Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SPI/Clerks

For the clerking co-ordination page, see the Clerks' Noticeboard.

The sockpuppet investigations clerks are editors whose roles are to assist the CheckUsers and to manage the day-to-day running and housekeeping tasks of SPI and sock puppetry cases.

List of clerks

The following is the list of all SPI clerks, currently active or inactive; they are listed here for ease of contact and coordination with the CheckUsers. The list of CheckUsers is located here.

Last updated by: -- DQ (ʞlɐʇ) 23:47, 14 February 2012 (UTC).

Active clerks

Admins

• Bsadowski1 (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• DeltaQuad (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• OhanaUnited (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• NativeForeigner (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• PeterSymonds (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• Shirik (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• Thehelpfulone (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email) (Trainee - Steven Zhang)
• Timotheus Canens (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)

Non-admins

• Spitfire (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• Steven Zhang (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)

Inactive clerks

Clerks who are on a period of temporary absence from clerking.

• Alexandria (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• HelloAnnyong (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• Nathan (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email)
• Sven Manguard (talk · message · contribs · count · logs · email) (Trainee - DeltaQuad)

Clerks

SPI Clerks are selected by the current clerk membership and must gain consensus among those. A clerk must first have been a clerk trainee and have been recommended by a current clerk to the CheckUsers. They ensure the smooth operation of the SPI page and perform the following tasks:

• Flagging CheckUser requests, either independently or by request from other users;
• Assisting with housekeeping tasks, including archiving, merging and formatting of cases;
• Ensuring that proper evidence is provided for CheckUser requests and requesting such evidence when it is not provided;
• Assisting with non-private, operational aspects of cases, as needed;

Any user can request CheckUser, and the SPI clerks' main job is to determine whether or not CheckUser is necessary on flagged requests by endorsing them or referring them back to traditional means (i.e. the community for normal administrative (non)action) for resolution. This is done so as not to waste the CheckUsers' time on requests that are not valid, as the time for a CheckUser to investigate any SPI case can range from a couple of minutes to several hours and even longer.

Note that CheckUser requests do not need to be endorsed in order to be run; ultimate discretion remains solely with the CheckUsers.

SPI clerks have the following qualities:

• They are users who are in good standing within the community, and are experienced with Wikipedia.
• They have a good working knowledge of Wikipedia policy, especially in the area of sock puppetry and in situations that need CheckUser assistance.
• They are trusted by the CheckUsers in their knowledge and judgment, and the CheckUsers should not feel that they must continually check over their work. Clerks who persistently make problematic comments on requests or otherwise violate decorum may be asked by the CheckUsers to cease contributing here.

Finally, SPI clerks do not:

• Have any special authority over the general community; their actions can be overturned by the community or by any CheckUser;
• Have any special status or any immunity with regard to consensus or other policies;
• Have access to private information.

Trainee clerks

Anyone may request to become a trainee clerk on this page's discussion page. Users in good standing may ask any current clerk (who will serve as the trainee's coach) to be a trainee clerk. Please keep in mind that new SPI clerks are selected on an as needed basis; it is not unreasonable that clerk nominees who are otherwise knowledgeable and in good standing be turned down.

Trainee clerks perform all the duties of regular SPI clerks, except do any duties other than is mutually agreed by the trainer and trainee; also, they may not "train" a trainee.

Admin patrollers

Please note that it is still ultimately the role of administrators to determine sock puppetry and take any administrative actions if needed. However, only SPI clerks (admin or non-admin) may perform "clerk" actions; administrators are not clerks by default.

Please see Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SPI/Administrators instructions for general instructions for administrators on how to handle sock puppets and deal with SPI cases.

IRC channel

There is a public IRC channel #wikipedia-en-spi (direct link) for coordination among clerks and other users. If you have a question for the clerks feel free to ask it there.

Historical note

Prior to the present clerking system being implemented, a team of appointed clerks performed these functions. A table of editors who served as clerks under the old system is kept for historical interests at Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Clerks/Table. The current system is similar but is not built with a command structure.