User:BadaBoom/sandbox

Administrators abuse in Russian WP

OneLittleMouse

February 11, 2013 Russian WP administrator OneLittleMouse blocked me. No warning, no explanation, no diffs, nothing. The only explanation was the diff descrption "Abuse of User talk page". This violates Russian WP blocking policy, which demands that administrators state clear reasons for blocking and give direct links to the rules which were violated.

The rule also says that blocking shouldn't be revenge or retaliation. In this case, however, OneLittleMouse saw that my case was being processed by another administrator and we were in the middle of a conversation to find mutually acceptable terms. OneLittleMouse simply shut me up and deprived me of the opportunity to mend my ways and correct whatever mistakes were made.

Judging by this ("OneLittleMouse regrets user Leo711 was unblocked prematurely"), OneLittleMouse has some personal issues with me. Last time he blocked me TWO MINUTES after a complaint was filed, despite the blocking policy demanding to discuss blocking users with significant contributions or large experience in Wikipedia. Was I doing something so disruptive that it required immediate actions? Well, I asked a newbie to read the rules - that called for a two-weeks long block from OneLittleMouse.

Why so long? He uses what is called "progressive blocking", which means every time you violate a rule, however small the violation is, your block period is doubled. If you look at my block log, you will see the proof of that.

Alex Smotrov

Alex Smotrov is the most notorious administrator in Russian WP. His notoriety has led to the term "смотровщина" ("smotrovism") describing the policy of banning opponents and blocking anyone who he doesn't like for some reason.

In my particular case, I tried to complain to other admins about the above mentioned case of OneLittleMouse. I posted a request on the appeal page. Seven minutes later it was deleted. Again, the reason for that was only given in the edit description field and read: "сверху чётко написано «перед подачей запроса сначала обсудите...» (it says on top "discuss first") referring to the requirement to discuss administrative actions with the admin in question. I undid this deletion in order to add a PS clarification that I indeed tried to talk to the admin in question but he failed to reply to my Wikimail. Alex Smotrov, again, deleted my post and blocked me for "edit wars".

When I tried to reason with him on my User talk page and explain that it wasn't a war but rather an added explanation, he said that I should've used the diff description field to warn him about it and admitted that he didn't read my updated message. In the same diff, he also said that what I said in my post was a lie and demanded that I correct it according to how he thinks it should be written. I refused to do so, called such demands "censorship", which, in my opinion it is, and told him that his actions violate the principles of "Free encyclopedia". In response he threatened to extend my block for "trolling".

The reason for all this is my ongoing "war" against favoritism and abuse of power in Russian WP. Russian administrators give certain privileges to their "favorites" and allow them to do anything to provoke the users they don't like and then, when a conflict finally erupts, they block the provoked party. Nice and easy. And if someone dares to blow the whistle about it (like yours truly), he or she gets blocked "progressively" until the block period reaches years and makes it impossible for a person to work in WP.

Situation in general

THIS is how Russian admins work. It's just two examples of systematic abuse of administrative power. Users actually leave Russian WP because it is absolutely impossible to work like that. Having FUN while working in Russian WP has become a thing of a long lost past. I don't know what else I can do to stop this travesty. And I definitely can't go on like that.

I truly believe an intervention is in order. If Metawiki admins... I'm sorry, I'm not too experienced in all this, so I don't know how all your "positions" are called... So, if Metawiki admins take action in at least these two cases and make at least these two admins mend their ways, it'll be a reality check for all of them. It's absolutely time to wake them up and remind them about the rules and inherent equality of ALL members of Wikipedia community.