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Proposal to transform the Audit Subcommittee into an independent committee and grant new responsibilities

The Audit Subcommittee is a good compromise in the interim, but in the longer term, I'm sure there would be a strong benefit in creating an independent committee entirely dedicated to the overseeing of the CU and OS permissions. The number in checkusers and oversighters steadily increases, so the need for a stronger overseeing of those permissions. It would also permit for the Arbitration Committee to refocus on dispute resolution, and reduce the workload for arbitrators, while simultaneously making sure a special attention is given to the matter (and for other permissions similarly requiring privacy if we use some in the future, such as local stewardship). We could select auditors at annual elections, and maybe final appointments would be made by Jimbo, like with ArbCom. Specifically, the Audit Committee would have all, some or more of the following responsibilities:

1. investigate complaints concerning the use of the checkuser or oversight tools or alleged breaches of privacy thereof, report to the Arbitration Committee when the investigation is concluded, as described in the procedure
2. remove a checkuser or oversight access as a result of community-agreed processes (such as reconfirmation if we use this) or due to prolonged inactivity
3. hear requests for access and organize regular elections for checkusers and oversighters (in February and August, per precedents ?), subsequently appoint successful candidates in the manner prescribed by policy (as of now, done by the ArbCom, it also makes sense to transfer this responsibility)
4. oversee the use of the oversight and checkuser tools, monitor the checkuser and oversight logs
5. regularly report the committee's anonymized findings to the community, including statistics, discuss and suggest improvements
6. advise (through email) checkusers and oversighters on best practices, point out possible improvements in their use of the tools (such as: make sure to appropriately justify CU and OS actions with informative summaries, see those findings)
7. oversee the use of the functionaries-en mailing list.

The committees should be independent, first I don't see why it needs to be a subcommittee of a committee primarily aimed to resolve disputes, it's not the case anyway since it contains non-arbitrators. A relation of subsidiary to the Arbitration Committee could also hinder the work of AudCom, since they may be reluctant to advise an arbitrator on their use of the tools, and an independence between investigators, regulators or auditors and those 'sentencing' is the norm in the 'real world', for plenty of reasons (due process, etc); and also simply because their roles are, even if historically tied, very much different. Of course, the Audit Committee would communicate with the Arbitration Committee, when concluding investigations, signaling an abuse or proceeding other ArbCom requests, they can do so by email. I don't think AudCom should contain arbitrators specially appointed either, instead individual arbitrators may also seek election for the Audit Committee, so the community would decide if they want or not that the user posses those two hats. This would also change the appointment method for Checkusers and Oversighters, but only because the role of ArbCom in this matter would become the role of AudCom. Cenarium (talk) 22:10, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi Cenarium - I think you have some really good ideas in your proposal above; indeed, a fair number of them are already in place in some form or other (your points 1, 4, 5 and 6). There are a few things I need to caution you about. The first is that access to the Checkuser and Oversight permissions has to be within the applicable Wikimedia Foundation policies (m:CheckUser policy, m:Oversight); this is not optional, because both of these permissions are operative under the WMF privacy policy. The WMF policy on access to Oversight permission does not explicitly state that Oversight appointments on projects with Arbitration Committees must be made by the Arbitration Committee; however, it does require that an arbitrator post the request for access. CheckUser policy is explicit about the subject of appointments on projects that have an Arbitration Committee:

The Foundation's policies reflect the fiduciary duty that the Arbitration Committee holds in supporting the appointments to these two permissions. The Arbitration Committee as a whole takes this fiduciary duty very seriously. I would like to think that the hybrid process that we have developed, where Arbcom meets its fiduciary duty by vetting candidates in advance, and then putting their names forward to the community for the community to make the final decision, has found a middle ground where we all share in making the decision. (The alternative, where Arbcom vets people after a community election, is brutally unfair to everyone.)

Both the WMF Oversight and Checkuser policies specify that the Arbitration Committee (on projects where one exists) makes decisions on removal of access (your point #2). This is precisely the reason that the Audit Subcommittee is a subcommittee of the Arbitration Committee. The previously mentioned fiduciary duty is why arbitrators sit on the AUSC; if there are problems with the way someone uses these tools, the Arbitration Committee has a responsibility to act.

One last "caution" and that is that the Functionaries-L mailing list also includes former arbitrators who do not hold either checkuser or oversight permissions, and all of the current sitting arbitrators. However, speaking as one of the current list administrators, I'd be more than happy if someone else took over that role. The Oversight-L list is primarily moderated by non-arbitrator oversighters, and the Checkuser-L list is a multi-project list moderated by checkusers from various projects.

Now about elections: I really like your idea of scheduled, twice-annual elections, although I'd be inclined to do March/October (so that they don't overlap any other project or foundation elections), and I would have no problem with the AUSC overseeing it. I was planning on starting a discussion in a couple of weeks to figure out how to elect community representatives to the AUSC, but it might as well start now. In the discussion about secret balloting for the next Arbitration Committee election, some of us proposed that an AUSC election would be a good place to trial the process; what do you think? Do remember that fiduciary duty I mentioned before, though, and consider how that can be worked into the equation. Risker (talk) 01:01, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes, of course we should make sure to satisfy the wmf policy requirements. If there is a provision that in projects with an Arbitration Committee, only them can appoint checkusers or oversighters, then the Audit Committee could submit the final election results to the Arbitration Committee which would need to validate those, so it would be a process involving both committees and the community. Although we could ask the foundation if they would accept to allow the Audit Committee to appoint candidates, I think they would if the members are selected with requirements similar to enwiki arbitrators, which is the case as proposed. On removal of access, the policy states "On wikis with an approved ArbCom, the ArbCom can decide on the removal of access. On wikis without an approved ArbCom, the community can vote removal of access.", so I don't think it precludes that another entity mandated to do so by the community remove a CU or OS access. But there again, we could ask the foundation for clarifications. Considering this, I don't see what could bar us from having an independent committee with this role. Also, even in its current form, it's not a subcommittee of ArbCom, since it includes non-arbs. Cenarium (talk) 01:49, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

The most obvious problem is that pointed out by Risker - the Foundation explicitly grants to Arbitration Committees the role and authority to oversee, appoint and remove checkusers. Altering this system would require changes at meta, and very likely the direct approval of Foundation staff.

A more significant tick against this proposal, in my mind, is that it doesn't meet my loose criteria for the expansion or establishment of bureaucracy. Complex and bureaucratic systems privilege users who are experienced in the political machines of Misplaced Pages over other users, and this gulf is most obvious between long-term editors and those new to the community. As a result, any new institutions of bureaucratic authority ought to pass a fairly high bar before they are implemented. A rough outline of the minimum criteria for new endeavors might be:

1. A current and significant actual failure on the part of existing systems to handle the responsibilities proposed for the new mechanism
2. The new mechanism must offer significant benefits in efficiency, transparency and efficacy over existing systems
3. The benefits outlined for the second criteria must outweigh by a significant margin any downsides inherent in the proposed mechanism

In my opinion, while Cenarium's proposal appears to offer benefits associated with institutional independence it fails to meet any of the three criteria I've described above. I would predict that a new, independent audit committee would be composed of editors not sufficiently and consistently active, handle a relatively minimal volume of problems, create the strange situation where the committee that appoints checkusers and oversighters is subsequently prevented from practicing any oversight and most importantly fail to address any actual shortcoming in the current arrangement. Nathan 01:19, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Addressed your first points above. I don't see how it introduces new bureaucracy, this committee already exists, and the elections for the committee are also planned. In fact, it's not a major change from the current situation. Concerning your latest paragraph, as I said, arbitrators could run for the Audit Committee. We could even have arbitrators appointed to serve in the committee, if needs be, it wouldn't be entirely independent, but they could be viewed as liaisons. The Audit Subcommittee is as of now fairly inactive, so those new responsibilities would increase its workload, and make its existence even more justified. As for users selected in the committee, I think we have enough active users who could serve, it doesn't have to be a big committee, 8 members should be fine. AudCom would be precisely responsible for the oversight of the CU and OS permissions, and in case of misuse, would immediately report to ArbCom. In the current arrangement, they can't do much of those tasks so efficiently because of a lack of personnel specifically dedicated. Cenarium (talk) 01:49, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm not particular sanguine about expanding AUSC's responsibilities past CU/OS little-o-oversight and into general Func-L little-o-oversight. For those of you not aware, Func-l gets a fair amount of traffic, most of which is frankly not worth paying attention to. The rare times it actually matters, it either falls within privacy-related problems, already part of AUSC's jurisdiction, or general shenanigans which ArbCom can handle fine without additional involvement. Likewise, while I believe that AUSC is well placed for monitoring elections, I do not want AUSC at all in charge of scheduling elections - the competencies are too different. One is essentially a policy decision - one is a little-o-oversight function.

I disagree, if I understand correctly what you're suggesting, that there is some intrinsic flaw in the AUSC structure that prevents us from working efficiently and effectively. We suffer approximately the same time constraints everyone else does, and we're still trying to figure out what the correct boundaries of our role really is.

Finally, the substance of independence can be gained regardless of AUSC's formal relationship with the Arbitration committee. I have no particular objection to a formally independent committee, (in fact, I generally support a more active, independent role) but I'm not sure if its worth the effort.--Tznkai (talk) 04:31, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Any inefficiency that exists is due to not everyone reading their emails as frequently as others and not having as much free time as others. (If we could gather the six of us in Conference Room B for an hour we could get a lot done, but I don't think we are even on the same hemisphere.) This problem will exist with any other form of committee. I'm not sure that an committee that is formally an Arbcom subcommittee and where 3 members are Arbs, will be less effective in getting someone's access removed when (and if) such a thing is recommended, than a completely independent committee. Otherwise, I sympathize with Nathan's "If it ain't broke..." philosophy. Changing the structure will require that some people spend some amount of time and energy that could be used to other purposes (opportunity cost). Will the benefits exceed the cost? But I have no objections or strong feelings either way, and have already indicated that I won't be running for election, under whatever procedure it is held. Thatcher 05:02, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

AudCom wouldn't have to be alone in overseeing func-en, rather a shared responsibility, their work in this regard should be to make sure CU, OS and privacy related matters are properly handled. In regards to their role in CU/OS elections, if we resolve to organize elections for CU/OS every six months, which we should probably ask the community about, they won't have to schedule those. Their role there would be ArbCom's current role, pre-vetting, hearing private feedback, proposing candidacies, etc, and submit the final election results to ArbCom for validation.

