Requests for comment/UPE by az.wiki admins

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I'm opening this discussion having just made the decision to block two admins of az.wiki from the en.wiki project due to undisclosed paid editing against the WMF's terms of use. Particularly in the case of User:Atakhanli, this included clear-cut creation of content about their employer, without disclosure, while working for them as a "Marketing and Public Relations Specialist". User:Wertuose was named alongside Atakhanli in the relevant Conflict of Interest Noticeboard discussion. While the evidence of a paid editing without disclosure violation is not as obvious as Atakhanli, their denunciation of the plausible, concerning allegations against Atakhanli as baseless accusations in sockpuppetry or paid editing and any other accusations based on our country of origin or our interests seems to be a sign of vandalism and xenophobia. is tendentious and thus raises the same concern of paid editing and general suitability for admin roles on az.wiki, a project that has already needed the broader community to step in before. _signed,Rosguill ^talk 01:30, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think that I have to defend myself or make excuses here, because stewards can easily check my online activities on all Wikimedia projects, but ofcourse I'm ready to answer any question. I just want to say that I don't agree with any of the accusations either against me or against user Atakhanli, whom I know personally from our wiki meetups and wikicamps, and it's obvious for me that the en-wiki sysop made a wrong decision. As a Azerbaijani Wikimedians User Group leader I was contacted by at least 4 Azerbaijani wikipedians blocked on en-wiki due to not proved charges in the last few years. Therefore I think that the en-wiki sysops must revise their blocking practice against active users.--Wertuose (talk) 11:29, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This comment might be of use here; It's also worth noting this Wiki new article from 2014, which stated that the government of Azerbaijan was interested in investing in people to edit in Wikipedia [1] and even bribing academic institutions outside Azerbaijan per this article by political scientists [2]. This is extremely concerning considering the long history of history falsification/negationism/revisionism and irredentism by the both the past and present governments of Azerbaijan [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]. Non-notable articles like this [9] (linking the revision before I removed some POV) filled with poor quality irredentist and pro-government sources reek of such stuff. Looking at the edits of some of the listed users where all this went down [10] these are clearly not a traditional starting journey in Wikipedia. There was a similar case like this just a few months ago (though the users were not paid as far is known) [11], which Wertuose was also involved in [12]. And indeed, let's not forget this mess regarding the admins in the Azerbaijani Wikipedia some years ago [13], I don't think that changed much. And before I also get a cheap "you're just racist/xenophobic" card thrown at me, let me emphasize that my concern/issue is with the government of Azerbaijan here, not it's people. If it helps, Iranian government = bad, though that's no secret. --HistoryofIran (talk) 14:17, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't want to comment this mixture of speculations. But I just want to mark that stalking of users for their field of interest, accusations that they create a lot of articles about their home country, its famous personalities and organizations were made by some en-wiki users and at least one sysop in this discussion which led to my first ever block on en-wiki. Does anyone think that it's normal on Wikipedia?--Wertuose (talk) 15:54, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Calling excessively well-documented facts about the long history of history falsification/negationism/revisionism and irredentism by the both the past and present governments of Azerbaijan for "mixture of speculations", randomly and suddenly accusing users for "xenophobia" and "vandalism" as well as not giving the full history of what truly happened, says all I need to know. HistoryofIran (talk) 23:24, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What do you expect me to say about things which are not related to me? :)--Wertuose (talk) 10:04, 22 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

HistoryofIran, implying that Wikipedians from Azerbaijan work for the government of their home country—unless, supported with proofs—is like saying that you are working for Iran's Supreme Leader because of your username. Please, focus on user behavior, not the dictatorship they're suffering under. --► Sincerely: Sola Virum 13:01, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I should have perhaps written my comment a bit differently here, as it's more or less a copy-paste comment to the context in the Eng Wiki thread and also said "If the listed users are indeed connected to the Azerbaijani government," That's my bad. However, Wertuose is not doing themselves any favour by denying the history and actions of the past and current Azerbaijani governments. HistoryofIran (talk) 14:10, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

HistoryofIran, meh, can't blame someone for not stepping up, which can lead to dire consequences. Not everyone is bound to be a dissident. And some Azerbaijani Wikipedians were subjected to repression in the past. Anyhows, happy to have cleared that in the way. --► Sincerely: Sola Virum 20:39, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This implies that Aliyev's government is keeping an eye on Azeri Wikipedians, which is concerning and makes my earlier comment very relevant. HistoryofIran (talk) 18:56, 3 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@HistoryofIran, Have you not read my self-defense on my English Wikipedia talk page? Samral (talk) 00:41, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I don't know about the events you mentioned above. I was a student at school in 2014. What is my fault for what happened in 2014? I was not at all on wikipedia during those years. My only fault is that I created an article about my workplace. (Private educational institution of Azerbaijan) The institute where I work is one of the largest educational institutions in Azerbaijan. You can ask this from other Azerbaijanis. It is one of the biggest and famous institutes. For this reason, I thought this enterprise was notable for Wikipedia. That's why I created this article. I didn't know it was forbidden in the rules. Believe me, I didn't know. I have already apologized for that. I have admitted that I work in that institution. I didn't deny it. I have no other interests. And I had no bad intentions. I did not object to the deletion of that article. Atakhanli (talk) 17:56, 22 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

As stated in the linked discussion, you didn't address the fact that you stated that you worked as a PR professional specifically. Firestar464 (talk) 21:32, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Firestar464 In that discussion, it was stated that I worked as a "Marketing and Public Relations Specialist" at that institute. And in my answer, I said "Yes, I worked in that educational center". Was it necessary to write the full name of my position again? After all, I did not deny it. I didn't write because I didn't feel the need to write my job title again. Because it was already stated in the discussion and I accepted it. Atakhanli (talk) 00:35, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I see. So essentially what is happening is that people are finding it hard to believe that you, as a PR specialist, did not create the article as a job assignment. I'm glad to hear that you aren't denying it though Firestar464 (talk) 00:50, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Rosguill Is it also concerning that Atakhanli and Wertuose are both members/organizers of several conferences meant to train other editors in Turkic related subjects?

Many of the editors on these participant lists have similar editing patterns, such as repeatedly creating one article after another. The users Qızılbaş and Rəcəb Yaxşı are especially suspicious. They both recently seem to be canvassing within a few hours,[14][15] after Qızılbaş had been inactive for a month. --KhndzorUtogh (talk) 23:25, 14 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hi KhndzorUtogh. Maybe you are not well-informed about Wikimedia movement. Many active Azerbaijani wikipedians are members of Azerbaijani Wikimedians User Group and here on Meta you can find pages of 145 other user groups and 38 Chapters, like Wikimedia Armenia, Wikimedia Colombia and so on. All of these affiliates are organizing many different events, meetings, conferences and etc. to inform the society, to engage new users for the development of Wikipedia.--Wertuose (talk) 13:19, 15 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]