Wikibooks:CheckUsers

CheckUsers are a small group of trusted Wikibooks administrators who have access to the CheckUser tool. It allows CheckUsers to view a list of IP addresses that have been used by an account, or a list of user accounts that have been used by a given IP address or range to edit the English Wikibooks. They also have access to the CheckUser log, which logs each time a CheckUser uses their tools to view any of the information listed.

Access to the CheckUser tool is governed by the global CheckUser policy; CheckUsers must be over 18 years old and have signed the Wikimedia Foundation's confidentiality agreement for nonpublic information before this permission can be granted.

Per the global rights policy, stewards are allowed to use the CheckUser tool, even in non-emergency situations.

Use of the tool

The tool is to be used to fight vandalism, spamming, to check for sockpuppet abuse, and to limit disruption of the project. It must be used only to prevent damage to the English Wikibooks.

The tool should not be used for political control, to apply pressure on editors, or as a threat against another editor in a content dispute. There must be a valid reason to use the CheckUser tools to investigate a user.

Notification to the account that is checked is permitted but is not mandatory. Similarly, notification of the check to the community is not mandatory, but may be done subject to the provisions of the privacy policy.

Privacy policy

On the English Wikibooks, privacy policy considerations are of tremendous importance. Unless someone is violating policy with their actions (e.g. massive bot vandalism or spam) and revealing information about them is necessary to stop the disruption, it is a violation of the privacy policy to reveal their IP, whereabouts, or other information sufficient to identify them, unless they have already revealed this information themselves on the project.

IP information release

Even if the user is committing abuse, it's best not to reveal personal information if possible.

• Generally, do not reveal IPs. Only give information such as same network/not same network or similar. If detailed information is provided, make sure the person you are giving it to is a trusted person and will not reveal it himself/herself.
• If the user has said they're from somewhere and the IP confirms it, it's not releasing private information to confirm it if needed.
• If you're in any doubt, give no detail.

Temporary account information release

Similar to the above, CheckUsers should avoid connecting a temporary account to a registered account, as it has the potential to reveal private information to users who are not authorized to see it.

Access to CheckUser

Process for requesting

Administrators can request this permission at Wikibooks:Requests for permissions. The request should remain open for at least 1 week, where the community is invited to support, oppose, comment, and/or to ask questions to the candidate.

If there is consensus to grant the CheckUser permission, a user can post a request to m:Steward requests/Permissions on Meta-Wiki; after verifying that the candidate has signed the confidentiality agreement, a steward will grant the rights.

Process for removal

Any user account with CheckUser status that is inactive for more than one year will have their CheckUser access removed.

In case of abusive use of the tool, the steward or the editor with the CheckUser privilege will immediately have their access removed. This will in particular happen if checks are done routinely on editors without a serious motive to do so (links and proofs of bad behavior should be provided).

List of functionaries

There are currently 2 CheckUsers:

• MarcGarver discuss contribs
• Xania discuss contribs