2016-03-03 0:15 GMT+01:00 Andreas Kolbe jayen466@gmail.com:
I don't know Susanna, and in fact until yesterday had never heard of her. She may well be a delightful and charming person with a genuine enthusiasm for open knowledge. There are after all many encyclopedic topics that have no political sensitivity or relevance at all. But she is clearly part of a government-sponsored effort to control the Armenian Wikipedia.
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2016-03-03 0:26 GMT+01:00 Risker risker.wp@gmail.com:
Wow, Andreas. That's taking several major leaps of logic. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Any reason why you brought these rather extraordinary assumptions to this mailing list before Susanna had even had a chance to respond to your question at her nomination page?
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2016-03-03 0:33 GMT+01:00 Nathan nawrich@gmail.com:
Is there any actual connection between Susanna and the high-level government interest or effort around the Armenian Wikipedia? What I'm asking is if there is anything here, other than supposition that because she is Armenian and the Armenian government is interested in Wikipedia that Susanna must be guilty of corruption and repression by association?
Andreas,
You are making very strong and, what's worse, completely unsubstantiated accusations towards a person while admitting of not knowing her, her history and her contributions to the movement.
The only person that thinks that "she [Susanna] is clearly part of a government-sponsored effort to control the Armenian Wikipedia" is you.
As Risker already noted your reasoning contains majors leaps of logic and I find that your behavior is frankly appalling. As Nathan said you have no evidence to support anything of what you have said besides the fact that Susanna is Armenian.
The FDC reviewed in May 2015 the activities of Wikimedia Armenia in the APG 2014/2015 round 2 [1] and found all programs to be volunteer-led and well-aligned with the values and the mission of the Wikimedia movement. The FDC judged Wikimedia Armenia to be "a grassroots organization with a strong volunteer base. It is small, flexible, and able to engage with a wide range of volunteers through its projects."[2]. The evaluation of the FDC of Wikimedia Armenia was a praise (and a recommendation for full funding)[2]. Not in a single moment there was the least shred of doubt that the activities of Wikimedia Armenia could go against the values of the movement. Never there was even the remote suspicion of Wikimedia Armenia being part of the government-led "scheme" to oppress people that you are suggesting. In the occasion of the APG proposal (and besides that, at any time) there were and there are several avenues to criticize - also privately and anonymously, if one so needs or wishes - what the chapter does and what the people in the chapter do and there was not a single instance of any kind of accusation like the ones that you are making from nothing.
Your accusation are an insult to all the volunteers in Wikimedia Armenia, and I think you owe them an apology, especially to Susanna.
I want you to know that I find this behavior to be toxic and that in my opinion you are harming the people in the movement and its mission.
Cristian
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2014-2015_round2/W... [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_recommendations/2014-2015_rou...