In regards to the AUSC structure, I'm certain it works quite well, but maybe it wouldn't work so well if we were to add those new responsibilities (which I meant, I've been unclear), implying more work, since the 3 arbs would make a priority of their arbitration work, so couldn't invest that much time, and the 3 non-arbs wouldn't be enough people in my opinion. While if we have 8 members, and either we allow arbs to be elected for AudCom but no more than 2 or 3, either 2 or 3 arbs are appointed as liaison (and probably one ombudsman too), then we should have enough people.

Considering access removal, I don't think AudCom should make removals of its own (to preserve the purely 'Auditing' aspect), rather recommend them to ArbCom, and I also think they are a good choice to make procedural removals, either due to inactivity, or due to a failed reconfirmation if we ever use this. Cenarium (talk) 16:54, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure I completely follow. You want to create the "AudCom" to replace to the AUSC, and to justify an expanded committee separate from the arbitration committee you'll transfer some (but not all) of the oversight role from ArbCom to AudCom. When asked if there is a current problem with the AUSC, you say no, but argue that the AUSC might not be able to fulfill its duties if new roles were transferred to them from ArbCom. So I'll ask you, is there then a problem with how ArbCom is managing its responsibilities with respect to Oversight and Checkuser? Otherwise, it strikes me as sort of a circular argument and I still don't see the justification for going through the effort of reconstituting the AUSC and partially redistributing authority from one committee to another. Nathan 17:13, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

It's not a proposal to replace it, it would be an evolution of the committee currently know as AUSC. Let me clarify:

AUSC is, currently, not a subcommittee of ArbCom, since it contains members who are not arbitrators, so I think it should be renamed to Audit Committee, instead of Audit Subcommittee. It's nothing more than a rename to reflect a reality.

The only authority that would actually be transferred from ArbCom in this proposal are procedural removals, the pre-vetting of candidates and the overseeing of CU/OS elections. The main reasons for this are to reduce ArbCom's workload and because in my opinion, it fits in AUSC's prerogatives, while it doesn't fit so well in the prerogatives of a committee primarily dedicated to arbitrate disputes. The rest of the proposed responsibilities, Risker said AUSC already unofficially had them, more or less, or they are natural extensions. It doesn't remove ArbCom's authority in overseeing the use of the CU and OS tools, it makes of it a shared responsibility.

Then, I propose a relative independence between the committees, it's essentially a matter of appearance and selection of members, and wouldn't require too much changes. They would still work together, AudCom would report to AudCom when finding misuse, ArbCom could request investigations to AudCom, etc. We could have a few liaison agents between the committees, if desirable.

I don't think it would require a huge effort, we would have to organize elections, which is already the case in the current situation, although granted a little more complex that if only three members had to be chosen, to develop guidelines, maybe an audit policy, but we could need this even in the current situation and we have the basis for it, maybe rename their mailing list from arbcom-audit-enlists.wikimedia.org to audcom-enlists.wikimedia.org, and move a few pages. I may have missed some other things, please tell me if there are. Thanks, Cenarium (talk) 19:20, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

The review board proposal attracted a great deal of comment from many people, and eventually stalled without receiving consensus, so Arbcom decided instead to delegate their direct and clear authority to monitor and investigate CU and OS to a subcommittee under rules and a policy that they formed. You propose to convert this to an independent review board with elections. It would seem to me that you need to go back to the community and get consensus for this, far more than the 5 people participating in this discussion. I don't think it will be as easy as you think it will be. Thatcher 19:33, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I'll try to accomplish this step by step, the rename, the new responsibilities, the independence, the policy. The rename and the new responsibilities, we can decide without massive community participation, since the rename is simply to remove "sub", and the responsibilities are already possessed by ArbCom or natural extensions. The independence and the establishment of an audit policy would require more community participation, but I'm sure it's feasible, the situation has much changed since the review board proposal, and I think that proposal was plagued by its name and for being too bureaucratic (e.g. having CU re-access and OS access but not being allowed to use them). Cenarium (talk) 20:44, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

(unindent) I'll separately propose to rename to Audit Committee and grant those new responsibilities, as well as raising to 5 the number of non-arbs in the committee to counterbalance the increase in workload. The rest, later. Cenarium (talk) 02:16, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Never mind for the rename now, if they are at-large members, this can be considered as a subcommittee. Cenarium (talk) 02:44, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Audit Subcommittee responsibilities and CU/OS elections

For clarity of discussion, I propose to discuss AUSC responsibilities in this new section. The only official responsibility of AUSC for now is to investigate complaints concerning the use of the checkuser or oversight tools, and report to the Arbitration Committee when the investigation is concluded, as described in the procedure.

I propose to clarify that investigating alleged breaches of privacy thereof are also within AUSC's scope. There are other responsibilities naturally extending those, consistent with a role of auditing and more or less already in place:

1. oversee the use of the oversight and checkuser tools by monitoring the checkuser and oversight logs
2. regularly report the AUSC's anonymized findings to the community, including statistics (already done a few times), discuss and suggest improvements in the of CU and OS operations
3. advise (through email) checkusers and oversighters on best practices, point out possible improvements in their use of the tools (such as: make sure to appropriately justify CU and OS actions with informative summaries, see those findings)
4. verify that CU, OS and privacy related matters are properly handled in the functionaries-en mailing list

They seem desirable as CU and OS actions are not subject to the usual community review due to the required privacy, and ArbCom alone may not have enough time to invest in this task, while there are definitely checkusers and oversighters who could do so, and since the beginning, they are encouraged to review each other's actions, but a committee specially dedicated to this task would be more efficient.

I also propose to make AUSC responsible for procedural removals, that is, due to an inactivity of over a year (ArbCom passed a ruling on this) and at the conclusion of community-agreed processes, such as failed reconfirmations if we ever do this. It would save time for ArbCom and mark the procedural nature of those, removal of rights by ArbCom are more connoted as sanction, even if they are not; it's unecessary here.

Regarding the selection of checkusers and oversighters, I propose to transfer share ArbCom's role in receiving requests and pre-vetting candidates to with the Audit Subcommittee, which would also oversee elections and submit the final results to the Arbitration Committee for validation. It's also to save ArbCom's time and because it fits to the AUSC's role, though they could also do this in consultation with each other. As to when elections should be organized, it's been proposed to do them every six month, so ArbCom won't have to pronounce on when they should be done, it's a reasonable timeframe and we had the first two CU/OS elections in February 09 and August 09.

Since those new responsibilities imply more work for the Audit Subcommittee, I propose that we use 5 at-large members instead of 3. I'd like to seek comments from the community and the committees on whether those changes are desirable, so as to form a consensus in some way. Cenarium (talk) 03:33, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Cenarium, it is clear that I have not done an adequate job of explaining that granting and removal of checkuser and oversight permissions is a core and fiduciary duty of the Arbitration Committee. The Wikimedia Foundation has specified that the responsibilities for appointing Checkusers and Oversighters, as well as authorizing removal of these permissions for cause, lies within the sole remit of the Arbitration Committee on any project that has such a committee. It is not a right of the Committee, it is a formal and very serious responsibility. Speaking personally, I believe I would be failing in my duty not to vet candidates for these roles. The community explicitly elects arbitrators knowing that this is amongst our responsibilities. If you wish to change WMF policy, please do so at Meta. Risker (talk) 04:02, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

This is only a particular aspect of the proposal, but I don't believe what I propose hinders that. The overseeing of the elections, the pre-vetting of candidates, may be conducted by both the Arbitration Committee and the Audit Subcommittee. I don't see in any documentation evidence that the WMF wouldn't authorize a subcommittee of ArbCom to request procedural removals or rights, either due to one-year inactivity or a community vote, the arbs in the subcommittee could request those themselves at meta (the wmf policy states that one arbitrator requesting it is sufficient). The role of the other members would simply to point out checkusers and oversighters who didn't use their rights for more than one year. As for pre-vetting, AUSC could first receive applications, then transmit those to ArbCom and give their opinions, then ArbCom would also do their pre-vetting. Cenarium (talk) 04:28, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Corrected the phrasing to clarify this. Cenarium (talk) 04:54, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

So in other words, we will now have two groups vetting the same candidates, and then the community "vets" them by their votes? Perhaps, before jumping to conclusions about how much work elections are, you might want to ask some questions about it; after all, I coordinated the last one and would be happy to share the information. As part of the last election, a significant number of standard "forms" were created, which will be re-used in future elections, in particular the CU/OS vetting questionnaire, but also standardised emails for various stages of the elections (respond to receipt of request for questionnaire, confirm receipt of questionnaire, offer of nomination following vetting, declining opportunity for nomination after vetting, confirming appointment and providing instructions for identification following successful election, thanking unsuccessful nominees, etc.). This is work that does not need to be redone. I agree with you that standard, twice yearly elections at set periods is a good idea, and recommend March and October so that they will not conflict with any other WMF or Misplaced Pages elections.

Incidentally, the AUSC already keeps track of the inactivity period as part of its routine statistics, and can certainly flag those who have gone a year without use. As I recall, the first time around an arbitrator member of the AUSC was the one who facilitated the permission removals. There are no checkusers or oversighters on the current list who have gone that length of time without using their permissions.

There is one thing that you've neglected to cover in all of this: how community representatives to the subcommittee should be appointed/elected. This is probably a much more important concern than trying to expand their portfolio. Risker (talk) 05:07, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

There's no difficulty in the selection of at-large members, as in my opinion they should already be checkusers or oversighters, maybe both, for at least six months, because we expect experienced users in this position, and otherwise the committee wouldn't be so efficient. Though at the moment, we wouldn't have enough people if we required both, so we should probably require CU, because it's viewed as the right requiring the most trust, and if we still haven't enough people, CU or OS, and progressively rise the bar. It considerably simplifies the selection. They should also not be arbs of course (maybe not past arbs either), and then they just have to propose their candidacy, and there's the election. We just have to choose the voting method and how we appoint candidates (either it's clear-cut, either ArbCom or Jimbo completes them).

As for duplicating work, I expect the two committees will find a procedure to avoid this. AudCom could make the administrative tasks for example, but ArbCom would review; well, how you see fit.

