Revision as of 20:20, 8 March 2015 editCourcelles (talk | contribs)Edit filter managers, Autopatrolled, Administrators434,776 edits →Comments: re← Previous edit | Revision as of 23:01, 8 March 2015 edit undoRisker (talk | contribs)Edit filter managers, Autopatrolled, Checkusers, New page reviewers, Oversighters, Administrators28,285 edits →Questions for this candidate: q for HJMitchellNext edit → | ||
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*You left the en.wikinews project in 2010 due to concerns about how the project was functioning. Would this affect your ability to work with people from that project with cross-wiki issues? (Granted, their CUs don't really seem to be that active, but humor me {{smiley}}) --''']]]''' 06:52, 7 March 2015 (UTC) | *You left the en.wikinews project in 2010 due to concerns about how the project was functioning. Would this affect your ability to work with people from that project with cross-wiki issues? (Granted, their CUs don't really seem to be that active, but humor me {{smiley}}) --''']]]''' 06:52, 7 March 2015 (UTC) | ||
**That was during a turbulent period in that project's history, if memory serves. It seems they only have three CUs, of whom one is a friend of mine IRL (as are a couple of the admins there), so I can't imagine having any difficulty working with their CU team. | **That was during a turbulent period in that project's history, if memory serves. It seems they only have three CUs, of whom one is a friend of mine IRL (as are a couple of the admins there), so I can't imagine having any difficulty working with their CU team. | ||
*Hello, HJ. I note that you are one of the most active administrators on Misplaced Pages right now, working in multiple challenging areas (including arbitration enforcement). Should you be granted checkuser permissions, it would be expected that you would focus a significant amount of your volunteer time in this area. The average SPI can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours, with more complex ones requiring even more time. With this in mind, what activities are you currently carrying out that you are most likely to curtail or reduce in order to carry out the new CU responsibilities? ] (]) 23:01, 8 March 2015 (UTC) | |||
=====Comments===== | =====Comments===== |
Revision as of 23:01, 8 March 2015
Bbb23 (CU)
Bbb23 (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)
- Nomination statement
- I am applying for both the checkuser and the oversight tools. My principal interest is in the checkuser tool. I don’t think I’ll use the oversight tool much, but that could change over time. Obviously, I would respond to an editor who makes a request to me for suppression.
- My interest in the CU tool stems from my experience as an SPI clerk and my overall interest in understanding how a checkuser is actually performed. I believe I have the requisite experience as an active clerk to use the tool and to use it prudently. CUs have discretion as to when to perform a checkuser, and I would approach the tool, as I do with any new tool, cautiously at the beginning as I learn the ropes,seeking guidance, as necessary, from more experienced checkusers.
Standard questions for all candidates
- Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.
- I have been an SPI clerk since August 2013, first as a trainee, then as a full-fledged clerk starting in May 2014. This means not only that I analyze the evidence presented when an SPI case is filed, but I also have some understanding as to the checkuser's role in the process.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:11, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
- Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.
- I used to be a computer professional, which gives me foundational experience as to technical concepts. That said, my expertise was not in Internet addressing, so I have no direct off-wiki experience in that specific area.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:11, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
- Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?
- No to all.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:11, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
Questions for this candidate
- Someone asks you if a CU has been done on them, because they believe another CU has violated their privacy. What do you do? --Rschen7754 06:31, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- I would follow the direction of the policy, which says, "Other complaints or inquiries about potential misuse of the CheckUser tool should be referred to the Audit Subcommittee." That's slightly different from Callanecc's answer (I cheated and read it). My guess is he's right and I'm wrong, but I'll stick with answer except to qualify it with "I'll check with another CU first before taking any action" to see if my interpretation of the policy is correct and, even if it is, if the practice is different.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:39, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
- When/why should CheckUser data be sent to the checkuser-l list? --Rschen7754 06:31, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- I'll just quote policy: "The inter-project team is ideal for matters concerning prolific vandals or sock users, privacy-related incidents or harassment, and other global matters of interest beyond English Misplaced Pages."--Bbb23 (talk) 00:55, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
- What is your experience with collaborating and coming to a consensus with editors of different opinions and philosophies? What have you learned from these experiences? --Rschen7754 06:31, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- The answer to this question depends largely on the dispute at issue. For example, article content disputes are different from policy disputes, which are in turn different from disputes about technical issues (those are just some examples). I have less involvement in content disputes since I became an administrator, but I get involved in two ways. First, as an administrator, I find that I can often facilitate consensus building without directly participating in it. Second, as an editor, I usually try to resolve the dispute at the article talk page. However, if that fails, I don't generally take the next steps of dispute resolution. Instead, I either bow out (if I'm unwilling to see it through, it's not fair of me to "demand" anything) or I turn it over to the appropriate noticeboard, e.g., WP:BLPN if it involves a possible but not blatant WP:BLP violation.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:48, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
Comments
- Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.
