Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/CheckUser and Oversight/2018 CUOS appointments/CU

Ivanvector (CU)

Ivanvector (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Nomination statement

Hello Wikipedians! I'm Ivanvector, and I'm applying for the checkuser permission. I have been a sockpuppet investigations clerk for two years and an administrator almost as long. I'm seeking access to checkuser obviously to aid in my SPI work – although there is not often a backlog in requests awaiting checkuser these days, there is a persistent backlog of “open” cases which often require checkuser attention in the course of investigation. As a clerk I endorse or request (self-endorse) checkuser probably about 10-20 times a week, and I’m keenly familiar with what checkusers can and cannot do from many interactions with the team. We also have a significant backlog of users interested in clerk training, which I would like to help with. Aside from SPI, I have experience in networking and technicalities of the internet from working with networked computers throughout my professional life as well as deploying home and small office networks. I’m familiar with both IPv4 and IPv6 subnet masking, and I’m currently one of 24 administrators listed in the “willing to make range blocks” category. Professionally, I work in accounting and finance, especially in payroll and benefits administration, which involves handling individuals’ very sensitive confidential information such as banking information, details of health issues, and immigration matters. I am very well-versed in handling and protecting such information, including tactful and respectful ways to decline requests for access. I look forward to your questions and comments.

Standard questions for all candidates

1. Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.

   As mentioned in my nomination statement, I have been a sockpuppet investigations clerk fully for just over two years (June 2016, training started December 2015) and an administrator almost as long (December 2016). I already regularly interact with many of the current checkusers both on- and off-wiki, and I'm familiar with the sort of information that can be gleaned from the tool, as well as (vaguely) how checkusers publish their results on the public wiki and what the various CU tags mean. I'm fairly consistently active at SPI and also frequently comment on issues related to the [ab]use of multiple accounts in many areas of project space.

2. Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.

   Professionally, I am an accountant and currently also payroll and benefits administrator for a medium-sized tech-driven manufacturer. I regularly handle confidential private and sensitive employee information in the course of my work. I'm also familiar with IPv4 networks and network address translation from years of home and occasional professional network maintenance, large IT projects and software deployment, and I have some working knowledge of IPv6 through my work in SPI.

3. Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?

   I do not. I have never applied for nor held any of these permissions on any wiki, nor OTRS.

Comments

Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.

• Oppose There numerous issues which I would prefer detailing by naming only two cases that involved you as an SPI clerk:-

• NadirAli: You noted in his block notice that he was blocked because he was "editing from alternate accounts and while logged out".[1] Block log entry made by you says "using multiple accounts and editing while logged out".[2] You blocked this long term sockmaster for only 3 months when standard duration is indef block.

• You significantly changed your statement when site ban was proposed on WP:AN. You claimed that "accounts are blocked for being sockpuppets of each other, not for being sockpuppets of NadirAli."[3] You were reminded of your own statements on WP:AN along with new evidences that how these accounts are socks of NadirAli[4][5] however your replies were unconvincing[6][7] and couldn't change your earlier rational that NadirAli had "evidently created sockpuppet accounts in violation of an Arbcom-imposed unblock condition".[8] The user was sitebanned in the same thread for reasons that included sock puppetry.

• StLouis2: This user was reported as a sock on Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/StLouis2/Archive and you clerked in his this case even though you were involved in content dispute with the reporting editor (Masterpha2) as well as the suspect (StLouis2).[9][10]

• CU stated that StLouis2 is abusing proxies and "I was almost tempted to block the account for looking so suspicious."[11] However you acquitted the suspects[12] and this was contrary to the behavioral evidence provided by multiple editors as well as the policy on open proxies that the account should be blocked if they are found abusing proxies to circumvent policy. This account was later given a {{checkuserblock-account}} block by Courcelles for sock puppetry, following an ANI report.[13][14]

These examples show that you have been evaluating technical evidence or behavioral evidence only when it suits you in place of evaluating them on their merits. I can in fact substantiate more examples but above two are clearly enough for establishing that you are not qualified for CU permission. Lorstaking (talk) 04:29, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

