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Revision as of 15:58, 4 June 2006

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CheckUser

While I don't even have that right, there still may be some way that I can help RFCU. Let me know if you can think of any. Thanks.Voice-of-All 08:20, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh Good God do I have ideas!

First and foremost, I basically need two types of help, though the two may overlap: I need clerks, and I need "muscle."

• I need clerks who check over requests, cut out the extraneous information (like the 40KB discussions that occur on a lot of these checks), move completed and denied requests into the right sections, archive the page regularly, and just generally see that things keep moving. People who can remind the requester that they have a result, but haven't been back, or that there is extra info needed and hasn't been provided. Nothing controversial, just keeping things cleaned out, and answering common questions.

• I need "muscle" to act on the results. This has two forms, enforcing results and providing backup.

• Acting on results: In most cases, I'm only there to perform an investigation and give a report. Deciding what to do with the report (do we block for a month? a week? at all?) and seeing that it gets done is supposed to be done either by the admin who made the request, or another admin who has been asked to handle it (that is often done on ANI). There are cases where I go ahead and block: banned users, mass amounts of sockpuppets, etc., but I really prefer to only mix the roles of admin and checkuser when it's obvious what should be done.

• Backup: Admins to keep an eye on RfCU (and ideally, the talk pages of active checkers) to provide backup with hostile users. It is an almost daily occurence that the subjects of the checks come to RfCU or my talk page to attack and berate the person who ran the check, and to make a variety of threats, from legal to death. It would be incredibly helpful if there were people watching for this kind of thing and taking care of it, so the checkuser isn't placed in a conflict of interest.

Additionally, and more generically, it would be helpful for people to check back on thier requests regularly (I generally have them done within a couple hours when I'm online) and would take the time to do things like socktag a list of obvious sockpuppets. However, those are things the community at large has to do, rather than a subset of clerks/admins. Essjay (Talk • Connect) 08:36, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

When you say "cut out the extraneous information", do you mean that you want me to actually remove the text, or perhaps put in a cut-to the point version on a subpage somewhere? Also, would "show/hide" script be useful here (it would be easier to make for RfCU than RfA). I'll see what I can trim down and what to move (when requests are answered). I've watchlisted the page.Voice-of-All 08:57, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, first, you're going to need some help, or you'll burn out. If you have suggestions of others who can help, please try to drum them up. As for cutting it out, everything is preserved in history, it would be very helpful to just cut it entirely with a note linking to the last revision of what was cut. A show/hide script isn't really necessary; as long as requests are moved out of the top section once they are complete, there isn't much need for hiding. Essjay (Talk • Connect) 09:11, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Essjay I'd be happy to help out however I can once my exams are over in a few weeks. the wub "?!" 13:20, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Excellent! The more the merrier! Essjay (Talk • Connect) 13:21, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh and congratulations on your latest superpower! There's a bit of a discussion going on at Misplaced Pages:Village pump (policy) if you haven't seen already, you might be able to shed some light on things. the wub "?!" 13:34, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! From what I've heard, the basic gist is this: It's still being developed, it's highly experimental, it's temporary to deal with personal information until the deletion system has been overhauled, and it can only be given out by direct order from the Arbitration Committee. Essjay (Talk • Connect) 13:42, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

What I said before still stands. I would be willing to help. Prodego 14:26, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

I should start a list! Essjay (Talk • Connect) 14:27, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

And I did! Essjay (Talk • Connect) 14:40, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Of course more info is needed before we can start doing this. I am not sure how much you want "cut out", perhaps a subpage, where the request is kept the same, but the discussion (if any) is summarized? If this method were used, what would be done if a "fishing" checkuser is requested? Would that be: passed on, passed on with a note added, or rejected without a checkuser seeing it? I am sure I can think of more questions, an instruction manual would be useful. However, once you have decided what we will do, and gotten a trial run approved, I am sure this will reduce your workload. Happy editing! Prodego 18:12, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Essjay I feel your pain. I'm willing to help you with clerk-like actions. Just need guidelines/outlines on it, of course. Kevin_b_er 04:56, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

I am willing to help too (even though I am not an admin). Is there a job for non-admins to do? But, I can start helping once exam week (next week) is over. --GeorgeMoney  05:14, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to provide a couple of examples on a subpage of RfCU; I don't think it's good practice for non-checkusers to actually be denying or rejecting requests, simply keeping them clean and streamlined. I'll try to get an example set together shortly. Essjay (Talk • Connect) 06:08, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I've put together Misplaced Pages:Requests for CheckUser/Clerks/Guide to provide more explanation of what is needed from clerks. I'd like to see this go live as quickly as possible; I've set up #wikipedia-checkuser-clerks for those who use IRC, so they can ask real-time questions on what to do. If those of you who are available now would like to get started, let me know a good time and we can do a live walkthrough, either using a talk page or IRC to coordinate and answer questions. Essjay (Talk • Connect) 08:33, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

notice board

ThanksUser:Mikereichold | User_talk:Mikereichold 20:53, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

No problem. :) Essjay (Talk • Connect) 06:08, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

This is rather small

My dear S.J., you may not be aware of Bhadani, but he knows you and your work very well. The present by me is very small vis-à-vis your massive contributions and initiatives to make the Project successful, and realize the objectives of the dream of Jimbo Wales (the founder and the president of the Wikimedia Foundation) and his team. Let us continue to build Better than the Best. Regards. --Bhadani 15:16, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Why thank you so much! It always means a lot to me when people drop by to say thanks; it's doubly special, because I don't think I've ever seen that award before! I shall go and hang it in my gallery immediately! :) And congratulations on 30,000 edits! Essjay (Talk • Connect) 15:45, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

S.J., I really feel happy to receive congratulations from you. I found you unique, and so you were presented with something, which is still not in wide circulation! Regards. --Bhadani 15:58, 4 June 2006 (UTC)