Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2022-03-27/Disinformation report


 * Thank you for this tremendous masterpiece! May I also provide a link: Government of Tatarstan paying for editing (Wikipedia Signpost 1 November 2020). --ssr (talk) 15:38, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
 * For those who read Russian, an additional link. --ssr (talk) 15:47, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the kind words, I like the 2017 article and the previous one. Send me an email when you have some time! Smallbones( smalltalk ) 17:53, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I've sent an email to the address I was writing to you before! =) --ssr (talk) 19:13, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
 * From February 2008 through April 2001 a firm controlled by Usmanov was the largest shareholder of Arsenal F.C. - something is wrong here.--Nicoljaus (talk) 16:30, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
 * It should have said through 2011; thanks, it's been fixed. ☆ Bri (talk) 17:45, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Good catch, I've corrected it to August 2007 - April 2011. Thanks Smallbones( smalltalk ) 17:47, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
 * The Fridman entry links Greece-based Alpha Bank instead of Russia-based Alfa-Bank. Worse still, Khan's entry connects him with Alpha Group, a FSB special unit, rather than (presumably) Alfa Group. Granted, our articles may need some moving around, as they too heavily rely on WP:SMALLDETAILS. No such user (talk) 09:11, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Already fixed by, many thanks to him! --ssr (talk) 12:10, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * The tone of surprise in "Some may even appear to be working against the oligarch's interest" is surely unjustified. Many, many people don't like "oligarchs", and where they own sports clubs, especially English football clubs, there's a whole new dimension... Johnbod (talk) 12:59, 29 March 2022 (UTC}
 * I don't think that experienced editors will be surprised that oligarchs, or indeed any billionaires, would have editors who dislike them, who might even put unfair edits into articles about them. But this was to underline this to inexperienced editors, or to non-Wikipedians who might be interested in this article. I am a bit surprised however that they would take it to the level of sockpuppeting, or even to socking by undeclared paid editing. The editors mentioned here (other than SmartSE and Doc James) have been indefinite;y blocked (or worse) for sockpuppeting or UPE, so this is at a different level than somebody just not liking them or "accidental socking".
 * You are absolutely right that owning a famous sports franchise opens a new can of worms, and will confuse things. Sports fans might be especially prone to bad behavior (e.g. tearing down goal posts) in the name of having fun. This discussion might ultimately lead to the phenomena of Sportswashing, which IIRC is about bigshots buying sports teams to give themselves the aura of "civic leaders". I guess there's a downside to that. That likely accounts for *some* of the socking at R. Abramovich. Maybe it's time to write a Signpost article on sportswashing. Smallbones( smalltalk )
 * The photo of Abramovitch used in the Signpost article is from 2008... his Wikipedia article is now using this one ca. 2021 — worth  here, too? FeRDNYC (talk) 14:21, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * (I thought he looked awfully young to be a post-Yeltsin Brollionaire... And it turns out I was right, since in that photo he was only 42. If he was currently age 42, he'd have been only 14 or 15 when he amassed the bulk of his wealth!) FeRDNYC (talk) 14:29, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I really disliked the 2021 photo - and there weren't many alternatives. It's obviously highly posed, and it looks like he's trying to appear as a professor or maybe a literary critic. In short it looks like propaganda or "sportswahing" to me. Smallbones( smalltalk ) 17:05, 29 March 2022 (UTC)


 * Thank you. Now do the American oligarchs, such as the Kochs, who have had a troubling relationship with Wikipedia articles and editors since at least 2015. Viriditas (talk) 00:30, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Sure we'll try to do more Americans, but you can start of with these articles
 * How billionaires rewrite Wikipedia *about 3 billionaires, Nov. 2020
 * A "billionaire battle" on Wikipedia: Sex, lies, and video Feb. 2021,
 * Jeffrey Epstein wasn't really a billionaire but he kinda fits in "I have been asked by Jeffrey Epstein …", March 2020.
 * I haven't looked at the Kochs yet. but here's the usual way it works: almost every month in the newspapers there will be about 10 people noted for really behaving badly, quite often they are rich. Check their article, talk page,and first edit. Find the socks in the edit history. There should be about 3 who could be a story. It's a lot of work, but there should be at least one really good story. So wait until the Kochs - or your favorite billionaires - get in the papers for behaving badly, then send me an email reminder. Thanks. Smallbones( smalltalk ) 02:53, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

"Russian oligarchs" equal "Russian robber barons"

 * They include some of the richest people in the world who acquired their riches with the support of Putin's regime and in turn have supported Putin and his policies.. May be there are some. But most of Russian "oligarchs" acquired their reaches by robbing the Russian people after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Loew Galitz (talk) 02:05, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
 * His investments have been in the oil, gas, and financial industries. - And what did he invest, may I ask? The correct say would be "He robbed Russian people of oil and gas industries and invested the acquired reaches into banking". Loew Galitz (talk) 02:05, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Or course, someone had to privatize all these owner-less riches in one way or another and unfortunately there were no better ways. But let's not forget how all this started in Russia and that there virtually not a single Russian oligarch without a skeleton or two in their cupboard. Loew Galitz (talk) 02:05, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Excellent reporting, thank you! --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 10:04, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Error

 * Because user:Russavia was an admin on Wikimedia Commons, but not on English Wikipedia, I have deleted the paragraph that expressed how concerning it was that Russavia had been an admin on English Wikipedia. DS (talk) 15:25, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

Mentions in media
François Robere (talk) 11:59, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
 * also in English now. Haaretz --JéRRy.雨雨.talk.hk 17:07, 12 May 2022 (UTC)