I also want to come back on the question of the responsibility to oversee, grant and remove CU/OS permissions, and WMF policy. The scope of Audit Committees should stay within the borders of auditing, so anyway they wouldn't be appropriate for removing CU/OS rights outside procedure, as they don't sanction, nor be entirely responsible for granting them, as they don't hire in RL situations. But Wikimedia foundation policies are not set in stone, and they can grant exceptions. So it is possible that in the future, another entity elected by the community, be also permitted to remove CU/OS rights, or add them. Cenarium (talk) 01:24, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

I'd imagine they should already be doing #1, so no quibbles, there, at first glance. #4 likewise seems to be a reasonable extension of the current mission. As far as #2, I'm not sure how that would differ from the current scenario, except for the appended "discuss and suggest improvements" bit -- I'm sure any such suggestions would be taken into account, but please do bear in mind that discussing amongst functionaries and with the community at large is already frequent, and I personally would prefer that we avoid any scenario where some suggestions are "more official", as it necessarily implies that other suggestions are "less official" (I suppose that also goes for #3). Election procedures should probably be discussed separately. – Luna Santin (talk) 07:17, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

I agree, I don't think we should, within Misplaced Pages, introduce too much 'officialism', and this goes for AUSC suggestions and reports. Although I used the term, it was in the meaning to mark it as such on the description page, so as to recognize this aspect of AUSC. Cenarium (talk) 16:22, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

• Um... process creep much? Stifle (talk) 08:17, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Audit already does #1, 2 and 3. I suppose it's implied by the charter even if not specifically stated. Thatcher 15:40, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Above Risker points out that we should address the method of election for community representatives to the AUSC; I agree, and I think we should also discuss whether there ought to be a limit to the number of people with access to the CU/OS tools. We don't limit the number of administrators, and as far as I know we haven't had specific limits to checkusers/oversighters in the past. On the other hand, there was a de facto limiting process in that the ArbCom only sought new people for these tools when there was an apparent need. With twice annual elections where all candidates receiving more than 70% support are appointed we have essentially removed any limiter to the number of users with tool access. Is this wise? Should it be "twice annual elections up to X number of active users"? Boiling it down:

1. Should we have more checkusers and oversighters than we need to manage the workload?
2. Should inactive users keep tool access?
3. Should elections (or seats available per election) be limited by workload needs? (partial restatement of 1)
4. Should users who lose access due to inactivity or resign voluntarily regain access on request or seek election?

I think answers to these questions are more important than rearranging committee relationships. Perhaps the answers here are known and I just haven't seen them listed/announced? Nathan 16:41, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

I think those are important questions, and AFAIK, open. For AUSC elections see my reply to Risker. This pertains to the diffusion of private information, which should be tightly controlled. This is also one of my problem with functionary-en, whose membership is not enough circumvented imo, and why I request that AUSC oversight of func-en for privacy/etc.

1. No, but this is subjective in many ways.
2. No, it's already wmf policy that inactive users for more than one year with the tool should have it removed, although it's unclear if it's completely inactive or just not using the tool. In any case, there's been an arbcom motion that users who didn't use the tools for more than one year should have it removed. For my part, I would reduce the inactivity period to six months.
3. Maybe, fixing the number of appointed users to three by position by default, and more if necessary.
4. ArbCom didn't clarify how those users could request access back when announcing the motion, I'd like a clarification. I would suggest a restoration on request for six months, then it's by election only, though I'd prefer as I said 6 months of tool inactivity, it's already considerable.

There's also the possibility to make reconfirmations, like stewards on meta, to control the pool of users with access, including past arbs (the clock starting when they leave office), every one year or two years. I'd organize them at the same time as elections. Cenarium (talk) 01:24, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

While it would require more study in depth to come to a firm conclusion, at first sight the idea for CU/OS reconfirmation elections seems reasonable. Elections for new CU/OS privileges could be held in conjuction with these (and, potentially, the desired election for community representatives to AUSC could be held in conjuction as well). —Matheuler 02:08, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

I think perhaps we are getting a bunch of separate principles too intertwined in some of these concepts; we started out talking about the role of this (AUSC) subcommittee, and whether or not it should actively be involved in CU/OS elections. The comments above are more closely related to policies for promotion, retention and removal of CU/OS privileges separate from any concerns about the actions of Checkusers and Oversighters, which isn't in the terms of reference for the AUSC.

Cenarium, I do understand your concerns about access to private information. I can tell you that three oversighters will never, ever be sufficient, nor three checkusers. Oversight requests come in 24/7/365, and we are striving to have those requests addressed within a few hours; the longer that an oversightable edit is visible (even as a deleted revision, which any admin can see), the greater the privacy violation. Similarly, checkusers perform thousands of checks a month, and without making it a full time, paid position, there is no way it could be limited to three users. The Arbitration Committee is working to try to reduce the amount of time its members spend carrying out routine checkuser and oversight activity in the hope of reducing workload and, we hope, burnout; however, we routinely deal with situations that involve checkuser data or potentially oversighted information, and we retain final responsibility for ensuring the tools are used properly, so Arbcom members generally need access to the tools, and a degree of competency in their use. As to the Functionaries-L mailing list, only rarely will very specific checkuser information be discussed there (more often it is a discussion of general principles or how to best manage a specific case or request assistance in doing so), only general principles about oversight are discussed (specific cases are discussed on the oversight-L list), and access is closed to checkusers, oversighters, current arbitrators, and a handful of former arbitrators, many of whom continue to do regular checkuser and oversight work. We've done some major pruning of both checkuser and oversight access, despite the new members. Risker (talk) 02:35, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Misunderstanding, I talked about the number of users who would be appointed by default in an election as long as they have 70%, which Nathan referred to, and which could be risen by ArbCom in case there's a need, not of the total of users with access. If I remember correctly, three CUs have been appointed in August and February, so it makes sense. Of course, ArbCom needs access to the tools. I think I know what I'm talking about, otherwise I wouldn't have come here :) (and I proposed a committee with 8 CU/OS, and in a second time 5 at-large members for AUSC). As for func-en, it's especially for former arbs who don't have CU or OS access I thought. While I trust those in this position, I don't see how their access is justified. Since it involves access to CU/OS information, even if rarely, this should be considered a CU/OS permission. And here comes AUSC, too. I think all this is linked and should be discussed together, with at the end specific proposals. Cenarium (talk) 03:01, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

OK, on the results end, what would be different from what we have now? What tangible benefits are you aiming to create? I am still currently mystified as the content, purpose, and predicted results of what we're talking about? We've got plenty of text here, but I don't think there is a clear point yet.--Tznkai (talk) 18:18, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

(unindent) Clarify the scope of AUSC. There are a few responsibilities that AUSC informally holds, I suggested a few others that may also be delegated to AUSC, after that it's your's decision. Now that some time has past, I would like the clarification from ArbCom/AUSC on whether they intend to recognize that AUSC has the responsibilities I initially stated:

1. oversee the use of the oversight and checkuser tools by monitoring the checkuser and oversight logs
2. regularly report the AUSC's anonymized findings to the community, including statistics (already done a few times), discuss and suggest improvements in the of CU and OS operations
3. advise (through email) checkusers and oversighters on best practices, point out possible improvements in their use of the tools (such as: make sure to appropriately justify CU and OS actions with informative summaries, see those findings)
4. verify that CU, OS and privacy related matters are properly handled in the functionaries-en mailing list

And if yes, then document this on the page.

As for AUSC elections, I heard they would be planned soon, so I'll open a specific thread on those.

CU/OS elections are not so urging. Cenarium (talk) 22:44, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

As the election comes closer, the actual role and responsibilities of AUSC, both formal and as of now informal, should be clarified to the community. (email to AUSC sent) Cenarium (talk) 00:48, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Question

I just noticed that User:Azafred has had checkuser rights for a week now for the purpose of doing lookups for the WMF legal counsel. However, he was granted the checkuser right by staff member/sysadmin Tfinc. Obviously staff members and sysadmins can do whatever the Foundation says they can do, both under common sense and the WP:GRU. My question is, why wasn't he granted global checkuser or staff rights, since generally that is how the WMF grants things to employees to avoid confusion at the local level. Also, why was he granted it in the local log instead of the Meta log? Was the AUSC informed or are they aware of it and are monitoring it? I noticed he hasn't been listed at WP:CU, so I figured I would ask. MBisanz 23:54, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

We were not informed, and I was not aware of it until now, and havent seen any public disclosure of who Azafred is. I've asked Tfinc to respond here. John Vandenberg 04:14, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

tfinc here, aZaFred is an employee of the foundation like myself and we routinely have to use the check user tool in order to comply with subpeona requests. His involvement in this would have been no different then myself or brion fielding this request. My choice to grant him the check user right was simply due to allowing him to be granted the limited privilege level that was required to get the task done. If it makes sense to the community to give him only the staff rights instead of what was specifically needed then I'm more more then happy to switch him over. --Tfinc (talk) 05:14, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Of course this leads to my next question of how closely AUSC is monitoring the checkusers if someone can be granted (and presumably use) the checkuser right for over a week without any of the six people charged with monitoring the tool noticing a redlinked username in the checkuser log/list? MBisanz 04:17, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

According to m:User:Azafred, he is a sysadmin for the WMF who was hired in March 2009. Why he wasn't simply given global staff/sysadmin rights like the other employees is my main question (other than what sort of self-regulating the other 38 people with checkuser rights and 6 people charged with monitoring checkusers and the committee of 14 people responsible for enforcing the policy have been doing for the last week). MBisanz 04:25, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Well, it may be because he hasn't actually carried out any checkusers, so his name didn't show up in the logs at all; while I can't speak for others on the committee, I review portions of the logs a couple of times a week. I reviewed the Checkuser and Oversight rights lists on 30 August, and he wasn't on the list then. I will be patiently awaiting Tfinc's response, and assume that this was a simple error (i.e., direct granting on the wiki instead of the staff right) that can be corrected easily. Risker (talk) 05:04, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Honestly, it has never occurred to me to monitor the user rights list for rogue checkusers and oversighters. I guess I assumed that people won't be granted the rights outside of normal processes (i.e. the stewards are not going to promote someone without proper authorization). Azafred has 4 logged checks to date, and I can guess from the contribs that it involves a single BLP problem, so everything looks acceptable even if the process was a bit out of the ordinary. Thatcher 11:12, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Well I certainly don't have an objection to Tfinc giving out userrights to employees or any checks Azafred did, I actually do not care what employees do with company resources since that is a management matter, not a community matter.