- Support - Absolutely, with no qualms whatsoever, even though the last time I asked him to take care of something for me, he turned me down. That caused me, personally, a bit of hassle, but I don't hold it against it, and it doesn't in any way change my opinion about his trustworthiness or his judgment. In my opinion, Misplaced Pages needs more admins like Bbb23 and HJ Mitchell. BMK (talk) 04:53, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support — Ched : ? 17:59, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support, great admin. (I'm assuming that anyone can comment here?) --AmaryllisGardener 19:38, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
- @AmaryllisGardener: Of course. Courcelles (talk) 20:20, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
Callanecc (CU)
Callanecc (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)
- Nomination statement
- Hi all, I'm Callanecc and I'm applying for the CheckUser tool (that is, to retain it after my term on AUSC). I've been an admin for around a year and am currently serving as a community appointee on the Audit Subcommittee (so have used both CheckUser and Oversight) through which I've developed a reasonably in depth knowledge of the global and local policies governing the use of the tools. I've been active at SPI as a clerk and CheckUser so have gained experience in determining whether sockpuppetry is occurring based on behavioural and technical evidence, likewise I have gained a well rounded interpretation of the sock puppetry policy. I've built and developed knowledge of ISPs and the sockpuppeteers active in Asia and Eastern Europe as an SPI clerk and also since using CheckUser on accounts from those areas. I've been involved with the request an account process since 2012 and was "elected" as a tool administrator in 2013. Since having the CheckUser permission I have been one of the two most active CUs on the tool and intend to continue doing so if granted the permission after my AUSC term expires. I am also active in handling unblock requests on UTRS and am an OTRS agent.
- Please feel free to ask questions here, on my talk page or via email. Kind regards, Callanecc.
Standard questions for all candidates
- I've just given quick responses to these for now, I'll come back to them later and clean up my responses and provide more info as needed. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 13:12, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.
- Summarising what I said in my nomination statement: I've been active with SPI since Jan 2014, ACC since Jul 2012 and UTRS since Dec 2013. So have developed good experience in these areas. Before and since having CU (on AUSC) I've made rangeblocks so am familiar with how that works (IPv4, still learning v6) and I've also been active in countering spam and spambots. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 13:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.
- I have some experience in networking and identifying users based on user agent and login details in real life. In real life, I'm been privy to personal and confidential information about people, including my peers, which I can't share with others or with them. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 13:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?
