Wikipedia talk:CheckUser
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Notification of discussion at WT:AC/N regarding CU blocks[edit]
You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard § Clarification/update request: Statement on checkuser blocks. Best, —a smart kitten[meow] 18:54, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
Cabal Search[edit]
Are there any policies arround a cabal of individual users acting together to influece the bias of a wiki article? If they are coordinating their efforts, what differentiates this from a single user's sockpuppetry? Thank you for your time. 2600:8804:6600:4:BD84:27CE:9D3F:EBC5 (talk) 20:53, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
- We call that meatpuppetry and if it's done abusively we can treat it the same as sockpuppetry but checkuser won't be much use in detecting it. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:57, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
17 January email[edit]
Dear CU team,
This is to notify you that on 17 January, h18:28, I sent a request for investigation to checkuser-en-wpATwikipedia.org, given that in a comment from November 2023 hereabove I read that the latter is not actively monitored.
Best regards, Æo (talk) 12:31, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
Potential Checkuser involvement in admin recall[edit]
In the 2024 RFA review, one of the subproposals in the Phase 2 of Admin recall involves Checkuser confirmation. Feedback from active CU would be appreciated on how feasible this would be. Soni (talk) 17:13, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
Transparency in the Checkuser Process[edit]
The checkuser process is not open to auditing. From a technical perspective, there is no page to confirm that the checkuser process was performed because it likely involves not only the internal technical aspect handled by the MediaWiki tool but also a human element in analyzing user behavior patterns. I believe there should be a task list available that can at least ensure the technical checkuser was conducted and found no connection. It is not clear to me that it was done just because the administrator said so. I think this step is necessary to prevent human errors. Wilfredor (talk) 23:12, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
- @Wilfredor that's not entirely true. The CU process can (and is) audited by other checkusers, both internal to enwiki and across projects via the Ombuds Commission (which I happen to be serving on at the moment). You are certainly correct, however, that non-checkusers have no direct visibility into the process; this is an area where preserving user privacy trumps transparency. RoySmith (talk) 23:40, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
- I understand that other checkusers can authenticate themselves but I was talking about a more transparent automatic tool that will simply show that the technical evaluation was actually done, but available to everyone without giving details of how the tool or the automated technical evaluation works internally. Wilfredor (talk) 23:51, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
- I get the desire to know this, but even divulging that a check has been done (other than a checkuser talking about a check they did themselves) is considered a violation of the privacy policies. RoySmith (talk) 23:56, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
- I believe it's technically OK to say that 'a checkuser' has checked something, that is, saying that a check was done without disclosing in any way which other party ran the check. The governing policy concerns 'non-public personal data'; if an account being checked is considered personal data then there's a whole load of people in trouble. There are numerous other potential problems with this proposal however, some of which would easily potentially violate privacy, others would potentially compromise effectiveness in combating disruption. -- zzuuzz (talk) 00:17, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
- What I propose is an automated tool that confirms the execution of the checkuser without revealing any private data. Even though there is a group of checkusers verifying the process, this is not sufficient. For greater transparency, it should be publicly shown that the checkuser was indeed carried out and not merely a decision based on other factors. Wilfredor (talk) 12:47, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
- On-demand reporting of checks can in fact reveal non-public data, for example closely linked accounts. It can also provide undesirable notice to a bad person that we're on to them. A lot of blocked sockpuppets might have no checks registered against their account. And a non-positive check result is very rarely a declaration of innocence. But basically checkusers are not going to say they've run a check when they haven't. They're just not. Why would they even? -- zzuuzz (talk) 14:48, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
- What I propose is an automated tool that confirms the execution of the checkuser without revealing any private data. Even though there is a group of checkusers verifying the process, this is not sufficient. For greater transparency, it should be publicly shown that the checkuser was indeed carried out and not merely a decision based on other factors. Wilfredor (talk) 12:47, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
- I believe it's technically OK to say that 'a checkuser' has checked something, that is, saying that a check was done without disclosing in any way which other party ran the check. The governing policy concerns 'non-public personal data'; if an account being checked is considered personal data then there's a whole load of people in trouble. There are numerous other potential problems with this proposal however, some of which would easily potentially violate privacy, others would potentially compromise effectiveness in combating disruption. -- zzuuzz (talk) 00:17, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
- I get the desire to know this, but even divulging that a check has been done (other than a checkuser talking about a check they did themselves) is considered a violation of the privacy policies. RoySmith (talk) 23:56, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
- I understand that other checkusers can authenticate themselves but I was talking about a more transparent automatic tool that will simply show that the technical evaluation was actually done, but available to everyone without giving details of how the tool or the automated technical evaluation works internally. Wilfredor (talk) 23:51, 31 May 2024 (UTC)