Trainee/clerking interest and discussion
Active requests
MarioGom
- MarioGom (talk · · contribs · global contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · user creation · block user · block log · count · total · logs · summary · email | lu · rfa · rfb · arb · rfc · lta · checkuser · spi · socks | rfar · rfc · rfcu · ssp | current rights · rights log (local) · rights log (global/meta) | rights · renames · blocks · protects · deletions · rollback · admin · logs | UHx · AfD · UtHx · )
I have been participating at SPI for some time now, especially in UPE cases. I would like to contribute as an SPI clerk, and hopefully be part of the next SPI Zero party. You can see some of my previous work in the area at Yoodaba, Sanketio31, Ugbedeg, etc. Thank you for considering my application. Best, MarioGom (talk) 07:35, 13 May 2022 (UTC)
Bonadea
- Bonadea (talk · · contribs · global contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · user creation · block user · block log · count · total · logs · summary · email | lu · rfa · rfb · arb · rfc · lta · checkuser · spi · socks | rfar · rfc · rfcu · ssp | current rights · rights log (local) · rights log (global/meta) | rights · renames · blocks · protects · deletions · rollback · admin · logs | UHx · AfD · UtHx · )
I don't know how pressing the need for more clerks is right now, but it is an area where I'd be interested in contributing more. I have created a bunch of SPI reports in the years I've been an editor, and I believe I have a fairly strong knack for evaluating behavioural evidence. Examples of reports I've created over the past year are here (the ones from 25 May, 22 Sep, 22 Dec, and 28 Dec), here, here (two reports), and here. --bonadea contributions talk 14:53, 30 June 2022 (UTC)
SPI case list moved to project space
Cross-posting this here for visibility: Wikipedia talk:Sockpuppet investigations/Archives/Archive24#SPI case list moved to project space. Mz7 (talk) 00:22, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
- For those of you who are getting 500 error in spi-tools, this is why. I'm working on an emergency deployment to fix this. -- RoySmith (talk) 01:06, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
Request
Horope (talk · contribs) is a sockpuppet of LastBreath64 (talk · contribs). Can someone merge Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Horope with Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/LastBreath64? Renat 19:43, 6 April 2022 (UTC)
- @RenatUK The best thing would be for you to file a SPI on one or another of those cases and lay out your evidence there. Thanks. -- RoySmith (talk) 20:24, 6 April 2022 (UTC)
tag-check.js vs cuStaleness.js
Those of you who run both of these scripts may have noticed that cuStaleness sometimes claims an account doesn't exist when it actually does, and a reload of the SPI page fixes the problem. Well, I finally figured out what's going on there, and I'll take the blame for breaking how cuStaleness parses the username. I'm working on a fix. -- RoySmith (talk) 16:55, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
- Fixed in Special:Diff/1082567281. -- RoySmith (talk) 22:13, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
- There are three hard problems in computer science: naming things, race conditions, and cache invalidation. Wait, let's run that again... There are three hard problems in computer science: naming things, cache invalidation, and race conditions. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she/they) 22:22, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
Bullseye down
I'm assuming it's related to the ongoing toolsdb maintenance -- RoySmith (talk) 15:15, 19 April 2022 (UTC)
Does anyone use the UserCompare reports?
This thing. The thing that's updated hourly that seems to very often not be updated hourly, and which seems to not know to remove the 1=
from template parameters.
