpoints and highly increased reliability.
>>
>>Three is the first odd number which provides both redundancy and no
>>deadlock capacity assuming each checker provides a firm yes or no there
>>is or is not a problem. Three way spread with complicated opinions
>>probably means more review is necessary to figure out what the hell is
>>really going on or a simple no conclusion.
>>
>>
>My personal recommendation is for a commission of five, one of whom
>should be a Board member. Without a Board member, the commission can
>only be advisory.
>
If you have a commission (or committee) doing this sort of thing it will
really be nothing but a second Arbcom. Anthere's suggestion really
brings us back to having another form of mediator. The role requires a
person with good people skills who can investigate a situation and make
recommendations, preferably a person who is not in the habit of getting
involved in disputes.. Whether there should be more than one depends on
the volume of work since each such person working independently of the
other(s) on different cases. Most of the discussion should be
confidential and offlist to avoid any compulsion by admins to show
support of each other. Each case would be judged on its own merits.
The perception by a newbie that nobody will pay attention to position
needs to be overcome. Admins who are too quick to find punitive
solutions to problems give a totally misleading impression of the nature
of a wiki.

Ec

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Re: (volunteer) job position : Ombudsperson checkuser (or checkuser Ombudsperson or whatever) [ In reply to ]
On 6/17/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge@telus.net> wrote:
> If you have a commission (or committee) doing this sort of thing it wil
> really be nothing but a second Arbcom.

No, there's no reason to believe that's what would happen.

Part of the role suggested by this group is to formulate policy as
well as to resolve individual complaints. I'm certainly not
recommended that the complaint resolution be handled in the broken
manner that the English ArbCom operates (that is, slowly, reactively,
largely ineffectually). Rather, I view the purpose of this group as
to monitor the use of CheckUser proactively as well as reactively and,
when it appears appropriate, to recommend changes to the privacy and
checkuser policies to the Board, as well as to provide recommendations
to either the Board or to individual member projects as to how to
resolve particular conflicts. In any case, it should be viewed as a
delegation of the Board's authority and should be treated as a
Foundation function.

Kelly
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Re: (volunteer) job position : Ombudsperson checkuser (or checkuser Ombudsperson or whatever) [ In reply to ]
Kelly Martin wrote:

>On 6/21/06, Robert Scott Horning <robert_horning@netzero.net> wrote:
>
>
>>I've heard a lot of fear mongering and what I percieve to be unwarrente
>>fears about abuses to checkuser actions. Can you give some clear
>>examples of what have been percieved as abuses of those with checkuser
>>privileges, at least types of problems that have happened as a matter or
>>practice?
>>
>>I know I am speaking from an apparent minority opinion on this mailing
>>list, but I fail to see what real damage is happening from simply
>>looking up the IP address of a user.
>>
>>
>
>I have yet to see a bona fide case of CheckUser abuse. However, this
>does not mean that we should fail to be vigilant for abuses. Trust,
>yet verify.
>
>Having a group of people who are positioned to advise the Board in
>making policy in this area is a good idea in any case.
>
>Kelly
>
>
If the abuse hasn't happened, where is the move to create such a
position in the first place? A quest for political power?

--
Robert Scott Horning



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Re: (volunteer) job position : Ombudsperson checkuser (or checkuser Ombudsperson or whatever) [ In reply to ]
Methinks it's a quest to be ready in case it actually happens. To express it
as an irritating buzzword, "proactive."

Also politics. :D

On 6/21/06, Robert Scott Horning <robert_horning@netzero.net> wrote:
>
> Kelly Martin wrote:
>
> >On 6/21/06, Robert Scott Horning <robert_horning@netzero.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>I've heard a lot of fear mongering and what I percieve to be unwarrente
> >>fears about abuses to checkuser actions. Can you give some clear
> >>examples of what have been percieved as abuses of those with checkuser
> >>privileges, at least types of problems that have happened as a matter or
> >>practice?
> >>
> >>I know I am speaking from an apparent minority opinion on this mailing
> >>list, but I fail to see what real damage is happening from simply
> >>looking up the IP address of a user.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >I have yet to see a bona fide case of CheckUser abuse. However, this
> >does not mean that we should fail to be vigilant for abuses. Trust,
> >yet verify.
> >
> >Having a group of people who are positioned to advise the Board in
> >making policy in this area is a good idea in any case.
> >
> >Kelly
> >
> >
> If the abuse hasn't happened, where is the move to create such a
> position in the first place? A quest for political power?
>
> --
> Robert Scott Horning
>
>
>
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Re: (volunteer) job position : Ombudsperson checkuser (or checkuser Ombudsperson or whatever) [ In reply to ]
On 6/21/06, Robert Scott Horning <robert_horning@netzero.net> wrote:
> If the abuse hasn't happened, where is the move to create such a
> position in the first place? A quest for political power?

There are occasional accusations (I was once accused, for example),
but as far as I know none of them has panned out. Nonetheless, we
cannot blithely ignore the accusations.

Kelly
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