No, it seems that verification was not formalized before. FT2 brought this up in October, and the requirement was added in:
QUOTE(FT2)
There is a good chance that any person wishing to sit for Arbcom may need to identify to WMF. Of course the majority of Arbitrators do, but at present it is not a requirement that a user will do so. I think this is unavoidable, and worth raising prior to nominations. I've raised it on arbcom-l also.
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FT2 (Talk | email) 16:31, 16 October 2008 (UTC)I guess Sam was just grandfathered in.
Incidentally, is this really important? I don't think there was a reason to out NYB, for example. On the other hand, I guess Sam is different because even the Foundation doesn't know. With his non-privileges he might be able to...learn something private on the Arb list, maybe.
I dunno. I'm just tired of outing.