I was thinking of adding links to spi-tools to the tool links bar in {{sock list}}, and while I'm at it was wondering if we still need that UserCompare link. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she/they) 21:26, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
- I think I once clicked on UserCompare, and quickly figured out it wasn't of any value to me. I'd put it in the category of "Historical tools for which the author is to be commended, but better things have come along since then". And I think putting spi-tools in its place would be a good thing (full disclosure: I wrote spi-tools). Before you implement anything, let's chat off-line about a way to configure whether a user wants the dev or the production instance. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:43, 25 April 2022 (UTC)
- I generally used to run it on every case but it's been useful to me once or twice over the entire workload, so not that helpful clearly. --qedk (t 愛 c) 20:45, 27 April 2022 (UTC)
Tamzin and Spicy promoted to be full clerks
The CheckUser team is pleased to announce that Tamzin (talk · contribs) and Spicy (talk · contribs) are promoted to be full SPI clerks. Congratulations, and thank you both for your dedication to SPI. Best, KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 22:07, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
- Congratulations! --Blablubbs (talk) 22:09, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
- Let me also take this opportunity to thank and congratulate Blablubbs, who has done the vast majority of the training for both Tamzin and Spicy. Blablubbs is a terrific trainer and mentor, and has the process down pat. We're very lucky to have him on the clerk team. KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 22:15, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
- Whoa, cool! Do I get my own parking space now? -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she/they) 22:09, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
- sorry those are reserved by seniority KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 22:25, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
- If you can battle with the resident LTAs for one, then perhaps. Dreamy Jazz talk to me | my contributions 23:25, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
- Congrats! Dreamy Jazz talk to me | my contributions 23:26, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
- Congrats both! Well deserved. :) firefly ( t · c ) 09:48, 8 May 2022 (UTC)
- Thanks all. Spicy (talk) 15:17, 8 May 2022 (UTC)
- Tamzin, Spicy - Congratulations to you both! :-) ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 03:17, 9 May 2022 (UTC)
- Many congratulations to you, young'uns! --qedk (t 愛 c) 15:17, 9 May 2022 (UTC)
How do I become a clerk?
I am really sorry to use this board for asking this, but I didn't find a better place to ask this. I am really interested in SPI cases, and want to help out as a SPI clerk. There is lots to do in this field. So many cases need archiving, and a lot can be done too. I know it is not possible to be a clerk so easily, but atleast I can start with the process. There are many experienced users who watch this page, and that is why I have posted it here to ask for a suggestion. Please, am I suitable enough to be one of the trainee clerks at the least? What experience should I gain to be one of the clerks here? How many days at the least is needed to gain the experience? I would be really happy if these were cleared to me. And please forgive me, if I have posted this thing at the wrong place. Yours sincerely, ItcouldbepossibleTalk 06:01, 14 May 2022 (UTC)
- Hi Itcouldbepossible: I'm not a clerk myself, but before considering applying, I'd suggest getting familiar with SPI for a (long) while. A good starting point is User:Blablubbs/How to file a good SPI as well as everything linked from User:Blablubbs/How to file a good SPI#See also. MarioGom (talk) 10:36, 14 May 2022 (UTC)
- @MarioGom Thanks for the essays that you pointed me at. I see that you have requested for being an SPI clerk, which is I am quite sure, likely to be accepted. Now tell me something. You asked for that role, not to make a fool of yourself, that is in other words, knowing that there is a high chance that your request can get accepted. So how did you prepare yourself in a manner that your request gets accepted? How did you start out with the process? Maybe these questions might be a little foolish from my part, asking about "how he can prepare himself to be an SPI clerk with 8 months of experience", but still, please try and answer these questions for I am always a little 'inquisitive' about how I can improve my position here. ItcouldbepossibleTalk 13:10, 14 May 2022 (UTC)
- The best way to get accepted as a clerk trainee is to be active at SPI, adding value to the process. Mario already pointed you to Blablubbs's excellent essay, but I'll add that when I'm looking at a case, what I'm really looking for is diffs that make the socking obvious. So what you could do is read through the oldest cases and start slogging through the contribution histories of the various accounts looking for good example. Then, present them in the case in a clear way:
- Here's account1 making a change: <link to diff>
- Here's account2 making exactly the same change after the first one was reverted: <link to diff>
- It's a lot of work to go through and find these diffs. By doing the legwork to lay this kind of evidence out clearly, you make the job of the clerks and CUs a lot easier. Do that enough and the CUs will start having conversations like, "Hey, I've seen ICBP around SPI a lot and they're doing good work, we should invite them to be a clerk trainee". -- RoySmith (talk) 14:07, 14 May 2022 (UTC)
- Here's a more specific example of what I was talking about. See Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/백돌#14 May 2022. It's full of vague (and thus, useless) descriptions like
similar vandalism to various articles
. There's a bunch of links, but they're just links to history pages, not to specific diff pairs. If somebody wanted to make the case easier to process (i.e. get noticed as a potential trainee candidate), they could add something like this to the report:Namuwiki made this edit. After that was reverted, Naziwki made exactly the same edit. Also note the edit comment in the later edit
. That would let a clerk or CU immediately zero in on the most significant evidence. This is what Show, not tell is all about. In this case, the usernames really make the connection obvious, but I just picked up this case and it made a perfect example. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:56, 14 May 2022 (UTC)- I'll also plug Wikipedia:Advice for prospective SPI clerks as worthwhile reading. GeneralNotability (talk) 15:03, 14 May 2022 (UTC)
- Thanks a lot RoySmith to be patient enough to answer this beginner's question. Your detailed explanation explains me why you are an administrator and not me. Explanations detailed as these are really difficult to frame, but yet you presented it to me in such a simple and easy way. I will keep in mind about what you said. I am quoting a part of your answer here:
So what you could do is read through the oldest cases and start slogging through the contribution histories of the various accounts looking for good example.