• Support I disagree with the above comments and think that Ivanvector adheres strongly to the good principle of "talk before you block". I also found his comments around the block of Nauriya to be helpful and constructive, attempting to see all sides of the debate. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 10:34, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

• @Ritchie333: Are you sure? Ivanvector didn't talk Saqib before he blocked him for a week.[15] I am not certainly raising issue with it but it was contrary to "talk before you block". In Nauriya's case, Ivanvector first claimed that Nauriya was found "unrelated" to Faizanali.007,[16] though later struck his comments after I pointed it on his talk page that Nauriya had admitted Faizanli.007 to be his own account.[17][18] Next day Ivanvector claimed that Nauriya has not socked "since 2013",[19] contrary to the fact that Nauriya was evading his block for years. Numerous others including an uninvolved admin also disagreed with Ivanvector and verified that block evasion is sock puppetry.[20] We cannot say this was a misunderstanding because block evaders have been already treated as socks and recently another editor was blocked by multiple admins for engaging in similar block evasion for years.[21][22] Including this one, my above comment has described some other serious problems such as not taking action against a proxy abuser and changing own statements about sock puppetry of a long term sock abuser. Lorstaking (talk) 11:43, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

• Support Mostly, per Ritchie. To add, my assessment of Ivan's past administrative actions have painted a picture of a thoroughly careful editor, who takes their time to assess the situation and act judiciously. I'm not sure why Ivan's decided to not answer the standard questions discretely, but notice that most of the responses are written within the nomination statement. All well, in my opinion, Lourdes 11:35, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

A matter of timing. I had already put my laptop away for the night when the page went live, and didn't see the email about it until this morning. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 12:17, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

• Support Thoughtful admin with sound judgement. Extensive experience in SPI clerking is also a plus. –Ammarpad (talk) 13:34, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

SQL (CU)

SQL (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Nomination statement

Hi, I’m SQL. I’ve been an Administrator since 2007, and I am applying for Checkuser. I’m the developer of tools such as ISP Rangefinder, IPCheck, IPRange, and the original developer behind ACC, as well as an early usercompare tool on the old toolserver.

I am a regular at CAT:RFU, UTRS, and one of the primary patrolling admins at WP:OPP. I would primarily use the tool at UTRS, and in reviewing unblocks on-wiki.

Standard questions for all candidates

1. Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.

   In addition to the tools I've written mentioned above, I'm probably the most active admin at WP:OPP, and have a lot of experience testing / blocking proxies / webhosts. I'm also active at UTRS, and in reviewing unblocks on-wiki.

2. Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.

   In the past I've worked in varying tiers doing cable internet tech support, as well as NOC / internal support.

3. Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?

   No

Questions for this candidate

• Earlier this year, you were involved in a discussion about Whaledad, a Dutch Wikipedia CU. While I do not dispute that Whaledad made a mistake, you called him a "clown". Do you think this will affect your ability to collaborate with CheckUsers from other wikis, even those you disagree with, while representing the English Wikipedia? --Rschen7754 03:11, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Comments

Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.

• Clear technical competence. Thoughtful and collaborative. I believe he'll be a good addition to the CheckUser team. –Ammarpad (talk) 05:10, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Support No concern Hhkohh (talk) 05:14, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose I am concerned about this discussion where you had an argument with Laser brain about whether it was appropriate to turn Ihardlythinkso's talk page access off after being blocked. The discussion got very heated and in my opinion you dug your heels in unnecessarily, advising Laser brain not to wheel war (when he would not be doing so by simply reversing your action after consensus) and later saying "But hey, let's not let facts get in the way of a good story, right?" This leads me to think you will checkuser block people liberally and be unwilling to consider appeals. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 10:11, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. This editor is obviously technically competent but my one interaction with them was unimpressive. At this thread, they removed an editor's TPA while Serial_Number_54129 and I were in the middle of challenging the basis for the request. Per WP:ADMINACCT, SQL was unable to provide a policy basis for their action other than saying it's the "norm" or suggesting such actions are discretionary (they are not). SQL went on to falsely menace me about wheel-warring. When I suggested I would undo the action if there was no policy basis for it, SQL suggested I would be wheel-warring. This is not correct. In addition to resisting challenges to their admin actions, I believe SQL is representative of a generally poor trend of shoot-first-ask-questions-later in our admin corps, and should not gain additional rights. --Laser brain (talk) 13:23, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Stwalkerster (CU)