My point is that we are told time and time again that checkuser is rarely abused since all the checkusers are watching each other, so it would be very difficult for say, you to check someone you are in an edit war with, since someone else would reviewing the log and recognize the COI nature of your checks. But if a redlinked account that no one has ever heard of can make checks and no one flags it as odd, then I have to wonder what kind of self-regulation is going on. I also understand Risker's position that each person cannot review ever check made, but for 38 people to fail to notice those four checks on their random samplings would seem to indicate that the odds of any rogue checkuser being caught for doing something improper are very very low. MBisanz 12:42, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I have edited my user page to make sure my Account doesn't show up as a red link anymore. I did ask for the right to run checkuser at the request of our Legal Council. Tomasz was nice enough to grant me the right so that I could gather the information required by a subpoena we received and which was time sensitive. Hope that clears some of the issues. Azafred (talk) 16:13, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

For the record, I have replaced Fred's checkuser flag with the global staff flag. --Bastique 16:35, 11 September 2009 (UTC) (for User:Cary Bass)

Okay. That works fine. Thanks. FloNight♥♥♥ 17:38, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Update

Any news on an update for August and September? Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 19:28, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Frankly its not a high priority for me right now, but I'll keep it in mind for when I have some extra free time. Thatcher 00:11, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Take your time. I'd just like to see how often the new CUs/oversighters are using the tools. Nishkid64 _{(Make articles, not wikidrama)} 03:41, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Three Audit Subcommittee vacancies: Call for applications

The process to appoint the three non-arbitrator members of the Audit Subcommittee is underway, with the election itself starting on 30 October. If you think you may be suitably qualified, please see the election pages for the job specification and application arrangements. Applications close 22 October 2009.

For the Arbitration Committee,  Roger Davies 21:38, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

AUSC October 2009 election

Starting a section here for the AUSC October 2009 election and discussion pertaining to it. I'm currently trying to find a page that describes SecurePoll. The best I can find is mw:Extension:SecurePoll. Carcharoth (talk) 23:29, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

email address

I note that prospective candidates are asked to email privileges2009-at-googlemail.com - a non-WMF address. Might one ask why a secure/WMF-controlled address has not been used for what is, quite clearly, a committee operating under the aegis of the WMF. The use of non-WMF email addresses for 'official' business could make it appear that there is something, ahem, 'fishy' going on and should be, imho, not accepted practice. --AlisonW (talk) 20:51, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Neither the Arbitration Committee nor the Audit Subcommittee operate under the aegis of the Wikimedia Foundation. We are organs of English Misplaced Pages and are responsible to this project alone. The only overlap is that the Wikimedia Foundation grants the Arbitration Committee the responsibility of identifying suitable candidates for privacy-related permissions (CheckUser and Oversight). As we are not agents of the WMF (in fact, are quite clearly not), it is not appropriate to use a WMF (i.e. name AT wikimedia.org) email address for this purpose. Risker (talk) 23:38, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Might have made more sense, for the purposes of confidence on the part of the folks sending information to this address, to use the arbcom-l list address (which is, worth noting, a Wikimedia address) and route the posts to whatever method you have for handling permissions requests. Nathan 17:25, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

I have to say I agree with the Alison and Nathan here. Arbcom uses WMF addresses for it's mailing list, so I don't see why it can't get one for this, too. A random GMail address certainly does not inspire confidence in those sending private data to it. Using a third party like this is not the best way to handle confidential information, either. — Jake Wartenberg 20:53, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

What confidential information are you talking about? That address is being used by whichever Arbitrator is coordinating the election. You send an email to that address saying "I want to be on the audit committee." The arbitrator sends you a questionnaire about technical and wiki background. Then you mail the questionnaire back and the arbitrator posts it on the private Arb wiki for the other arbitrators who will discuss whether to accept your candidacy. The only time that private information comes into issue is if your candidacy is approved, and if you are elected, then you must identify yourself formally to the Foundation, by whatever means the Foundation accepts (I faxed a copy of my drivers license to Cary Bass). I don't see what the fuss is about. Thatcher 21:20, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

I would hope that people's answers to the private questionnaire will be treated as confidential. This is not a huge issues, but a foundation email address would be more desirable. — Jake Wartenberg 23:54, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Well, I will make inquiries of Cary Bass in this regard, but as this is not a WMF-initiated process, Arbcom does not report to the WMF, and none of the members of the Committee have any specific relationship with the WMF, I do not expect that the Foundation will be eager to hand out Wikimedia email addresses to us for any reason. There is a significant difference between a WMF-hosted mailing list and an email address that ends "@wikimedia.org". Risker (talk) 00:04, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

If an @en.wikipedia.org address could be issued, then that would be ideal. Sadly, I think I've only ever seen @wikimedia.org. AGK 00:34, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Minor wording issue

A sentence about Oversight reads, "although these are not physically moved but simply flagged as non-public items". Is "moved" a typo for "removed", or are oversighted revisions actually moved from one part of the database to another? Nyttend (talk) 20:46, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Typo. Thatcher 21:57, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Actually, revisions oversighted using the old Oversight extension are physically moved from the revision table to a private data table. Whereas revisions suppressed using RevisionDelete are merely flagged in the revision table as being nonpublic. But in the context of this sentence, I guess it's all much of a muchness :D Happy‑melon 22:32, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

AUSC exclusion period

There was a question asked off-wiki about whether AUSC members would keep the tools after their term. I would strongly urge not; in fact I would actually add a rule at this point: "An AUSC member is granted the tools for AUSC business only, and will be de-flagged at the end of their term of office. They may apply for the tools in the usual way no sooner than months after their term ended."

Same reason I suggested a 12 month "gap" for arbs on voting at CUOS elections: this ensures there is an enforced break between the roles and helps enforce that AUSC is not expected to merge or flow into CUOS like some kind of shortcut. If they then want to stand, and people trust and value them, there is no reason they won't be appointed at some later time, but it ensures a break and encourages a fair and level field.

For those who are competent and desirous, a break of 6 - 12 months is fine - we won't lose out as a community, the division is useful; if they cannot wait that time, they are probably not good choices in the first place, and it allows better perspective.

FT2  03:43, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

• I would object to such blanket language. It very much depends on whether the person held checkuser or oversight before joining Audit. I see no reason not to allow someone who held one or both privileges before joining Audit to resume freely using them after their term expires. A person who did not hold such privileges before election should could have them revoked when their term expires but I see no reason to bar them from standing in the next election, whenever that is. Elections are so irregularly scheduled that a 6 month limit could result in someone not being able to run for more than a year. Thatcher 11:17, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
• Making them sit out for an arbitrary period of time seems to be a poor use of skilled and knowledgeable users. There is acquired knowledge and skills about the use of the tools that the Community should take advantage of by keeping them on as CU and OS. I see no reason to stop an user that the Community supports in the role from keeping the tools. FloNight♥♥♥♥ 11:35, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

As it stands now, Thatcher asked for a community confirmation of his use of OS in the last cycle, Mackensen is a CU, former Ombudsman, and former arb in good standing if I choose not to stand or am not re-elected if I do stand for election, I have already asked for the tools to be removed, and I would be as eligible as anyone else in the next election. It seems to be working fine.--Tznkai (talk) 19:11, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

• Comment I have put in an application to run for this position, in the non-admin role. I will say that I only expect to be allowed access to tools during the time that my position would run and once it expired I will happily turn them in. It just seems to me that if this is a term position then my tools should expire with the position. Being that this is a very sensitive position and important role, I think that having tight standards is erring on the side of caution. Basket of Puppies 19:46, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

The concern here is that AUSC should not be a springboard to tool flagging. AUSC members get the tools for audit purposes only; an enforced turning in and break from them may be appropriate to ensure that aAUSC membership and overshighter/checkuser-ship, are distinct. In general I would be disturbed to see a trend emerge of ex-AUSC members seeking to keep tools as a run-on from their term. I'd feel better if the two were distinct. Point of principle, rather than reflection on any specific individual(s). FT2  07:45, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

• I'm not persuaded that there needs to be a distinct separation. And I'm certain that approval of the Community to retain the tools through an election overcomes any possible concerns. If the person has the time and interest now, and is willing to stand for re-election, then there is not any meaningful reason to turn them away for an arbitrary period of time.
• FT2, this is certainly not a new trend given that former arbs, such as yourself, have kept their tools when leaving ArbCom. In the past, people such as you kept the tools without seeking election to retain the tools. Now people elected for a position (AUSC) are asking the Community to confirm that they retain them. If you feel strongly about this matter, I suggest that you return your OS and CU access and run for re-election to regain them. (Full disclosure:I'm deciding now whether to retain the tools after I leave ArbCom or return them. If I return them and seek re-election later to retain them, I would be the first person to do so. Am not clear that this is something that I want to force on other arbs so I'm reluctant to start the trend. But if FT2 turns in his tools and seeks re-election to retain them, then I definitely will. ) FloNight♥♥♥♥ 11:41, 17 October 2009 (UTC)
• My opinion, FWIW, is that I think that there is a difference, Flo. When electing someone to ArbCom, people know that part of the package is CU/OS, and that traditionally these tools are kept upon the term's end, so that is factored into people's voting decisions. The AUSC is 1) pretty much brand new without any traditions, and 2) specifically meant to be a "line-of-defense" as it were (oversight of oversight :) ), and not a group of people who are CU/OS-lite, engaged in the maintenance work that Arbcom, Arbcom-appointed, and Wiki-elected CU/OSers such as ourselves do. Therefore, it is much more reasonable to consider enforcing a mandatory release to prevent this from being a "back-door" to flags. Anyone who had the flags before, are exceptions, IMO, as they already legitimately had the flags, and their service on the AUSC should not affect their previous trusted status. Just my 2 cents. -- Avi (talk) 16:47, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Avi, now, maybe people know. But arbs getting CU & OS access and keeping them after their term ended evolved into a custom because Arbs did it. This was not something that the Community agreed should happen. And from reading Community discussions it is obvious to me that many people that elected arbs had/have no idea that this is part of the package. Personally, I'm not concerned about people keeping access to CU or OS after their term ends especially if they are standing for an election. I don't see what the concern is about someone being on AUSC first any more than someone having OS or CU access first before being on ArbCom or AUSC. The Community can look at the people running and decide if they want to have them in the role. FloNight♥♥♥♥ 17:15, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

As I've stated before, I think only users with the CU or the OS permission, or both, should be allowed to stand for AUSC election. First because we need experienced people in this position, a user with no experience with those permissions on enwp will probably be of little use, at least initially; second, we also obviously can't judge their own use of the tools and related business if they haven't had them, I'd prefer that people standing for auditing have demonstrated a good use of the permissions. It would also remove the concern of tool retention and use for AudCom members (especially when we'll have enough people to require both permissions). We're different than real world organizations; they can hire auditors who have experience in a specific area, they can judge of their experience, etc; while we can only judge based on what users did on en.wikipedia, the role is also novel and peculiar to enwp, this is not auditing in the strict sense and should not be viewed as such; we should leave that to the WMF.