Could you please explain me this? What does this specific phrase actually mean "start slogging through the contribution histories of the various accounts"? Which accounts should I see the contribution histories of? How do I find the account that should be examined? Could you please expand on these points? ItcouldbepossibleTalk 15:09, 14 May 2022 (UTC)- Look at the big multi-colored chart on WP:SPI#Cases currently listed at SPI, and find the section of "Open" cases. These are the cases that people have already filed and are waiting to get worked on. Some of the cases look easy; Muhammeddhalifjr for example lays out the evidence in an easy to understand way with a nice table of easy-to-click-on diffs. On the other hand, Samirdu75 talks about filter logs, but doesn't actually link to them, so I need to go on a scavenger hunt. If you could add links directly to the filter logs, i.e [1], that would make the case that much easier for somebody to understand. -- RoySmith (talk) 17:08, 14 May 2022 (UTC)
- Hi RoySmith, I have tried helping in the Samirdu75 SPI case. Could I provide any help in the case? I understand that I am a beginner in commenting in SPI cases that are not in my area of interest. My area of interest primarily is Bengali film and TV shows and actors and actresses working in the area. I can comment on the behaviour of users who edit in these areas in a really well fashioned manner. For example, recently I opened a case against YAM, who doesn't exactly work in this area, but focuses on Indian TV, and thus made some edits to articles on Bengali TV shows, which attracted my attention. But in the Samirdu75 case, I tried my best to help as much as possible, and I will always be trying to do the same from now on. I will try and help in open SPI cases as much as possible. In this way, I will be familiarized with sockpuppets, and also get a chance to help the CUs and clerks to decide the result doing the least hard work. Sincerely, ItcouldbepossibleTalk 14:43, 15 May 2022 (UTC)
- Look at the big multi-colored chart on WP:SPI#Cases currently listed at SPI, and find the section of "Open" cases. These are the cases that people have already filed and are waiting to get worked on. Some of the cases look easy; Muhammeddhalifjr for example lays out the evidence in an easy to understand way with a nice table of easy-to-click-on diffs. On the other hand, Samirdu75 talks about filter logs, but doesn't actually link to them, so I need to go on a scavenger hunt. If you could add links directly to the filter logs, i.e [1], that would make the case that much easier for somebody to understand. -- RoySmith (talk) 17:08, 14 May 2022 (UTC)
- Here's a more specific example of what I was talking about. See Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/백돌#14 May 2022. It's full of vague (and thus, useless) descriptions like
- The best way to get accepted as a clerk trainee is to be active at SPI, adding value to the process. Mario already pointed you to Blablubbs's excellent essay, but I'll add that when I'm looking at a case, what I'm really looking for is diffs that make the socking obvious. So what you could do is read through the oldest cases and start slogging through the contribution histories of the various accounts looking for good example. Then, present them in the case in a clear way:
- @MarioGom Thanks for the essays that you pointed me at. I see that you have requested for being an SPI clerk, which is I am quite sure, likely to be accepted. Now tell me something. You asked for that role, not to make a fool of yourself, that is in other words, knowing that there is a high chance that your request can get accepted. So how did you prepare yourself in a manner that your request gets accepted? How did you start out with the process? Maybe these questions might be a little foolish from my part, asking about "how he can prepare himself to be an SPI clerk with 8 months of experience", but still, please try and answer these questions for I am always a little 'inquisitive' about how I can improve my position here. ItcouldbepossibleTalk 13:10, 14 May 2022 (UTC)