Wikiversity:Requests for CheckUser
From Wikiversity
This page is where Wikiversity participants can make requests for CheckUser actions. See Wikiversity:CheckUser policy.
[edit] Uses of CheckUser
CheckUser actions are not performed in response to cases of routine vandalism. CheckUser actions are used to protect the Wikiversity project from persistent vandals who have repeatedly attacked Wikiversity and who are expected to attack again. Since community decisions at Wikiversity are made by consensus, sockpuppets can potentially be used to change the outcome of community decisions. Wikiversity participants should not use multiple user accounts in an attempt to shape community decisions. If there is evidence that an individual Wikiversity participant is using multiple user accounts in an attempt to shape community decisions, you can request a CheckUser action.
CheckUser actions are not used for "fishing expeditions". This includes request like "I wonder if this user has any other accounts" or "this new user's edits feel like they are made from an experienced user, let's find out who the main account is". Also, CheckUser actions must be limited to incidents related to sockpuppet abuse. No CheckUser action should be performed, for example, on a user who gets blocked for vandalizing a page in order to "fish for" and to block all his other accounts that may or may not exist.
If you detect an on-going vandalism pattern that might be combated by the use of CheckUser tools, please formulate a request that includes:
- account names (user A is a suspected sockpuppet of user B)
- concrete descriptions of abuse (A did X, Y and Z in violation of 1, 2 and 3) with diff/log links
- reasons to believe they are sockpuppets (probable cause) with diff/log links
If any of the elements (1-3, above) are missing, the request will be denied. Also, if 2 isn't a substantial violation of Wikiversity policy, the request will also be denied. Finally, if 3 doesn't meet the standard of probable cause, the request is also denied. Probable cause here means a reasonable belief that the named accounts belong to the same person based upon specific actions (e.g. similar use of language, similar modus operandi, similar user/script/css pages, involuntary disclosure, accidental edits with the wrong account).
A request can be made either on this page (below) or by e-mail to these users. If they are made by e-mail, all users with CheckUser access should agree that the accusations made and evidence provided warrant use of the tool.
Results obtained with the CheckUser tools (following an accepted request) will contain a limited amount of information. The response will only confirm or deny the accusations made. In some cases, it might not be possible to draw any firm conclusions. No IP address or address ranges will be revealed corresponding to users who only edited pages while signed in to an account (if they didn't sign on, they are releasing their IP on every edit so there's no expectation of that information be private). No "incidental results" will be made public. An example of "incidental results" would be if user A is accused of being a sockpuppet of user B and both the A and B accounts participated in a community decision (while pretending to be different people), but during the investigation it is also found that accounts C and D are sockpuppets of some other person. The reported CheckUser results will not show that user C and D are also sockpuppets if C and D did not both participate in the same discussion.
[edit] Requests
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