Stwalkerster (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Nomination statement

I would like to respectfully nominate myself for an open CheckUser position. I've been an admin for a decade, and while I'm not active around SPI itself, I have been involved in a few recent sockpuppetry cases (Imeghana17, Realmissvoodoo), and I am fairly active around ACC (since around June 2007), and I'm also on IRC. I am acutely aware that the CheckUser queue within the ACC tool has been fairly backlogged for quite some time, and there are simply not enough CheckUsers who look in on ACC. As a software developer, I have the technical background necessary to use the CU tool, and as one of the primary developers of the ACC tool, I'm also acutely aware of the privacy policy and both what it requires and what is generally good practice in addition.

Standard questions for all candidates

1. Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.

   I have been the primary developer of the WP:ACC tool for many years (after taking over from SQL), and involved with ACC before the current tool was originally written. I've also been an admin here for a decade.

2. Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.

   I'm a software developer by trade, having done a fair amount of network-capable application development. As such, I'm familiar with the HTTP protocol and the various headers which come with it including User-Agent and X-Forwarded-For. I'm also familiar with IP addressing, CIDR prefixes, etc as a result of sysadmin work I've done.

3. Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?

   I do not hold advanced permissions anywhere of note (On testwiki I hold +crat). I do not currently have access to OTRS; I formerly had access to info-en a number of years ago.

Comments

Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.

• Support Although they have been almost dead in their recent overall participation in community issues (or I may be absolutely wrong in this assessment), the editor has handled private information for innumerable years and presumably subscribes to or is the primary author of the zero tolerance philosophy for mistakes at ACC. No issues. Lourdes 11:24, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

TonyBallioni (CU)

TonyBallioni (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Nomination statement

Hi, I'm Tony. I've been an admin for about a year now, and I'm applying for CheckUser because I think I have experience in several areas that would be beneficial to the CheckUser team. In terms of how this tool would be useful to me: I have pretty broad experience with SPI, COIN/UPE work, UTRS, and several LTAs where SPI doesn't work as well so it requires private coordination with CheckUsers. I'm also involved across the Wikimedia movement as a global renamer, and in the past, I have worked pretty closely with sysops, CheckUsers, and stewards from other projects to combat cross-wiki socking and LTAs from various language groups, and having the CheckUser tool would be helpful in dealing with cross-wiki issues on large a project that many en.wiki users aren't as familiar with.

In terms of what I bring to the table: I've been one of the more active admins at SPI in the last year, and I am behaviorally familiar with many UPE farms and LTAs, and because of my work at COIN, I also am aware of the privacy guidelines in many of these difficult cases and am familiar with the guidelines for when running a CheckUser would be appropriate. I'm familiar with range blocks and with VPNs/open proxies, and feel I would be competent to operate the technical aspects of the CheckUser tool and would be able to learn anything that I'm not initially familiar with.

Standard questions for all candidates

1. Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.

   As I noted in my nomination, I've been pretty active at SPI in the past year, and I typically handle a wide variety of cases there: from the undeclared paid editing farms to you more conventional vandals and POV-pushers. I also have experience dealing with several LTA cases where it's normal just to go to a CheckUser directly or block if it is a DUCK case. One of the other areas I hope to work in if appointed a CheckUser is unblocks and in particular UTRS. I'm fairly active in the UTRS system, and there can often be a delay in processing those CU requests. TonyBallioni (talk) 00:39, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

2. Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.