- I have both CU and OS on enwiki as a community member of AUSC, none of the other permissions on other projects. On OTRS, I have access to the Commons, Info-en (f), Permissions, Wikidata (and oversight-en-wp) queues. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 13:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
Questions for this candidate
- I've just given quick responses to these for now, I'll come back to them later and clean up my responses and provide more info as needed. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 13:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Someone asks you if a CU has been done on them, because they believe another CU has violated their privacy. What do you do? --Rschen7754 06:31, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Something which I've had experience with - I'd refer them to the AUSC (and not confirm whether there is a check or not). It's important that the same standard is applied regarding whether to disclose that a check has been carried out and that AUSC is in a position to investigate. Privately, I'd probably have a look at whether the account had been checked and if it had and I thought the grounds where iffy I'd refer it to the AUSC for investigation myself. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 13:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- When/why should CheckUser data be sent to the checkuser-l list? --Rschen7754 06:31, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- When there is reason to believe that there are crosswiki elements to the disruption (whether socking, vandalism or spam). Generally ranges from which there is a reasonable amount of spam and spambots should be referred so that they can be checked on other wikis and globally. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 13:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- What is your experience with collaborating and coming to a consensus with editors of different opinions and philosophies? What have you learned from these experiences? --Rschen7754 06:31, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
Answered now |
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- I've probably been involved in less consensus building about article content since becoming an admin as I've focused more on trying to facilitate discussion, at Rupert Sheldrake and G. Edward Griffin for example. Given they are controversial topics it's been interesting to see how people with very strong views try to get to a consensus and when intervention is needed. Likewise at WP:AE while consensus isn't needed, generally you try and get other people to agree with your thinking before imposing a sanction, and there have been many times when I've been involved in quite extensive discussion about whether something is a violation or not and what sanction is appropriate.
- Some time ago (by wiki standards) I was involved in writing and developing consensus for guidelines for handling feedback through the Article Feedback Tool. Developing consensus for policy, I found, was quite different from developing consensus on articles as with articles it's usually the interpretation of policies/guidelines which are in dispute. Whereas when writing them it's a lot more about an overall vision which can be very different for different people so requires quite a bit more discussion and convincing. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 01:26, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
- When, if ever, do you think it's appropriate to take off-wiki activity into consideration in an SPI? GoldenRing (talk) 09:19, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Hmm, sometimes. There are times (with paid editing for example) where off-wiki evidence makes the case for sock puppetry (or meat puppetry) much stronger. Having said that, in my opinion, there needs to be on-wiki evidence of socking or meat puppetry taking place, not just evidence of off-wiki activity, for sanctions to be considered. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 13:11, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
Comments
- Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.
- Support - This seems so obvious that I'm surprised this process is even needed (although I understand why AUSC was setup this way). Callanecc has been amongst the most active an helpful CUs in supporting both the SPI and UTRS teams and I would not dream of seeing this ability to help be removed from him. ☺ · Salvidrim! · ✉ 06:31, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support - Callanecc once raised his voice to me (figuratively), but since I deserved it, I don't hold it against him. BMK (talk) 05:06, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
HJ Mitchell (CU)
HJ Mitchell (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)
- Nomination statement
- Hello, I'm Harry. I've been an administrator for coming up on five years. I'm far from infallible, but I like to think I do a reasonable job. My admin work is very much front-line – I deal mainly with vandalism and long-term/serious abuse; despite the tedium and the death threats, I enjoy it – I feel like I'm making a difference by keeping bored schoolchildren and deeply malicious editors away from the encyclopaedia and away from good editors, who shouldn't have to put up with such nonsense. I'm looking for a new challenge and a way to better serve the community, and taking on functionary tools looks to be sufficiently challenging while keeping me on the front line. I have tremendous respect for the current checkuser corps, but I've noticed that a small number have been shouldering a disproportionate burden; there could be many reasons for that, but many hands make light work. I'm very familiar with some of our longer-term sockpuppeteers and with SPI and the limitations of checkuser.
I hope I've proven my discretion and trustworthiness over the years; in terms of technical ability, I'm familiar with IP addressing and useragents, and I've seen the screenshots on mediawiki.org, and I believe I know enough to be proficient. I've been consistently active as an admin for five years, logging 40,000 actions, and I would endeavour to be similarly active as functionary – it's very unlikely that I would burn out after a few months and go inactive.
Standard questions for all candidates
- Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.
- I've been an active admin for almost five years, during which time I've participated in a lot of SPIs. Generally, I get involved at SPI when there's an overlap with my normal admin work (especially long-term abuse, and I watch SPIs for several long-term sockpuppeteers). I do sometimes muck in when there's a large backlog of cases that could benefit from an admin looking at them (the backlog can appear large at times, but sometimes there's little an admin can do, and a clerk or a checkuser is required or the filer needs to provide more information, for example), and sometimes I get a request on my talk page or by email to look at a particular case. I have lots of experience of comparing sets of contributions to assess the likelihood that two accounts are being used by the same person. I'm also used to comparing IP addresses to deal with block evasion, and I'm familiar enough with IP addressing to understand things like range blocking (IPv4 more than v6, but I'm getting to grips with the latter).
- Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.
- Nothing that's obviously directly relevant, but one of my off-wiki interests is event management, which often involves a lot of compilation and comparison of data on spreadsheets. A lot of that information is sensitive (like addresses and phone numbers) and has to be handled in accordance with strict UK and EU data protection laws and some of it is also the subject of non-disclosure agreements so I can operate with the necessary level of discretion.
- Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?
- No advanced permissions but I'm an admin on Commons, in which capacity I occasionally deal with cross-wiki issues. I do have OTRS access: to WMUK, info-en (full), Commons, permissions, photosubmission, and Wiki Loves Monuments.
Questions for this candidate
- Someone asks you if a CU has been done on them, because they believe another CU has violated their privacy. What do you do? --Rschen7754 06:32, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- It would not be my place, especially not as a brand-new functionary, to be handling complaints or disclosing information from private logs. I would suggest they contact the enwiki Audit Subcommittee or the global Ombudsman Commission, who would then investigate if they saw fit.
- When/why should CheckUser data be sent to the checkuser-l list? --Rschen7754 06:32, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- I gather checkuser-l is for coordination of issues with cross-wiki ramifications. Spambots are an obvious example—they tend not be such an issue on the English Misplaced Pages because we have lots of sophisticated methods for dealing with spam, but they can be a serious nuisance on smaller wikis, so when we come across them it can be well worth putting the information on the list so that CUs from other wikis can keep an eye out or share their experiences and the stewards can look into global (b)locking if appropriate. Another obvious case is cross-wiki abuse; for example there was recently a long-term sockmaster who was uploading junk images to Commons and using them for vandalism on enwiki—in a case like that it could be well worth enwiki CUs liaising with Commons CUs (or vice-versa) so that the response was consistent and to help each other prevent further abuse (for example the sockmaster might use a range or a proxy on one wiki that they hadn't used on the other).
- What is your experience with collaborating and coming to a consensus with editors of different opinions and philosophies? What have you learned from these experiences? --Rschen7754 06:32, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- I've of course collaborated with lots of editors on articles over the years (for example, I've written seven featured articles, all of which have gone through extensive review processes which are collaborations with other editors to make the article the best it can be). Administratively, I've done a lot of work in arbitration enforcement, where there are often complex cases that require extensive discussion between admins and between admins and parties to establish facts and (if necessary) impose appropriate remedies. My approach to disagreement is generally to seek a compromise (if I'm invested in something to such an extent that I feel the need to dig my heels in, I'm probably not objective). For example at AE there are often admins who prefer a more lenient approach and some who prefer a much stricter approach (advocating sanctions for relatively minor infringements, or advocating for sanctions at the more severe end of the spectrum); I like to think I'm somewhere in between, but there's a time and a place for both and sometimes I find myself advocating for "one last chance" or for more severe sanctions. The key is always discussion—if you can follow the other person's train of thought, you can sympathise a lot more with their conclusion (even if you disagree with it), and by softening your own position you can often get the other person to do the same and thus move closer to the middle ground.
- When, if ever, do you think it's appropriate to take off-wiki activity into consideration in an SPI? GoldenRing (talk) 09:20, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- "off-wiki activity" covers an awful lot of things and I'm loathe to draw bright lines to the effect that 'this always acceptable' or 'that is never acceptable' because you can guarantee that as soon as you do, you'll be presented with a scenario you hadn't imagined but which requires an exception to your bright line. As a general rule, SPI should make determinations based on on-wiki behavioural evidence. You don't need checkuser or off-wiki evidence to compare two sets of contributions. But sometimes "maybe" or "probably" are as good as you can get based on comparison of contributions, in which case other evidence might be considered, but off-wiki activity should be used rarely and cautiously and if it involves personal information should not be posted on the wiki. A scenario that springs to mind would be one in which evidence came to light that a group of accounts had been recruited on a web forum but were technically unrelated, in which case that evidence might be taken into consideration by an admin in deciding how to handle the matter. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 15:59, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- You left the en.wikinews project in 2010 due to concerns about how the project was functioning. Would this affect your ability to work with people from that project with cross-wiki issues? (Granted, their CUs don't really seem to be that active, but humor me ) --Rschen7754 06:52, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
- That was during a turbulent period in that project's history, if memory serves. It seems they only have three CUs, of whom one is a friend of mine IRL (as are a couple of the admins there), so I can't imagine having any difficulty working with their CU team.