Concerning tools retention, I think regular reconfirmation, as with stewards on meta, would solve the problem nicely.

Also; I was disappointed to see that ArbCom didn't seek community feedback on how the election should be made, this should have been discussed beforehand. Cenarium (talk) 21:47, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Oddly enough I'm fairly certain there has already been discussion in a few places on how to proceed with AUSC elections - and running another poll to determine how to poll is the sort of thing satirical cartoons are made of. The fact is, AUSC matters don't attract a lot of wide community attention and input - we'll be lucky if we get a solid showing at the elections (and I hope we do).--Tznkai (talk) 00:42, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

There's been no significant public discussion I'm aware of. This is not strange or unusual at all, ArbCom specifically requested community feedback for the CU/OS elections, and significant changes ensued; we always discuss AC elections in advance. For the present election, there are points certainly deserving discussion, for example the election as described seems to be straight-to-voting. I think it should be in two phases, questions/debate for one week, then the proper one-week voting phase, or if in one phase, allow for debate on-wiki.

Indeed it doesn't seem to attract much community attention, but then proceeding with elections is putting the cart before the horse. We'll see how it turns out... Maybe the solution would be to broaden the scope, but it couldn't be realized as a subcommittee of ArbCom, but you'd need community support for this... So we're turning in circles, unless it becomes part of a greater plan. Cenarium (talk) 00:54, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

(unindent) There's a difference. Until 2008 Arbcom began to open up CU/OS to significantly more non-arb users (Aug 08), almost all the active checkusers and oversighters were ex-arbs. Experienced, knowledgeable on the issues, trusted during office, and (with exceedingly rare exception) trusted after office, ex-arbs are well suited to take the brunt of those jobs off the active arbitrators.

AUSC members take on a short term role to (in Thatcher's words) "watch the watchers". That's very different. There should be a clear line drawn, so that a "double check" role doesn't become a "feeder" role. We want AUSC members to have no vested interest in the tools, other than to watch others' usage and be willing to speak (collectively) if it's at all questionable. There should be a kind of tension between the AUSC and CU/OS teams, and they should not be "too close", precisely because AUSC is not doing Arbcom or ex-arb's work. It's reviewing their work for impropriety. It's a regulation role. For that reason AUSC should not merge into a "feeder" role for CU/OS applicants. FT2  14:02, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

I agree AUSC shouldn't be used to 'feed' CU/OS, but for persons in those positions, you need an experience on the matter, and it's a unique experience you can get only on enwp as CU or OS. Otherwise we have now way to know if the user would be fine in this role, contrary to RL organizations who can base their choices on past experience, CV, etc, we have only the experience on Misplaced Pages at our disposal. That's why I'd require at least one of the CU or OS permission, so obtained through the CU/OS selection process, thereby removing the concern of feeding the CU/OS pool. However, I agree that it would be good if AUSC members didn't use their CU/OS tools during office, for the reasons you mention, we could do this if we have enough CU/OS. Though to fully realize what you suggest, you'd need more independence from ArbCom - a committee on its own. Cenarium (talk) 00:54, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Wording on the project page

• "CheckUser is used primarily to fight vandalism... " Primarily strongly implies that there are other, unmentioned legitimate uses. All legitimate uses need to be mentioned, and "primarily" should be deleted.
• "Unlike deletion, which can be performed and reversed by any administrator but leaves an accessible version in the transparent page history, oversight removes expunges page revisions, leaving no history" The words in red need to be inserted and the substitution made for clarity.--Wetman (talk) 06:58, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Be aware that this is only intended as a brief summary to put the subcommittee in context. The full descriptions of oversight and checkuser are at the linked pages. Thatcher 12:27, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Indeed. Clarity at every stage, since there's nothing to hide. Any objections to these edits to the text?--Wetman (talk) 08:19, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Three Audit Subcommittee vacancies: Urgent call for applications

The process to appoint the three non-arbitrator members of the Audit Subcommittee is underway. If you are suitably qualified, please see the election pages for the job specification and application arrangements. Applications close 22 October 2009.

For the Arbitration Committee,  Roger Davies 19:15, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Audit Subcommittee elections: Urgent! Final call for applications

Time is rapidly running out. The closing date for completed applications is 23:59 (UTC) 22 October 2009. If you are interested in becoming one of the three non-arbitrator members of the Audit Subcommittee, see the election pages now for the job specification and application details.

For the Arbitration Committee,  Roger Davies 17:35, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Bureaucracy gone haywire

The site notice shown to all users at the moment says "The process to appoint three non-arbitrator members of the Audit Subcommittee is underway". Could there possibly be a more turgidly offputting and bureaucratic way of phrasing that? Are you people seriously using the word "subcommittee" in a non-ironic sense, and just what the fuck is a "non-arbitrator member"? I've been using Misplaced Pages for over six years very, very actively, regularly participating in acronym-laden policy discussions, and that message made no sense at all to me, instead just provoking a visceral gag reaction (and this rant). Do you think the average user has a hope of understanding it?

And oh, before some nitwit attempts to explain in tedious detail, my questions above are rhetorical and I do perfectly understand what it's attempting to say.

Here's some plain English: "Misplaced Pages is electing users to review the use of 'CheckUser' and 'Oversight' administrative powers", linking to a page that explains what Misplaced Pages:CheckUser and Misplaced Pages:Oversight are and why anybody should care. And please, for the love of Jimbo, rename the "Audit Subcommittee" to something that doesn't sound like a Herbert Kornfeld editorial. This is the kind of shit that is destroying Misplaced Pages. Jpatokal (talk) 13:01, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

• The term "audit subcommittee" and "election" are both linked, and both the election and audit subcommittee pages have a description of what the committee does with links to other important pages like checkuser and oversight, among others. The election announcement was also made at the admin noticeboards, arbcom noticeboard, and village pump, and the main enwiki mailing list. It is somewhat difficult to encompass a number of possibly unfamiliar concepts in a message that won't piss people off for being too long, and it is rather unfortunate that you chose 12 hours before the close of nominations to complain. (On the other hand, someone who has no idea what checkuser and oversight are will probably not make a good candidate for the position.) If you are concerned, you should probably watch MediaWiki talk:Watchlist-details, as this announcement will be removed shortly but an announcement about voting in the election will probably be made once voting opens. Thatcher 13:51, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Since this apparently wasn't sufficiently blindingly obvious: my concern is not the minutiae of the process of appointment of non-arbitrator members to the subcommittee. My concern is that Misplaced Pages is getting strangled by vast tangles of bureaucracy that are completely and totally impenetrable to the community you are supposed to be serving. Jpatokal (talk) 15:23, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

The tone isn't particularly helpful, neither is the vague insinuation about "some nitwit" misunderstanding you but your criticism is duly noted. If you have a better wording, a combination of {{sofixit}} or a specific section are the go.--Tznkai (talk) 23:23, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm not clear on whether you object to the existence and mandate of the subcommittee, the election process, or the wording of the notice. The first two issues should be discussed with Arbcom, although there may be discussion in the archives of this page that might prove informative. The wording problem would be handled at the mediawiki talk page for the edit notice. Thatcher 17:09, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

My reading of his complaint was that it is both one that concerns the third issue and also a more general one about the unnecessarily waffling language that is often observable in Committee texts. AGK 18:08, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

• Jpatokal: You're a little late to the party. The Committee has been using "turgidly offputting and bureaucratic" wording for many a year now. Going into great detail when writing case decisions reduces the scope for parties to wikilawyer, and I suppose the style has carried over. If you don't like it, you're free to use the handy "edit" button and simplify the wording yourself. AGK 16:22, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
• As AGK points out, this is general and persistent; I had complained on this at MediaWiki talk:Watchlist-details#August checkuser and oversight election, and similar complaints have been made at WT:AC/N. I created an editnotice for MediaWiki:Watchlist-details (placed at Template:Editnotices/Page/MediaWiki:Watchlist-details, feel free to edit - needs improvement). For the general matter of wordings for arbitration-related business, I was planning on making a RFC on policy enforcement and dispute resolution, this could be discussed there - I remember the controversy around the use of Latin words, after being discussed in a RFC, ArbCom stopped using them. Cenarium (talk) 19:37, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

(od) Coming late to the party, the blame for the turgid text lies squarely with me. It's mostly cobbled together from legacy stuff and I didn't have enough time to re-write it more accessibly. The other election stuff though is probably better.  Roger Davies 05:09, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Don't worry about it, Roger; and don't worry about the barnstar below, either. AGK 01:11, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Roger got his own barnstar the other day; I'm evenhanded. ;) Durova 01:17, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar

		The Rosetta Barnstar
		Awarding the Rosetta Barnstar to Jpatokal for translating bureaucratic jargon into plain English and for a much-overdue injection of common sense. Durova 01:08, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Reports update and revdeletion review

Shouldn't the report subpage and maybe Misplaced Pages:AUSC#Statistics and reports be updated in light of this ? Also, I have asked a question here about the use of revision deletion and a review possibly needed, considering the upcoming roll out of revision deletion to admins. Cenarium (talk) 15:01, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

• Everything is up to date on the statistics and reports pages. When I post the october numbers I'll add a footnote about Raul's resignation (and Alison's resumption). I'll leave the bugs and such to others. Thatcher 17:07, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
  • Apologize I had misread the report page; I see the revision deletion vs suppression issues are handled. Thanks for your dedication Thatcher, Cenarium (talk) 19:39, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Use of the "tools" redux

This is a follow up to Misplaced Pages talk:Arbitration Committee/Audit Subcommittee/Archive 1#Use of the "tools". Tiptoety seems to be inactive otherwise I would ask him directly. Has anything official been set down about AUSC members and whether they should or should not use the tools as would someone who was elected specifically as a CU/OS? –xeno 22:37, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