   My background is in a sales-related industry which is part of the reason that I've been so involved in working on undeclared paid advertising front: I'm normally good at spotting it and also pretty good at telling when something is more of a good faith fan of something than an advertiser. Because there are a lot of these types of cases at SPI/WP:COIN and being handled by individual CheckUsers, I think this experience would be an asset to the CheckUser team from a behavioral standpoint. TonyBallioni (talk) 00:39, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

3. Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?

   I'm a global renamer and also an OTRS member. I'm less active on OTRS than I used to be, but I have access to info-en and several of its subfeeds, including the quality one, as well as the permissions feed. TonyBallioni (talk) 00:39, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Questions for this candidate

• CheckUsers are often requested to cooperate with CheckUsers from other wikis as well as with stewards. While understandably you were upset over being accidentally blocked for being a spambot on nlwikiquote, you asked him to resign and threatened to get WMF involved. Later, you gave a reply to a steward that was in my opinion, dismissive and confrontational. Do you think this will affect your ability to collaborate with CheckUsers from other wikis or stewards, even those you disagree with? --Rschen7754 04:04, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
  • Hi, Rschen7754, I was actually was anticipating this question, and I'm happy to have the opportunity to address it. First, re: Whaledad, I was particularly mad there as it was apparent that he had blocked without even looking on the user page, he had issued no notification, and had cut off all avenues of appeal. For those who aren't aware, a global renamer being blocked on a project has the potential to cause technical glitches, and when I'd looked at his block log, this appeared to be the norm for him for other accounts, and I considered that not to be appropriate as an admin on a Wikimedia project. I discussed it with Trijnstel, who a steward who is a native Dutch speaker, and without revealing too much of our conversation, she told me that I should raise the issue with the Dutch ArbCom, I did. They disagreed and said some of the things that I had been told were true were not: I'm not a Dutch speaker and am not involved with the issues on that Wiki, so I was just glad they heard me. I've moved on: the local process played out, and I'm respectful of it.
    Re Matiia: while I 100% agree with you that many en users give a bad taste to others, I think it's also important to note that the respect needs to go both ways. I've had interactions with him in the past that caused me to read that statement as him trying to influence a local process on a project I have personally gotten the impression he isn't that fond of and without knowing many of the reasons why we do it the way we do. I don't think that is appropriate for a steward, especially at a discussion that is supposed to be about individual suitability for the role, which is why I spoke up. Looking back, I should have waited and commented more on these issues at the steward confirmations, because my commenting further distracted the discussion from being about 331dot and also wasn't fair to Matiia since he was honestly speaking his mind, and it shouldn't have been a forum where he might have had to be on the defense.
    As a whole, I think I have pretty good relations with the steward team. I have worked very closely with Alaa in the past on multiple cross-wiki socking issues between en.wiki and ar.wiki and helping with that is one of the areas that I do hope to further contribute. Speaking on a personal level, he's probably the single Wikimedian I trust most on any project, and I wish more admins on this project had stronger ties with users in other language groups, because I think it would be very enriching to the entire movement.
    I consider myself part of the global Wikimedia movement, and am very proud of my place in it, and am very respectful of the difference between different projects, having friends on many different home wikis. As a member of that global community, I will raise my voice when I have a concern, and I can be blunt when I think there is an issue, sometimes to a fault, but in the end, we are all here with the same goal in mind, and working for more interproject cooperation is a necessity and I strive for it whenever possible and would do the same as a CU, and to answer more directly your question: I'm willing to work with anyone to better any project, even if I disagree with them very strongly. I'm sorry to you and to others for the long reply, but I wanted to address it thoroughly because this is something that I care quite a lot about and I think it deserved a full explanation. TonyBallioni (talk) 04:15, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Tony, you only succeeded your RfA last year, why did you apply for CU now? Hhkohh (talk) 05:10, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
  • I'd been encouraged by several users I respect to put my name forward. I also feel that I'm familiar enough with a lot of the sock farms and LTAs that we deal with regularly that I could be net-positive to the CU team. TonyBallioni (talk) 05:16, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Comments

Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.

