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: **** http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/delete&page=Wikisl... 2. simple.wikipedia had a very biased pro-Wikislavia, anti-Wikipedia article on Wikislavia (now up for deletion): **** http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikislavia&oldid=498463 *Here's simple's Metapedia article (now up for deletion): **** http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Metapedia&oldid=498531 3. Wikislavia is now affiliated with Metapedia; here's an illuminating discussion: **** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion *More Metapedia **Metapedia's POV Wikislavia article: **** http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Wikislavia **Metapedia: **** http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Main_Page **Some sample Metapedia articles: **** http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Stormfront **** http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/White_race **** http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/White_nationalist **** 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: **** http://en.metapedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:G%C3%BCnther&diff=pr... **** http://en.metapedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:M.1712&diff=prev&... **** http://en.metapedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:M.1712&diff=6158&... 7. Yaroslav Zolotaryov's block log on ru.wikipedia: **** http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&pag... 8. SA ru's sockpuppets' block logs on ru.wikipedia: **** http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&pag... **** http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&pag... **** http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&pag...

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: **** http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Spam_blacklist&oldid=65...