There is no unified standard at this time. I have elected to abstain almost entirely, but others have not.--Tznkai (talk) 23:29, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't think it's appropriate for the tools to be used by the auditors. Since there is no standards, I will be voting much the same as I would vote for someone standing for the CU/OS position proper. I think this dearth of policy should also be made clear in the election pages. –xeno 23:30, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

To elaborate, but only slightly, the basic argument for restricting tool use to AUSC members is the increase in objective distance, the argument against is the inefficient use of resources. As it stands, we are relying on the individual judgment and discretion of AUSC members, as we do in all other AUSC business. Speaking only for myself, I prefer the distance to avoid even the whiff of possible groupthink. There is plenty of legitimate disagreement to go around. --Tznkai (talk) 23:33, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

I will be voting much the same as I would vote for someone standing for the CU/OS position proper. That is the only sensible position, in my opinion. Even without ever using checkuser or oversight, an auditor has full access to the checkuser log, from which much can be deduced, and full access to view suppressed revisions, including the alleged real names, addresses and phone numbers of editors and admins. Checking the logs by itself does not create a log entry, and much mischief could be done by someone without ever leaving a trail. Thatcher 00:01, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

My own opinion is that it is very difficult to make an honest assessment of tool usage if one does not have sufficient experience to understand how the tool works. I would not expect an AUSC member to carry out SPI investigations, but I do expect them to understand why there might be multiple checks to ensure that the narrowest range possible is being blocked, for example, and that may not be obvious to someone who has not carried out checkusers themselves. I would hope that if an AUSC member is aware of an edit that needs to be suppressed, and none of the "regular" oversighters responds in a timely way, that the AUSC member will have the judgment to assess whether this is a time-sensitive request and, if so, to ensure it is done. (Not all suppression requests are time-sensitive.) Depending on the thoughts of other members of the subcommittee, I would like to see the AUSC take on more of a guidance/education role as well, to become an effective resource for checkusers and oversighters, and probably to be actively involved in developing best practices for the use of the tools. My own use of checkuser since joining the subcommittee has mainly focused on (1) rechecking results at the request of a newer checkuser, (2) being the only CU available during a significant cross-wiki vandalism outbreak, usually at the request of a steward or (3) Arbcom-related checkusers. Most of my suppressions have been related to the same points. Risker (talk) 00:01, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

At-large v Community

The current iteration of the AUSC description page refers to the three community seats as being filled by "at-large members." The meaning of at-large is unclear. Might be retitle the section to "community members", to eliminate any scope for confusion? (This probably has been discussed in the past, so I apologise if I cause previous debate to be duplicated.) AGK 01:13, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Wouldn't this denomination lead to believe that arbitrators are not members of the community ? I don't like this opposition ArbCom vs the Community, that I have found at several places and alluded in various comments. Arbitrators are members of the community and ArbCom is part of the community (specifically not beyond or above it). In this case, I'd prefer arbitrator member vs non-arbitrator member. Cenarium (talk) 02:37, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

non-admin candidates

I think it may also need to be clarified that this position is not open to non-admin editors. I make mention of this as my application was rejected due to not being an admin. So it's a lot more limited that appears. I had thought it was open to any community member and was a bit confused. Basket of Puppies 03:50, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

That's something that has never been raised before. It should go on the elections page for qualifications for the next election. I'd rather that Roger or another arbitrator added it, though. They could change their minds whenever they wanted to. Thatcher 04:10, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

The election blurb described the "ideal candidate" as an admin, but it didn't specifically exclude non-admins. We've started looking into how permissions might nead to be split up to allow for non-admins to fully participate, in part because of non-admin candidates for this role, and the possibility that there could be a non-admin appointed to Arbcom at some point. I don't know how the community as a whole would vote if presented with a non-admin candidate, but it would be good to be in a position where such a selection wasn't limited by technology. Risker (talk) 04:33, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I noticed the "ideal candidate" aspect, but felt that having a non-admin member would actually help in creating broad representation on the Subcommittee. I'm not necessarily upset as I understand the technical requirements, but I was told in private email that I could not be considered for the position if I was not an admin already and informed I needed to withdraw my candidacy. If the full community decides that they want only admins as members then they achieve that during the open voting process, but I am just confused by the seemingly unpublished prerequisite. Thoughts? Basket of Puppies 04:52, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

It is a timing issue. The full Arbitration Committee voted to explore making the changes to permissions that would allow for non-admins to be placed in an Audit position. This needs to be managed with the developers and with the Community. We voted to move on this after the election because there was not time to do so before the start of the election. So, we did not vet you for this election but that does not close the door on the possibility that non-admins would be vetted for these seats in the future. Does that make sense and answer your concerns? FloNight♥♥♥♥ 13:10, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I certainly don't take it personally as it's a restriction that applies to all non-administrators. I would just like to see more broad representation on the Subcommittee, which would include non-admins. I understand the timing issue and hope that the next round of elections will be open to non-administrator applicants. Basket of Puppies 17:40, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

A non-admin being elected to this position would certainly be a feat. Kind of like a non-admin bureaucrat. There's a natural progression. Would a non-admin AUSC member be able to view oversighted edits? But not deleted edits? Peculiar. –xeno 17:44, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

There are a couple of ways to think about this. a) if you have not proven yourself trustworthy enough be elected an admin (either because you failed or because you never tried), you are not qualified to apply for advanced permissions like CU and OS. Or b) if you win a competitive election for advanced privileges such as CU and OS, you are obviously trusted and respected and should automatically be given admin status as well. Thatcher 18:06, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I'll admit that I view serving on this type of subcommittee as being separate and distinct from an administrative position in the traditional sense. Committees of this sort are meant for investigative and consultative purposes. Thus, any member of the community in good standing ought to be able to run for the position. If this necessitates a temporary addition of permissions then I don't see the issue. Being able to view deleted and oversighted revisions is not necessarily or exclusively an admin permission, but can be applied to others who the community approves of. Basket of Puppies 18:53, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Originally, many people thought that any user in good standing should be an admin, too! But somewhere along the way additional criteria was added. Loads of it. :-) Personally, I'm of a mixed mind about whether someone should be on AUSC without being an admin. The skill set needed to be on the AUSC are not identical to being an admin but their is certainly some overlap. And having admin-ship, CU-ship, OS-ship does give evidence of on wiki commitment and supplies knowledge and experience for for the work. There will be a large learning curve for someone that has never used any of the tools. But, having an non-admin, non-functionary on the subcommittee gives a fresh perspective. That part would be good. FloNight♥♥♥♥ 19:08, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I wonder if anyone has even tested the behavior of the oversight permissions when used by an account that does not have admin permissions. Certainly being able to access deleted revisions is an important part of performing the oversight function, I wonder if oversight even works without the admin buttons. I could support the idea of granting a non-admin temporary sysop status to go along with their temporary CU and OS status. but it's a pretty radical idea and I'm sure there would be concerns raised by others. Something to think about between now and the next audit committee election in 12 months, maybe. Thatcher 19:19, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

• The reality is that a candidate who is not an administrator is not likely to be elected by the community to a seat on the subcommittee, and any editor who is thinking of running whilst not a sysop ought to be in touch with our norms enough to know that such is the case. (That could, however, change, given a suitably trustworthy and competent candidate.) Explicitly prohibiting non-administrators from running would debar a type of editor whose inclusion on the subcommittee could be very advantageous. Policy, ideally, should reflect (and in theory is just a codified version of) the practical reality of operations on the project, so there would also be advantages to changing the AUSC policy/description page to state that only admins are eligible for election to a seat. I suppose it really does depend on whether the community would ever want a non-admin to be elected to a seat. It seems to me that a discussion to evaluate what the consensus on the issue of non-sysop AUSC members is would be a sensible next step. AGK 20:49, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

• • I tend to agree that a discussion should take place in order to gauge the community's consensus on the idea of a non-admin member of the AUSC. I would be happy to be involved in this. Would a central discussion be the best starting place or an RFC? Or a different venue? Basket of Puppies 20:59, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

• • • RFC is the standard choice of method for gauging community consensus on a topic, but really, the discussion could be held anywhere (so long as it was on-wiki and well-advertised). AGK 21:02, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

• • • • AGK, I think I may begin a draft RFC in my userspace just for this purpose. Do you think the RFC should wait until after the elections, just in order not to stir the pot so-to-speak? Basket of Puppies 21:03, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

• • • • • Kudos for taking the initiative to start the discussion. I think it would be sensible to wait until the elections have been completed, because (as you say) doing otherwise might adversely affect the election process. AGK 22:00, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

• • • • • • The very rough draft of the RFC is located on my user page. Please feel free to help out. :) Basket of Puppies 22:44, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Speaking as a non-administrator, I'm not sure I see too much value in the presence of non-admins on either the arbitration committee or the audit subcommittee (both are currently under discussion). I think as much as possible of the work of both groups should be publicly available and reviewable by all, but it doesn't necessarily make sense to have people with no experience using a set of tools (or even any tools) be responsible for reviewing their appropriate use by others. Our hierarchy isn't so exclusive that we need a "civilian" presence on any group that has a review role, there is generally enough natural diversity. Of course, we could consider election to the AUSC and ArbCom the practical equivalent of an RfA... But we'd need quite a bit of community discussion before that would step could be taken. Nathan 21:05, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Nathan, that's a very, very interesting viewpoint. I can and do appreciate it. I guess all the more reason to have an RFC to gauge if the community would be willing to trust a non-admin AUSC member. As well, would they trust someone who is a former admin and turned in their mop under non-controversial circumstances? Additionally, the issue gets a bit thicker. What about admins who have been blocked for various rules violations or formally admonished (but not desysopped) by the ArbCom? I don't know if it's necessarily so cut and dry. Basket of Puppies 21:50, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

My own opinion is that this is a decision (select a non-admin to sit on the subcommittee) is one best left to the community. The reason why we disqualified the non-admin candidates this time around is that they simply would have been unable to do the job if elected given that deleted revisions would have been beyond their reach (and are much more numerous than suppressed revisions) and often necessary to understand the context. Adding the right to see admin-deleted pages and revisions to the oversight bit could not possibly have been done in time for this election, but remain on our to-do list. — Coren  23:08, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Coren, I agree with you. After the election I will introduce an RFC to try to gauge the community's consensus on 1) having non-admin editors at all and 2) possibly requiring a non-admin editor. I hope the results of this RFC will then be used to make (if necessary) technical changes. Basket of Puppies 23:21, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I saw the page header inviting votes for candidate "users"; a user is not necessarily an editor and an editor is not necessarily an admin. I am disappointed to find that in fact the candidate pool at this time is limited to admins. --Una Smith (talk) 03:59, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Not voting