• Support – TonyBallioni is one of those administrators whose judgment I trust instinctively. Although he is not always right (no one is always right), what he has to say will always make you think very carefully about your own position on the matter. As for the checkuser tool specifically, Tony would be a clear net positive. He's got a really good eye for the behavior patterns of a number of our LTAs, he can almost always be found in the IRC channel #wikipedia-en-admins, and he has a broad range of experience as an administrator at SPI. Finally, TonyBallioni is one of the most personable administrators I've had the pleasure to interact with on Wikipedia. I think the checkuser team will find that he'll be one of their most cherished colleagues. Mz7 (talk) 01:24, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Support. I have had several interactions with Tony on a number of different issues. I haven't always agreed with him, but I have always found him reasonable and collaborative. Also, his knowledge of policy is as good as that of anyone I know. No hesitation here: if he's willing to do some of the messiest but most necessary work on Wikipedia, let him have at it. Vanamonde (talk) 04:21, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Support – While I would have perhaps preferred Tony to run for the arbcom, given his wide contributions and the perceivable trust the community holds in him, this is a bit that, given to him, would benefit the project significantly. Lourdes 11:21, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Support - I've interacted with Tony in many project areas including SPI, and have always found him to be insightful and careful, but always willing to tackle difficult situations. No concerns. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 12:22, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Support — Not a jerk, has a clue — pythoncoder  (talk | contribs) 12:27, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Support Although Tony is a young admin, but I am confident that Tony will not abuse this tool Hhkohh (talk) 12:31, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose Tony has performed a number of blocks that I found to be quite bad, jumped into AE quickly after saying he was not interested in working there, and has caused at least one long standing contributor to leave the project. Mr Ernie (talk) 12:38, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose: Now, I am certain TonyBallioni will receive both CU and OS, as they are fully qualified in terms of temperament, skillset and experience; under normal circumstances I would see no reason to oppose; however, with the feeling that community feedback receives relatively few weight when it comes to the final decision, I would like to voice my dissent based on two minor concerns that are more philosophical than practical.
  I also find the candidate's comment at Meta to be dismissive and confrontational; and I find the explanation here to be less than satisfactory: telling Matiia, who raised a legitimate concern, that they should probably not comment on the processes for a project that they aren't familiar with, because of your own established opinion towards their suitability as steward not completely relating to the request, does not exactly reflect the sentiment of being part of the global Wikimedia movement, in my opinion. This is not about whether or not one usually works well with the steward team; to me this is more about how this very example can be reflective on what enwiki administrators probably should not do when interacting with editors from other projects, for the very reasons that have already been stated.
  Moving on to the second concern: I don't really have any problem with an candidate saying that they are not interested in working at AE, and then become one of the more active administrators working in that area. Our interests can change, and that is perfectly fine and should be applauded. What I am slightly concerned about is the incremental shift in mindset from the candidate ever since they became an administrator in October 2017. Perhaps this is the natural consequence of being one of the more active administrators overall for the past year, but I find the increasing amount of bureaucratic tone of voice to be counter-productive; the functionaries team needs to be better connected with the community, and I don't see the need for another member that could be perceived as authoritative and inflexible. TL;DR: My main fear is that the candidate would step further away from the community if they become a member of the functionaries team, based on my observation on the pattern of their adminship and subsequent work. Alex Shih (talk) 13:50, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Oshwah (CU)

Oshwah (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Nomination statement

I am applying for the CheckUser and Oversight permissions to extend my participation with Wikipedia in order to protect the privacy of users and put a stop to disruption. I'll be available to help with processing requests that I see go unanswered on IRC, as well as help with the backlog at SPI and ACC. I've been an administrator for two years, and have been consistently active and available to help with requests as well as urgent matters on IRC and other communication methods. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask and I'll be happy to answer them.

Standard questions for all candidates

1. Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.

