Wikipedia talk:Sockpuppetry

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Update to WP:FAMILY

I assume this is non-controversial, but I've been surprised by that before so noting it here first (and already discussed briefly off-wiki with some other functionaries), I'm going to add to the end of the first paragraph of WP:FAMILY:

Alternatively, a user could declare (in confidence) this connection by emailing the Arbitration Committee. See WP:AC § Contacting the Committee for contact details. If you take this option, a non-specific note on your user page to the effect of "I share an IP with another editor, please contact ArbCom for more information" might be a good idea. Also note that none of this is carte blanche to sock, nor does it guarantee that inquisitive editors (or even checkusers) won't make connections on their own. RoySmith (talk) 17:51, 27 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

User:RoySmith, I dislike this addition, because it is not policy but advice, aka bloat. SmokeyJoe (talk) 00:02, 29 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@SmokeyJoe I suppose that's true, but then so is what was there before. This started when I was asked off-wiki by an editor who was sharing an IP what they should do to make sure they weren't accused of socking, and didn't want to publicly declare their relationship to the other editor. I knew about the "email arbcom" thing, but couldn't find where that was documented so I discussed it on the functionaries mailing list and this is what we came up with. I have no objection if you want to find a better place to put this information. RoySmith (talk) 00:26, 29 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. The whole section is advice for IP editors who want to avoid being accused of socking. It is not policy that IP editors should do any of this. The whole section amounts to advice for a concern. It’s fair advice, but not advice I would give.

I think it is far better advice to register an account. Emailing personal information to ArbCom, out of fear of discovery of that personal information, feels to me to be really bad advice. ArbCom email is a proven security risk. Email is a terrible security risk. If you have realised that you are sharing an IP with someone you know, and you don’t want this known, you should register and never edit with that IP address logged out again.

- SmokeyJoe (talk) 00:53, 29 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'll leave it to other funcs to chime in if they want, but you are correct that this is an imperfect process (and that's orthogonal to the question of whether this page is the right place for it to be documented). If there are two people on a single IP (as a real example, my wife and I) and for whatever reason a check gets done on that IP, they will look like socks to the checkuser who performed the check. The theory is that if there's a declaration on one or both user pages, that will alert the checkuser to not be so hasty with the sockhammer. Of course, there's no guarantee that the checkuser will read the user pages before blocking.

If the user(s) have registered their relationship with arbcom but not put any notification on their user pages at all, it's almost certain that the checkuser will have no clue, but at least if one or the other user appeals the block to arbcom, they'll have a record of the disclosure and the user will get unblocked. Far from perfect, but better than nothing.

BTW, T373764 covers a similar situation. If that were ever implemented, the same mechanism couldn't be used in these cases. It would be a far more useful process than emailing arbcom who then squirrels away the information someplace where it probably won't ever get looked at until it's too late. RoySmith (talk) 01:16, 29 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

On further thought, I think it is broadly bad advice and should be removed. If a checkuser is prone to discover the connection, noting that they don’t discover by fishing but by there being a reason to look, then others too are prone to discover interesting edit patterns by the single IP, and if the others are to do anything, it is to publicly ask about the suspected connection. If the IP editors think they have some protection from public discovery by having sent an email, they are badly mistaken.

If two people would prefer to not be discovered as connected, they should register and never again edit logged out. They should each register an email address so that they can be asked privately should a checkuser or anyone else want to ask a question. SmokeyJoe (talk) 02:53, 29 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]