I'm not going to vote in an election in which all of the candidates have been preapproved by the ArbCom. Furthermore, none of the candidates appear to represent my viewpoints, which I suppose is no accident—if they did, they wouldn't be approved to stand as candidates. I would, however, be interested in hearing someone attempt to justify holding an election under such restricted conditions. Everyking (talk) 02:51, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

IMHO I have no issue with this arrangement because:

• (a) this committee is a subcommittee of ArbCom, was created by ArbCom, and has not ever been a free-standing Misplaced Pages body
• (b) the model is moving from a "direct appointment by ArbCom" to "some degree of community involvement"

If the community wants this body to be freely elected, divorced from ArbCom or whatever, then that can be resolved by RFC in plenty of time for the next election. Manning (talk) 02:57, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be nice if the community had the option of voting for people who wanted to divorce this thing from the ArbCom? That would be much better expression of community feeling than an RFC, which as we all know usually conclude ambiguously and resolve nothing. As it stands now, it looks like we have a list of identical candidates. If there are differences between them, I wish someone could point them out to me. Everyking (talk) 03:07, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Well I haven't heard *anyone* making a case for divorcing it from ArbCom, and it's been over six months since the October election was announced. This is a SUBcommittee which has to work very closely with ArbCom and was only created to exercise powers previously exclusive to ArbCom. Also because ArbCom still has ultimate authority over CU/OS auditing, in principle these powers can be reabsorbed into ArbCom and the subcommmittee dissolved at any time. So there is no obvious reason to make provisions for the subcommittee's divorce.

If however your real issue is that you feel ArbCom should simply NOT possess ultimate authority over reviewing CU/OS actions, that is a completely different thing. That WOULD need to go to the community, as not even ArbCom has the authority to overturn years of established practice without community consensus. Struck in light of Thatcher's comment below. Manning (talk) 03:22, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Cenarium has been a proponent of divorcing it from ArbCom. See his many posts on this page. ;-)

As you point out above in (b), Arbcom has been devolving and delegating its role of appointing and monitoring OS&CU, while at the same time ensuring that these tasks are done satisfactorily. The OS&CU elections have been part of this process, and this audit subcom election was planned from the moment when the audit subcom was first established.

In time this subcommittee could become detached from Arbcom, but I think a restructure should wait until it has a few runs on the board, or until there is some catastrophic failure that acts as a catalyst for change. John Vandenberg 05:34, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Maybe, through our collective experience with the ArbCom, we've become so familiar with catastrophic failure that we have trouble recognizing it for what it for what it is. Yes, the tornado destroyed the house—but the old shed out back is still standing, you see. One out of 100 ain't bad! Everyking (talk) 05:44, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I look forward to your well considered opinion here. :P John Vandenberg 06:31, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Everyking, Arbcom has a responsibility to the Foundation to only grant oversight and checkuser permissions to people whom it feels are trustworthy. Until someone persuades the Foundation to change the rules that it (the Foundation) follows, then Arbcom will always have the last word on checkuser and oversight appointments. If they don't pre-approve candidates, they would have to review them after the election, and possibly deny someone who otherwise received enough votes, not to mention wasting the time of the candidate and the community. Now, there may be good reasons to grant checkuser and oversight to people who are not considered "trustworthy" by Arbcom, but you'll need to work that out with the Foundation, probably meaning Cary and the Stewards. Thatcher 03:43, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Isn't the community better placed than the ArbCom to determine who is trustworthy? After all, it's the community that elects the ArbCom. I think it would be much better to have this "approval" business done after the election: then people might have a genuine choice, and if the ArbCom chose to act against the community's wishes by vetoing a successful candidate, then it would have to face community disapproval which in turn could facilitate some changes in the arrangement. Wouldn't that be better than having this sham rubberstamp process? Everyking (talk) 03:55, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't think there's much difference, just whether the accusations of collusion or cabalism or whatever are front-loaded or end-loaded. Thatcher 04:06, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

(od) Everyking: Every admin candidate who submitted a completed application went forward to the short list, i.e. none were "vetoed" by ArbCom. That none of the candidates is advocating your particular viewpoint (whatever that view might be) may simply be because it is not widely held.  Roger Davies 05:00, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

SecurePoll frustration outlet

Do we have a place where people can raise bugs and usability problems for discussion? Onwiki discussion would be better than flooding bugzilla with duplicates. We need to discuss which issues should be fixed before the software is used for a bigger election. John Vandenberg 22:38, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I've just created Bugzilla for this purpose.  Roger Davies 00:40, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Voter list

An alphabetically-sorted list of editors who had voted by 23:52 (UTC) 30 Oct 2009 has now been posted. This will be replaced by updated completed lists every day or so during the currency of the election. Community scrutiny is invited and concerns about double-voting should be raised on the Voting log talk page. No editors have thus far been disenfranchised.  Roger Davies 00:35, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

AUSC October 2009 elections: Vote now!

The election, using SecurePoll, has now started. You may:

• Visit the election "home page" for an overview;
• Review the candidate's statements: Dominic • Frank • Jredmond • KillerChihuahua • MBisanz • Tznkai;
• Or go straight to your personal voting page: here to cast your votes.

The election closes at 23:59 (UTC) on 8 November 2009.

For the Arbitration Committee,  Roger Davies 07:26, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Urgent! Last call for votes: AUSC October 2009 elections

There's only one day to go! The Audit Subcommittee election, using SecurePoll, closes at 23:59 (UTC) 8 November. Three community members will be appointed to supervise use of the CheckUser and OverSight tools. If you wish to vote you must do so urgently. Here's how:

• Visit the election "home page" for an overview;
• Review the candidate's statements: Dominic • Frank • Jredmond • KillerChihuahua •

MBisanz • Tznkai;

• Or go straight to your personal voting page:

here.

For the Arbitration Committee, — Rlevse • Talk • 17:07, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

RfC

Now that the elections have concluded and the new AUSC members have been installed, I wonder if you all think this is the appropriate time to initiate an RfC regarding non-admin editors being part of the AUSC. I have a draft located here. Please let me know if you think it needs change or expansion. Once it's tidied up a bit I'll go ahead and file it as a formal RfC. Thanks! Basket of Puppies 03:55, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Go for it, although you might get drowned out by that other election--Tznkai (talk) 04:05, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Oh my, you're totally right! I'll likely wait until the entire election season is over, then. Thanks for the headsup! Basket of Puppies 04:13, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Invitation to participate in SecurePoll feedback and workshop

Interested editors are invited to participate in the SecurePoll feedback and workshop. SecurePoll was recently used in the Audit Subcommittee election, and has been proposed for use for the upcoming Arbitration Committee election at this current request for comment (RFC). Your comments, suggestions and observations are welcome.

For the Arbitration Committee,
Dougweller (talk) 09:08, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Voting log

I was going to post the following question on another page, but I figured since the voting is over, this might be a better place. Why was this page created?--Rockfang (talk) 09:42, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

If you mean the voting log discussion page, then that is made clear at the top: "For discussion of the voting logs, and possible instances of double-voting." If you mean the voting log, then I would presume because an on-wiki log is preferable to relying on an external extension to log important details of the election. We might have to re-examine the logs in six months' time (if, for example, evidence of sock puppetry came to light). An on-wiki page is less likely to be corrupted or removed than an extension file. AGK 14:23, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

I indeed meant the actual log page. Thanks for the reply.--Rockfang (talk) 18:40, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Regarding disputed oversights for an Arbitrator.

How long does it take to ask one simple question? .  Giano  08:05, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Tick-tock. Hipocrite (talk) 13:24, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

It is the job of the Audit Subcommittee to investigate what happened, and that means agreeing on a set of facts and conclusions. Now, we all already know that no outing occurred and that all of the revisions were unsuppressed within hours, which means that while speed is important here as always, this case has no more urgency than the other, older ones that AuSc had before the incident occurred. In addition, we are (or at least I am) currently in a transitional period. Having said that, there has been significant effort put into this already, and I will work on resolving this case within a few days. Dominic·t 07:20, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Do you need some help with this? What can us perfectly normal users do to get some clarity here? Are any of the implicated individuals running in an election, currently? It's been weeks - almost a month - at this point. Hipocrite (talk) 16:01, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

• Since this popped up on my watchlist again, I'm changing the section title from "illicit" to "disputed". There is nothing about the actual suppression by DerHexer that was questionable; when in doubt, removing edits first and then discussing them is the appropriate and desired model. Suppression can be reversed, and I'm sure you and everyone else would like the benefit of the doubt if you ever make a request for suppression. There are things about the nature and timing of the request by the Arbitrator that need to be sorted out, but the word "illicit" prejudges the incident and really bothers me. Thatcher 16:27, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't care about the header. When will we get a report? Can we have a timeline of events? Is there a dispute? If there is, at this point, weeks, closing in rapidly on a month, perhaps the audit subcommittee should issue a majority and minority report. Or three reports. Or 6! Or disband itself. An Arbitor told Giano "The audit subcommittee is looking at this right now. You need to be patient and wait for the report (even if it takes days or weeks)." Was he lied to? Weeks is about to come due. Hipocrite (talk) 17:08, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

• Thatcher is wrong. Quite a lot was "questionable" which is why I questioned. It seems the Arbs always want to be very silent and quiet where some people are concerned. Just look at how much D Gerard has been allowed to get away with over the years and anyone questioning him being firmly stamped on. Disgraceful behaviour should never have been allowed to continue so long. However, better late than never; such just and needed retribution certainly won't happen next year when the Arbcom returns to Jimboesque form. People would do well to remember that when voting this year. All in all the Arbcom currently have a lot to deal with, so I am prepared to cut them some slack, but while I have no doubt the report, when it finally comes, will be stupefying in its banality and denial, I would still like to see it - eventually.  Giano  19:34, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

No one is wrong about their own personal opinions. However, I think my opinion on the general desirability of suppressing marginal edits immediately, and then discussing them later, is more defensible than the alternative. A great many marginal cases are reported to the oversight mailing list. If there was a requirement that all marginal cases were discussed and approved first, then some marginal cases, that were eventually deemed appropriate for suppression, would be in the public view for much longer than needed, possibly resulting in preventable harm to editors and private citizens. DerHexer may have acted on partial, incomplete or even incorrect information provided to him by others, but I do not believe his actions can be faulted. If you read my above comment in its entirety, you will notice that I said there are issues still to be addressed. Thatcher 19:42, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

