 How effective is checkuser? |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ather |
 Thu 31st December 2009, 1:16pm
Post
#1
|
|
New Member  Group: Contributors Posts: 30 Joined: Tue 30th Sep 2008, 4:51pm Member No.: 8,508  |
If I wanted to run several accounts how likely is checkuser to pick me up? If I changed my IP each time I logged on how would they trap me? How long to they log IP addresses for? Do they keep a permanent record of my account creation IP? Do they record me logging on but not editing? What other info do they store and for how long? All this info is needed purely for research purposes
 |
   |
 
|
  |
Replies
| Kelly Martin |
Thu 31st December 2009, 4:47pm
Post
#2
|
|
Bring back the guttersnipes! Group: Regulars Posts: 3,270 Joined: Sun 22nd Jun 2008, 4:41am From: EN61bw Member No.: 6,696 |
It's my understanding that checkuser now also captures your browser identification string, which can be pretty distinctive. However, interpreting the data that checkuser provides requires a good deal of knowledge about how the Internet is structured, and my experience is that very few of the holders of the checkuser privilege actually have that knowledge. It's my conclusion that they're making it up as they go along, and that means expectation bias plays a large role in the outcome of any investigation.
|
|
|
|
| Krimpet |
Thu 31st December 2009, 5:34pm
Post
#3
|
 Senior Member Group: Regulars Posts: 402 Joined: Mon 16th Jul 2007, 3:44am From: Rochester, NY Member No.: 1,975 WP user page - talk check - contribs |
QUOTE(Kelly Martin @ Thu 31st December 2009, 11:47am)  It's my understanding that checkuser now also captures your browser identification string, which can be pretty distinctive. However, interpreting the data that checkuser provides requires a good deal of knowledge about how the Internet is structured, and my experience is that very few of the holders of the checkuser privilege actually have that knowledge. It's my conclusion that they're making it up as they go along, and that means expectation bias plays a large role in the outcome of any investigation. User-agent identification has been there for a pretty long time, at least since 2007. It is of course easily spoofable; some pranksters knowing they're going to be checked have left secret messages in their string for that reason. I think the average competence of the checkusers has risen considerably since they started appointing or electing non-arbs to the position - it was much worse when all of the checkusers were arbs or former arbs, since the technical know-how to read and interpret the data doesn't exactly overlap with the mediation skills the arbs are selected for. |
|
|
|
Posts in this topic
Ather How effective is checkuser? Thu 31st December 2009, 1:16pm
anthony
If I wanted to run several accounts how likely is... Thu 31st December 2009, 1:31pm
Krimpet
I wouldn't count on any information you recei... Thu 31st December 2009, 1:58pm
Premier player
I wouldn't count on any information you recei... Tue 5th January 2010, 12:54pm Peter Damian
If I wanted to run several accounts how likely is... Thu 31st December 2009, 2:28pm dogbiscuit
I looked at some of this code and it is pretty im... Thu 31st December 2009, 2:39pm Herschelkrustofsky Keep in mind that checkuser is frequently used to ... Thu 31st December 2009, 3:05pm White Knight
Keep in mind that checkuser is frequently used to... Mon 4th January 2010, 3:46pm dogbiscuit
It's my understanding that checkuser now also... Thu 31st December 2009, 5:12pm gomi ... since the technical know-how to read and inter... Thu 31st December 2009, 5:36pm Krimpet
[quote name='Krimpet' post='212801' date='Thu 31s... Thu 31st December 2009, 5:40pm anthony
For some reason Wikipedians get hyper-excited ab... Thu 31st December 2009, 6:06pm Krimpet
I can understand why they got rid of the feature ... Thu 31st December 2009, 9:12pm anthony
[quote name='anthony' post='212807' date='Thu 31s... Thu 31st December 2009, 9:59pm Ather
By the way, what's your license plate number... Thu 31st December 2009, 10:13pm CharlotteWebb
User-agent identification has been there for a pr... Thu 31st December 2009, 8:42pm gomi This site shows you in a readable way what your br... Thu 31st December 2009, 5:20pm Peter Damian
The only open question is whether they retain th... Thu 31st December 2009, 7:17pm anthony
[quote name='gomi' post='212793' date='Thu 31st D... Thu 31st December 2009, 7:28pm MZMcBride
Really? Where's the database schema? I... Thu 31st December 2009, 7:44pm anthony
Really? Where's the database schema? I... Thu 31st December 2009, 7:49pm MBisanz
[quote name='MZMcBride' post='212818' date='Thu 3... Thu 31st December 2009, 8:31pm Cock-up-over-conspiracy There are Firefox add-ons for changing your browse... Fri 1st January 2010, 3:18am taiwopanfob e) keep copies of data for far longer than 3 month... Fri 1st January 2010, 3:13pm No one of consequence
e) keep copies of data for far longer than 3 mont... Mon 4th January 2010, 12:48pm Cock-up-over-conspiracy The retention limit is indeed philosophical rather... Mon 4th January 2010, 4:22pm Limey
If I wanted to run several accounts how likely is... Thu 31st December 2009, 6:02pm Jon Awbrey The only thing you need to know about Checkuser is... Thu 31st December 2009, 6:18pm MZMcBride I wrote a guide to socking, but it was deleted fro... Thu 31st December 2009, 6:42pm Ather Hey guys, thanks for all the good advice. Some of ... Thu 31st December 2009, 7:38pm Peter Damian
I always take the opportunity to create a new soc... Fri 1st January 2010, 2:33pm Limey
Another quick thought - might a long lag time be... Thu 31st December 2009, 8:20pm Lar It's not very effective at all. Thu 31st December 2009, 9:19pm Text
Poetlister, Mantanmoreland, and whoever else
Th... Fri 1st January 2010, 1:48am MZMcBride I received an e-mail from the Arbitration Committe... Fri 1st January 2010, 7:51pm Krimpet
I received an e-mail from the Arbitration Committ... Fri 1st January 2010, 8:07pm Lar
I received an e-mail from the Arbitration Committ... Fri 1st January 2010, 9:34pm MZMcBride
[quote name='MZMcBride' post='212934' date='Fri 1... Fri 1st January 2010, 9:55pm Lar
[quote name='MZMcBride' post='212934' date='Fri ... Fri 1st January 2010, 10:48pm Kelly Martin I received an e-mail from the Arbitration Committe... Fri 1st January 2010, 10:17pm The Wales Hunter I just wish Wikipedia would bit the bullet and a) ... Fri 1st January 2010, 10:02pm Nerd
I just wish Wikipedia would bit the bullet and a)... Fri 1st January 2010, 11:01pm LessHorrid vanU
If I wanted to run several accounts how likely is... Fri 1st January 2010, 10:18pm Cock-up-over-conspiracy If you want to run several accounts to show how cl... Sat 2nd January 2010, 5:10am The Adversary In certain contentious areas, banning/blocking edi... Mon 4th January 2010, 4:56pm SB_Johnny It's hard to overstate how silly these guessin... Tue 5th January 2010, 4:22pm Somey Officially, The Wikipedia Review doesn't condo... Tue 5th January 2010, 6:37pm |
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 23rd 5 13, 5:51am |