- Hello, HJ. I note that you are one of the most active administrators on Misplaced Pages right now, working in multiple challenging areas (including arbitration enforcement). Should you be granted checkuser permissions, it would be expected that you would focus a significant amount of your volunteer time in this area. The average SPI can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours, with more complex ones requiring even more time. With this in mind, what activities are you currently carrying out that you are most likely to curtail or reduce in order to carry out the new CU responsibilities? Risker (talk) 23:01, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
Comments
- Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.
- Absolutely not. HJ is too quick with the block button. Functionaries need to be level headed. Jehochman 10:40, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- I appreciate your comments, Jonathan, but I don't think I'm too quick to block. I do make a lot of blocks, and inevitably I make mistakes, but I think that the overwhelming majority of my blocks (last time I looked, I think I'd more blocks than all but about 20 admins) are in line with policy and practice and consensus (the three aren't always the same thing). I'm aware that some of my blocks have been controversial, but the same could be said of any active admin—the only guaranteed way to do nothing controversial is to do nothing—and the controversy is not necessarily indicative of an error. Blocks of established editors are almost always controversial and often result in lengthy noticeboard threads, but that doesn't mean it's never appropriate to block established editors. For my part, I always explain myself as best I can, and with noticeboard threads my personal policy is to offer my rationale and then leave the discussion to reach a conclusion, and I always accept the conclusion and do what I can to learn from it—regardless of the outcome. As for level-headedness, I think I'm generally a calm and rational admin and I try not to act on impulse or emotion. I know there's one particular block to which you took exception recently, but as I explained to you at the time I was not aware that you had declined to block the editor (otherwise I would have respected your decision), and I believed that the block was necessary based on the information I had at the time, as they appeared to be part of a coordinated harassment campaign. It later emerged that the matter had been discussed on a forum elsewhere on the web, and that the editor probably had nothing to do with the harassment. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 15:59, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- CU and OS have the potential to really increase the drama around a dispute. What I'm objecting to is not your admin skills. You are really useful as an admin, but you are still a bit prone to hasty action. I'd like to see you wait a year or two before seeking these tools. If you are granted them, please remember what I've said here. Take it easy and be patient. The blow up over a faulty block is nothing compared to the blow up over an improper CU or OS action. Jehochman 20:04, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- I appreciate your comments, Jonathan, but I don't think I'm too quick to block. I do make a lot of blocks, and inevitably I make mistakes, but I think that the overwhelming majority of my blocks (last time I looked, I think I'd more blocks than all but about 20 admins) are in line with policy and practice and consensus (the three aren't always the same thing). I'm aware that some of my blocks have been controversial, but the same could be said of any active admin—the only guaranteed way to do nothing controversial is to do nothing—and the controversy is not necessarily indicative of an error. Blocks of established editors are almost always controversial and often result in lengthy noticeboard threads, but that doesn't mean it's never appropriate to block established editors. For my part, I always explain myself as best I can, and with noticeboard threads my personal policy is to offer my rationale and then leave the discussion to reach a conclusion, and I always accept the conclusion and do what I can to learn from it—regardless of the outcome. As for level-headedness, I think I'm generally a calm and rational admin and I try not to act on impulse or emotion. I know there's one particular block to which you took exception recently, but as I explained to you at the time I was not aware that you had declined to block the editor (otherwise I would have respected your decision), and I believed that the block was necessary based on the information I had at the time, as they appeared to be part of a coordinated harassment campaign. It later emerged that the matter had been discussed on a forum elsewhere on the web, and that the editor probably had nothing to do with the harassment. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 15:59, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support - Once again, without any qualms. What Jehochman sees as a lack of "level-headedness", I see as a surfeit of common sense, something all too lacking around here. I trust HJM, even if he sometimes is wrong, and disagrees with me. BMK (talk) 05:06, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support - We don't always agree, but his judgment is beyond reproach, as is his sensibility. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 07:29, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support - HJ Mitchell is probably one of the most level-headed admins of all amongst those who operate in the trenches. One has to be bold to work in the front line and attract all the flak it gets for just doing one's job. HJ's reserarch into complex issues of COI and SPI are exasperatingly thorough and accurate. HJ does not need the CU tool - the CU tool needs Harry. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 12:27, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support: I have confidence in HJ Mitchell's integrity and good judgement, even if I sometimes don't agree with him. BethNaught (talk) 08:39, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support — Ched : ? 18:00, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support 39K admin actions with 13500 blocks ,14000 deletions and over 6500 protections his judgement and policy knowledge has been spoton and unquestionable .User is one the most active admins in the project Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 22:16, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
- Support, Harry has my trust, I'm sure he'll use CU appropriately. --AmaryllisGardener 19:41, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
- Oppose Per Jehochman.--Catlemur (talk) 19:45, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
Mike V (CU)
Mike V (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)
- Nomination statement
- Hello, I’m Mike V and I’m applying for the checkuser and oversight permissions. I’m active as a member of the OTRS team, a clerk for SPI, a member of the account creation team, as well as serving as an election commissioner for the 2014 arbitration election. In my role as a SPI clerk and as a commissioner, I’ve gained a strong familiarity with the duties of a checkuser and the responsibilities of handling the data appropriately. I’m requesting access to the checkuser permission so that I can assist further with the SPI case load, process checkuser requests for account creation, and lend a hand on UTRS. Through my on-wiki work and as an OTRS volunteer, I often encounter situations where having access to the oversight tools would be beneficial. I’m often readily available through IRC, which will allow me to respond to community requests quickly. Thank you for your consideration.
Standard questions for all candidates
- Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.
- I am very active as an SPI clerk and work with a number of checkusers to handle the investigations. As a former election commissioner I feel very comfortable interpreting the technical data one would encounter as a checkuser.
- Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.
- Professionally I have experience in collecting, interpreting, and presenting data.
- Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?
- I was an election commissioner for the 2014 Arbitration Committee elections on the English Misplaced Pages. Through this role I had access to checkuser-like data of the voters. I am a member of the OTRS team and currently have access to info-en (full), photosubmissions, permissions, and sister projects (Commons).
Questions for this candidate
- Someone asks you if a CU has been done on them, because they believe another CU has violated their privacy. What do you do? --Rschen7754 06:32, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- I would direct the individual to the Audit Subcommittee, whose remit includes investigating abuse of the checkuser tool.
- When/why should CheckUser data be sent to the checkuser-l list? --Rschen7754 06:32, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- The checkuser-l list is often used to notify other checkusers about cross-wiki concerns that have been identified. This might include discovering a nest of spambots, cross-wiki vandalism, informing other checkusers about discovered accounts of a prolific sock user, etc.
- What is your experience with collaborating and coming to a consensus with editors of different opinions and philosophies? What have you learned from these experiences? --Rschen7754 06:32, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
- Like almost all users, there’s been a time where I have disagreed with someone either through my work as an editor or as an administrator. In those situations it’s important to keep a level head and talk things out to get a better understanding of their perspective. I try my best to be willing to reconsider your position and find some neutral ground where possible. One thing that I have learned is that it’s important to keep the broader picture in sight. It’s not worth picking at the finer details if the general issues have been resolved.
Comments
- Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.
- I saw Mike in action during the Arbitration Committee elections when there was (for a short time) a concern that some of the "CU-like" data had been lost. His actions and behaviours at that time proved to me that not only does he understand how to handle the tools but also that he can be completed trusted to use private data responsibly and in line with policy. QuiteUnusual (talk) 12:06, 5 March 2015 (UTC)