I speak neither Russian nor "Siberian". I avoided the
ru-sib.wikipedia controversy until the last week.
Then, as a regular on [[Talk:Spam blacklist]], I got
involved with the controversy over links to
"Wikislavia" (
http://ru.volgota.com), a project
sponsored by the backers of
ru-sib.wikipedia.org. What
I found was ugly:
1. Wikislavia's article was deleted 4 times on
en.wikipedia after being constantly spammed there:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/delete&page=Wikis…
2. simple.wikipedia had a very biased pro-Wikislavia,
anti-Wikipedia article on Wikislavia (now up for
deletion):
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http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikislavia&oldid=498463
*Here's simple's Metapedia article (now up for
deletion):
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http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Metapedia&oldid=498531
3. Wikislavia is now affiliated with Metapedia; here's
an illuminating discussion:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion
*More Metapedia
**Metapedia's POV Wikislavia article:
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http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Wikislavia
**Metapedia:
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http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
**Some sample Metapedia articles:
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http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Stormfront
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http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/White_race
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http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/White_nationalist
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http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
4. Wikislavia is reportedly violating Wikipedia's GFDL
license according to the Talk:Spam blacklist
discussion
5. Eventually 13 of ru.wikipedia's 68 admins weighed
into support continued Wikislavia blacklisting.
6. See these attacks made on Metapedia by Yaroslav
Zolotaryov (a.k.a. Yaroslav Zolotaryov ) on Metapedia:
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http://en.metapedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Günther&diff=prev&a…
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http://en.metapedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:M.1712&diff=prev&am…
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http://en.metapedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:M.1712&diff=6158&am…
7. Yaroslav Zolotaryov's block log on ru.wikipedia:
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http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&pa…
8. SA ru's sockpuppets' block logs on ru.wikipedia:
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http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&pa…
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http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&pa…
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http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&pa…
Beyond the illegitimacy of "Siberian" as any sort of
accepted language (constructed or otherwise), the
above encounters with key players from
ru-sib.wikipedia lead me to worry that the Foundation
may just be hosting a big soapbox with that Wikipedia
-- which in my mind is worse than no Wikipedia at all.
I think the common sense approach to take is to close
ru-sib.wikipedia.org, wish its contributors farewell
and give them 30 days to take that GFDL content where
they will before the Foundation ceases to host the
content.
P.S. Here's the full, tedious Wikislavia discussion
just prior to archiving:
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http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Spam_blacklist&oldid=6…