We are, in fact working on it. Our arbitrator members appear to be a bit distracted with their docket, and I've been distracted by family and the elections, but I think we should see some movement soon.--Tznkai (talk) 19:52, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Not to be a pest, or anything, but when is "soon?" Deadlines, and what not, at this point, seem apropos. It is timley and important given our current election. Hipocrite (talk) 19:56, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I honestly don't know. Just speaking for myself WP:AUSC is high on my wikipedia priority list, but low on my overall priority list, and I believe rightfully so.--Tznkai (talk) 20:08, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Look, that's fine. I'm not assigning work. I'm asking that the AUSC either shit, or get off the pot. We can go back to public yelling if there's not going to be an answer - that was the old way that checkusers and oversighters were not held accountable for their actions. To be clear - there are candidates in the arbcom election that are either being unfairly tainted by association to this boondogle, or that are being given an unfair free pass. The comittee pledge to "keep the complainant ... informed of its progress and expected date of completion." Unless you missed it, I sent in an official complaint. I have not been kept informed of your progress and expected date of completion. We are rapidly aproaching the three week hard-deadline that you set for yourselves. My complaint was submitted 2 weeks, 4 days and 45someodd minutes ago. Hipocrite (talk) 20:19, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

<--Unless Giano has information that I am not aware of, this issue does not involve any of the current Arbcom candidates. The intermediary who passed Rlevse's request to DerHexer on IRC is not a candidate, and I am unaware of the involvement of any other candidate. Thatcher 20:22, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Is he not a candidate Thatcher? How do you know this? I was told it was a closely guarded secret. I would prefer yo know for sure, not from heresay, and you appear to be hearing and saying. Secondly, Coren is a candidiate, and his bullying and trying to hector and threaten me into silence is certainly something that needs airing and investigating.  Giano  22:52, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I do indeed know who it is and it is not a current Arbcom election candidate. Thatcher 23:46, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I don't think it would be appropriate to play 20-questions with this process, given that I've been yelled at for playing 20-questions the last time I was looking for some accountability so I'll stop now and wait the 2 days 23 hours before asking you all what the next step is. A complaint to the audit auditors comittee? Hipocrite (talk) 20:27, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

The user who acted as intermediary is bigger than a breadbox. Does this help? Thatcher 20:40, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm reporting you to the audit comittee for admitting that it was Breadcrab. Hipocrite (talk) 20:45, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Using that method of analysis, it could have been Breaded Spider, Thatcher or even Hipocrite. J'accuse! Thatcher 21:26, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Oh no Thatcher, you are wrong again, it was a Beaurocrat! That's why the oversighter beleived all he was told. I thought everone knew that.  Giano  22:56, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I do know who the IRC intermediary was. Thatcher 23:46, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Oh Good, well now go and find out why every edit the Arbcom has recently made concerning David Gerard's behaviour has just been oversighted. That would be far more interesting. I of course, already know, but others will want to know too.  Giano  00:08, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I do know. I want to see if it plays out further before I say anything. Thatcher 00:14, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

My advice, would be for them to tell the truth why they have oversighted the entire David Gerard affair (cancelled a day of their lives) you see, otherwise there will be speculation. The only good thing is that speculation is always less mundane than the truth. Which in this case is more....how can I put this....."delicate."  Giano  00:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I agree that in this case, the mundane explanation is preferable to unanswered speculation. It is not my place to make such an explanation, except perhaps in a dire emergency. Better to let Arbcom figure out what to do on their own than to be forced into a course of action by an unrelated third party. Thatcher 00:26, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Alternate member

The Audit Subcommittee has decided that the alternate member (currently user:MBisanz) of the Audit Subcommittee will not receive list membership and should not be given the Oversight or Checkuser permissions as an alternate member. Barring any unforeseen events, the Arbitration Committee will appoint the alternate member in the event of a vacancy.

For the Audit Subcommittee, --Tznkai (talk) 06:03, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Fantastic news. :-) Thank you for the heads-up. --MZMcBride (talk) 09:59, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. I understand that having the responsibility of making that decision was a burden, but we felt that the members of the subcommittee itself were the ones in the best position to evaluate what method of inclusion would best help. — Coren  11:53, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

New privacy issue?

I noticed under Special:ListGroupRights that admins have the new power of click tracking. I don't know how to use this power, but has AUSC ascertained what user information is being disclosed as a result of this module? I could imagine some people being dismayed if it turned out that any admin could figure out what pages they are viewing through a simple API query. MBisanz 01:19, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

o_O That does, err, worry me a little bit. I wouldn't panic if it had been assigned to checkuser, but absent details on what exactly this right entails I think having it on to admins is... well, let's just say I, for one, will be looking into it as of this minute. — Coren  01:29, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

It would appear it has now disappeared from ListGroupRights. It was between

 # View detailed abuse log entries (abusefilter-log-detail)
 # Add groups: Rollbackers, Account creators, Edit filter managers, Autoreviewers, Confirmed users and IP block exemptions

MBisanz 02:15, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, the extension was disabled (even if the right existed) but I've asked Tim to remove the right from the sysop groups anyways out of justifiable paranoia.  :-) — Coren  02:23, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Recent use of RevisionDelete related to David Gerard

As has already been noted on this page, someone has deleted revisions on Misplaced Pages talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard, Misplaced Pages:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard, and User talk:David Gerard. I cannot possibly imagine the levels of stupidity required to think this was a good idea to try to un-ring such a loud bell. If mistakes were made, trying to delete them from existence is the worst possible solution. --MZMcBride (talk) 00:22, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I said it on functionaries-en, and I'll say it again in public. To refuse to retract the very serious accusations made against David, instead opting to use brute force to pretend that they were never made in the first place, shows an incredible lack of intellectual honesty, integrity, and accountability. It can only diminish the community's trust in the arbitration committee. — Werdna • talk 00:25, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Can you expand on what has been oversighted? Viridae 00:30, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

How is this justifiable within policy? Basically, only Oversighters can see it. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to retract or amend? Durova 00:31, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

This is akin to a newspaper trying to go around and collect copies of a bad story from every household. Print a damn retraction, if necessary. But this revision suppression (from admins, even!) needs to be immediately reversed. Unfathomably stupid, this whole affair. --MZMcBride (talk) 00:37, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Totally agree, it's like instead of referring to the moon as the moon, you just call it a big round rock in the middle of space and orbits the earth. Just changing the name of what has happened, doesn't change what happened. Someone needs to lose the bit on this one. --Coffee // have a cup // ark // 00:39, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Lets not go buy our pitchforks and torches quite yet and give ArbCom (or whoever made the suppression) a chance to comment / explain. That said, this does appear troubling. Tiptoety 00:40, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Can anyone offer a general description of what led to this, for those of us who aren't aware? Resolute 00:42, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

If somebody explains, their edits might be suppressed! :-| Killiondude (talk) 00:46, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

• No, I think we are supposed to speculate. Surely, the clue to all of this - is has he been regranted his checkuser and oversight rights, well rights is probably a misnomer, but you know what I mean.  Giano  00:42, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

• He has not been regranted his checkuser and oversight permissions (at least, there is nothing in the meta logs to indicate as such, and no formal request to the stewards has been made). However, a public explanation is definitely deserved, and should have been given as soon as anything was suppressed. NW (Talk) 00:48, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
• This is where to check. Not currently. Dragons flight (talk) 00:51, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm just going to remind everyone that suppression is reversible, and ask everyone keep as cool a head as possible.--Tznkai (talk) 00:44, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

My head is perfectly cool, and on top of my shoulders, which I suspect will not be the case for someone close by very soon.  Giano  00:46, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, please supply a correction if this is mistaken: doesn't the Foundation's Oversight policy apply? And if so, what clause was this done under? It seems obvious that an attempt to erase the problem draws far more attention than a simple retraction would. Clarify, please? Durova 00:49, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Courtesy link: Foundation's Oversight policy. Durova 00:54, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Can someone summarize the general nature of what was oversighted? It would help to know why this is such an issue. People who know what is going on seem really worked up, but those of us that are unfamiliar with the details could use a primer to decide if we should get worked up too! --Jayron32 00:52, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

David Gerard had his Checkuser and Oversight flags removed involuntarily. The announcement and discussion by the community has been suppressed. ⇌ Jake Wartenberg 00:57, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

If my advice and that of some others is acted upon, a revised announcement will be posted that will also permit the suppressed content to be restored. If not, there's always Citizendium.... Thatcher 01:01, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Now you're just being cruel... :P MastCell  01:15, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Citizendium tends to deal with criticism somewhat suppressively too, I believe. *Dan T.* (talk) 01:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

(rhetorical tone) You're kidding! (normal tone) It's events like this that prove the value of certain Sites Which Shall Not Be Named. -- Seth Finkelstein (talk) 01:16, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

How long does it take to post a message explaining this?

You don't accidentally suppress this many revisions. Try as you might, you can't just trip on something and censor a few dozen revisions. This was clearly planned (though clearly not thought-out). Why is it taking so long to get a statement from the person who did this? Surely they could've written one up before embarking on this stupidity. --MZMcBride (talk) 01:18, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

As long as it takes to get it right, I would imagine.--Tznkai (talk) 01:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid that we don't have that kind of time. - Rjd0060 (talk) 01:22, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

It's only a rush for the Arbitration Committee when they're defaming people? Hah. --MZMcBride (talk) 01:25, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

You know when someone's waiting for the elevator, and they keep... hitting... the button over and and over? It's annoying, and it doesn't make the elevator doors open any more quickly. MastCell  01:32, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

The elevator analogy is cute, but not really fitting. This is more like someone making a giant mess and waiting for a shitstorm to brew as they slowly write a justification for doing so. Do you have a good analogy for that? I imagine there might be some good examples from the George W. Bush presidency if you get stuck. --MZMcBride (talk) 01:38, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

• Put it this way, if you post something in haste that you later find necessary to revise, it will take you far longer to deal with the cleanup than if you take the time to get it right the first time. Thatcher 01:33, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
  • You're too smart for your own good. --MZMcBride (talk) 01:38, 2 December 2009 (UTC)