   My time has been mostly spent in recent changes patrolling and attempting to mentor and help new users on Wikipedia. I patrol recent changes and revert vandalism, respond to instances of long-term abuse, username violations, blatant sock puppetry, page protection requests, and (occasionally) AFD, AN3, and ANI. I'm also an ACC Tool Administrator on WP:ACC, and assist with processing account creation requests, as well as helping tool users with difficult or complex cases. I'm also an SPI clerk in training with DOrD and should hopefully be finished with the training soon - so far, I feel that it has gone very well and the processes and additional responsibilities that come with being an SPI clerk don't seem very difficult. I'm also highly active on IRC and I respond to requests for assistance and input from other users, and I respond to emergencies such as LTA activity, threats, blocking requests, revision deletion requests, and I make sure that the proper functionaries and channels are notified immediately depending on the issue.

2. Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.

   My user page explains the extent of my background in a nutshell - I've grown up around computers and my IT-related experience goes very far back. I performed computer and network administration throughout my youth while in school, and held jobs in IT-related areas ever since. I have a BS in Computer Software Engineering Technology and a Minor in Applied Mathematics. I have extensive IPv4 and IPv6 experience that I actively use during my daily tasks at my current job, including networking, traffic routing, VPN, encryption, and security. I also have basic and advanced certification with Dell SonicWall firewalls and have written packet sniffing, ARP, and ICMP software GUIs and tools completely by myself using C++, Win32, and the WinPcap library.

3. Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?

   I am an active ACC tool administrator. I don't have OTRS permissions, but that of course can change no problem if this is an issue.

Questions for this candidate

• I guess I'll ask about the elephant in the room. Last year, you applied for both CU and OS, but were not granted the rights. What has changed about your application this year? (A few disclosures: sometimes unsuccessful candidates are not given specifics as to why their application was not successful, sometimes the outcomes of public votes differ from ArbCom appointment processes, and there has been no successful candidate for the exact same rights who has failed a previous ArbCom appointment process).

I believe that I've had time to grow into my role as an Administrator since the last application period. At the time, I was a new Administrator and I believe that this was the reason I was not granted the rights. I believe that since then, I've had time to mature and grow into the role and hence my judgment and use of the tools has more of a track record to be looked into.

• • Specifically for this right: why did you apply before completing your SPI clerk trainee period? --Rschen7754 02:58, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

I applied for the user rights in order to further my ability to assist with stopping sock puppetry, LTA activity, and disruption to the project. Many CUs were not clerks before they were appointed for the role; I consider it something that helps with overall experience.

Comments

Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-clists.wikimedia.org. Please note that the candidate will be provided the opportunity to respond to a paraphrased version of any emailed comments; the sender's name will not be provided.

• Oppose I hope you can complete SPI clerk training first before you gain CU right Hhkohh (talk) 05:15, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

  @Hhkohh: But most of our best checkusers were not SPI clerks before becoming checkusers. Why should this be necessary for Oshwah specifically? In fact, Ivanvector is the only candidate on this page who is a full SPI clerk; just being a trainee with sysop rights already puts Oshwah ahead of the pack. Oshwah clearly has administrative experience working at SPI, which I think you should take into consideration. Mz7 (talk) 07:51, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

  I think he should gain more experience during training, I hope he can finish his SPI training as early as possible. If he reapplies after training, I think he will be an excellent Checkuser Hhkohh (talk) 10:30, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose I'm still not happy with Oshwah's "block first and ask questions later" attitude. I appreciate he does everything in good faith, but I think he needs to be dissuaded as far away as anything that could even be considered hat collecting as much as is possible. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 10:01, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Support Anyone who contributes to the extent Oshwah has done and does, and anyone who can be the first (and perhaps only) administrator to reject my report at AIV, has his eyes placed wide open and is utmost trustworthy. All ok in my book. Lourdes 11:26, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per Ritchie333 and per a few aggressive NLT blocks before discussion. Mr Ernie (talk) 12:43, 18 September 2018 (UTC)