The Apparatchik Durova, Wikipedia and the Suppression of Dissent in the New Soviet Internet Empire by Imperator Jimbo Wales

NB: There is a link to the entertaining video relating to this dispute at the bottom and unlike some other links, should play full screen.

The arch-fiend of the secret society running wikipedia access even calls herself "Durova". She appears by her actions to be a natural born censor and to draw satisfaction from the abuse of power involved in controlling non-members of the elite by, for instance, banning them from editing wikipedia on the basis of secret evidence which, when dragged out of her (she all the while kicking and screaming), turns out not only not to support her case against the offender but to vindicate him. It then turns out that wikipedia administrators maintain a secret list of those forming an elite within the elite who communicate with each other so that they can act collectively to enforce super-elite decisions that no-one else will be allowed to question because of their power.

Her namesake appears much more friendly, sensible, organised, used to putting down despots, capable of civilised conversation, capable of fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, capable of becoming a stabs-rostmistr, writing fiction and non-fiction and...er...generally achieving things in the big world. Nadezhda Durova was also, of course, a woman and may have been Comrade Durova's role model. Whether the pupil came up to the mark is, of course, another question.

You should first look at an interview with Durova on You Tube to form an impression of her. But do not a lot of dangerous subverters of freedom often appear meek and unthreatening? May it be a question of an otherwise powerless person of no great intelligence finding by chance access to power in an immensely powerful system and thus acquiring for themselves power over more gifted people? People she would otherwise never been able to emulate? People she can now grind under her heel and, by doing so, assuage her inferiority complex? A wikipedia administrator position is said to be unpaid and probably requires an immense devotion of time and energy. It will therefore attract those motivated by altruism and a genuine belief in the concept (as charities do) but it will also attract power hungry despots who lack the skills to succeed elsewhere (as, er..., charities also do).

An overview of the story so far can be viewed at The Register.

Continuing events will no doubt be recorded at The Wikipedia Review and, more particularly, on the forums devoted to Comrade Durova.

For the avoidance of doubt, there is no implication by the use of the word "comrade" that Comrade Durova is a communist. I doubt if anyone cares what her political views are and that may be part of the problem. Being unimportant because they have no talent often seems to lead people to derive gratification from the exercise of petty power over overs. Unfortunately, controlling the content of wikipedia is not petty power - it is now too big for that. The important point is that Comrade Durova is an enemy of freedom.

I have called her an apparatchik. Let us see how wikipedia defines this:

Apparatchik (Russian: аппара́тчик, pronounced [ʌpʌˈraʨɪk] plural apparatchiki) is a Russian colloquial term for a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party or government; i.e., an agent of the governmental or party "apparat" (apparatus) that held any position of bureaucratic or political responsibility, with the exception of the higher ranks of management.

Members of the "apparat" were frequently transferred between different areas of responsibility, usually with little or no actual training for their new areas of responsibility. Thus, the term apparatchik, or "agent of the apparatus" was usually the best possible description of the person's profession and occupation.

The term was usually associated with a specific mindset, attitude and appearance of the person; when used by "outsiders", it often bore derogatory connotations.

Today this term is also used in contexts other than Soviet Union. For example, it is often used to describe people who cause bureaucratic bottlenecks in otherwise efficient organizations, especially at support services groups (such as IT services). It is also frequently used to describe individuals appointed to positions in any government on the basis of ideological or political loyalty rather than competence.

Most of this seems to apply to Comrade Durova and it will be noted that the definition applies to members of any government, not just communist ones.

The ideological loyalty here is not to a political creed but to the dominance of wikipedia as a provider of information - not as a provider of correct unbiased information. The organisation has taken over and become an end in itself.

This is where the story becomes really scarey. The Emperor has abandoned the founding ideals and his not very imperial name of Jimbo Wales seems to match his new role as a loose cannon in the wild west.

As you will see from the links above and the video below (which is partisan but fun) Emperor Jimbo not only supported Comrade Durova but threatened those who tried to expose her and continued to do so even when her humiliating public exposure as someone to whom the phrase "free speech" described an alien concept unknown on this planet was complete.

Since this concept was fundamental to the vision behind wikipedia and everyone (at the start) believed him, his trahison des clercs is not excused by the fact that Comrade Durova remains a mere apparatchik and failed in her bid for higher office.

You must view the video. You will need Flash 9.

Questions:

When she chose the name Durova was it a conscious decision to emulate those who sought power in the Soviet empire as an "agent of the apparatus" on the basis of "loyalty rather than competence"?

When Imperator Jimbo supported her, was it because of her loyalty, her competence or merely because she (unpaid) was a useful agent of the appaatus?