This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Greetings, Parties, and thank you for agreeing to become involved in this Mediation. Such an action demonstrates that you are all willing to bring an end to this dispute, and thus are working for the good of Wikipedia - again, thank you.

For those of you who have not came across me around the encyclopedia yet, I'm AGK, although in conversation Anthony is fine. As one of the newest members of the Mediation Committee, I operate quite differently from other Mediators: my style of operation is to divide Mediation into three "stages" (as well as a fourth, initial stage which we're beginning right now) ... inventively named, Mediation Stages 1, 2 and 3 ;) each of these will help establish what each party wants (as well as exp, give each party an oppurtunity to explain why they think what they want should be implemented, and finally allow each party to put forward proposals for a solution to this dispute.

First, however, we need to agree on the Mediation Location (see below), and to allow any further parties to be put forward. In the meanwhile, any questions should be directed to me at my talk page; if you wish for a more private means of contact, details of getting in touch with me are available at my contact page.

Kind regards,
Anthøny ( talk) 13:03, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

The recent straw poll concluded that consensus is to hold the Mediation on this page. This poll closed at 2/0/0 (Support/Oppose/Other) for this location.

Anthøny ( talk) 09:26, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

As there is only one issue to be Mediated in this case, this stage of the Mediation will simply be a post by each party, stating whether they agree or disagree with the issue in question, and why.

"Why" should be reasoned argument, preferably backed up by policy or guidelines, if they exist. In order to keep things standardised as much as possible, I've drew up a "template" for each party to use; simply copy the text below, change the fields to your personal view, and post underneath this section:

===[[User:*Your user name*|*Your name*]]===
My opinion is that the Russian name of the metro line [*should/should not*] be included in the

lead of that article and other Kiev Metro articles.

I think this because [*why you think the opinion you have given above is correct*].

~~~~

Please proceed to post your opinion below this section.

Kind regards,
Anthøny ( talk) 09:26, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Note - parties should now post their statements too Wikipedia talk:Requests for mediation/Podilsko-Voskresenska Line/Party Statements. This is to prevent confusion over the location (I wish to keep all statements together), which might be created by the sections that now come after the statements. On this point, just to clarify: party statements should be added to the end of the other parties' statements (i.e., at this page), and not to the end of the base page.

Hillock65

My opinion is that the Russian name of the metro line should not be included in the lead of that article and other Kiev Metro articles.

I think this because inclusion of Russian names in these articles violates a number of WP policies, and namely:

• Russian language in the lead of the article will confuse the reader and lead him/her to believe in the bilingual status of the city. Which Kyiv, officially is definitely not. The Russian language in the Ukrainian capital, in spite of the fact that it is spoken by a considerable minority, does not have any status and is one of the minority languages in the country. Thus inclusion of Russian names will distort the reality and will constitute a POV and Undue Weight ( WP:NPOV). Inclusion of Russian names will attempt to present the Russian language in the Kyiv metro as the one equal to Ukrainian. Despite our feelings and arguments for or against it, it is not, and changing that is a violation of the neutrality of the article.
• Since Russian language is de-facto absent from virtually all signs, maps, trains and even the official website of the Kyiv metro [1], its inclusion in the lead will also constitute Original Research ( WP:OR). Since there are no official Russian names of the Kyiv metro, users, who insert them there in many cases just translate them from Ukrainian or invent them. A good example of flagrant violation of that policy is Ploschad Nezavisimosti (Kiev Metro) station. The fact is, that a station with this name does not exist and have never existed in reality. This name has never been used and is an invention of the authors of the article. Even the amateur websites used to support this invention differ in its Russian translation! [2] [3] And of all the versions the authors of the article "chose" Russian translation to suit their POV.
• Inclusion of Russian names will also be questionable in regards to the Verifiability ( WP:V) requirement, as in most cases they are, if not translated off-hand, then are taken from amateur websites related to metro topics. Virtually all websites presented as evidence to support these names explicitly state that they are not official and are not affiliated with the governing body of the Kyiv metro. With absence of printed and reliable sources, the only source that comes close to qualifying as reliable is the official site of the Kyiv metro run by the elected city admininstration. This site presents stations in Ukrainian only and there are no Russian names at all.
• As per WP:SOURCE these articles have to reflect the reality in Kyiv metro, not POV of some users. And the reality is that the only names present on the ground are Ukrainian. Reliable sources should be used to support names of the stations. That should exclude all amateur and unreliable sites used to invent these names. As I have shown above, they do not even agree on the Russian names of the stations, and this is because these names don't exist in reality.
• The only compromise that has been proposed at MedCab is that Russian names are included in the history section of the metro articles, especially if the stations were built before 1991. These names should be included in the history section, provided, their correct previous names in Russian could be ascertained from reliable sources. An example of how this subject should be treated can be found in another foreign language version - the Dutch language WP. Here is how the Dutsch solved the problem with the Ploschad Nezavisimosti (Kiev Metro) station — nl:Majdan Nezalezjnosti (metrostation). There the sources on station names are taken seriously and are reflected truthfully in the articles on the subject. Only Ukrainian names are reflected in the lead as presented in the reliable sources. It is my opinion that English WP should do the same.-- Hillock65 13:52, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Kuban kazak

My opinion is that the Russian name of the metro line should be included in the lead of that article and other Kiev Metro articles.

I think this because:

• First of all although officially Russian is not equal in Ukrainian wrt Ukrainian constitution de facto it is vividly different from how some try to portray it. First of all, although the Ukrainian Kiev Metro website does in fact not have a Russian version (although it did before, and given how some of the information is out of date on the website, there is no need to attribute the lack of the Russian version because of political reasons, it could well be due to host problems). Other websites have a Russian version. Starting with Ukrainian president's Official website, including a press release of him opening a metro station. Likewise Kiev City Administration (the owner of the municipal company that runs the Metro) is fully trilingual (in addition to Russian it has an English version).
• Second point, it is wrong to say that Russian language is a "minority" language in Kiev. I would say true to the opposite, it is a language of majority in Kiev. True to the point it is still fairly common to see Russian language signs in Kiev, and in Kiev Metro. For example: [4] [5] [6] (please note that the last image was taken in 2006). Therefore claiming that Russian language is absent in the Metro system is also plain wrong, a POV, and Original Research.
• Thirdly, whilst there were some claims about transliteration as a wedge, however one cannot take it to be a reason for not including in the articles. WRT Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Kiev Metro) and how do people translate it into Russian the equivelent Ploschad Nezavisimosti or directly transliterate it from Ukrainian is questionable, and IMO beyond the scope of this article. But for the record its pre-1991 name: October Revolution square was in Russian languaged maps written sometimes as either the Russian Ploschad Oktyabriskoy Revolyutsii, or the Ukrainian derived Ploschad Zhovtnevoy Revolyutsii (as witnessed here and here). In fact here is Russian language map (dated ~2000) that gives the standard Russian tranlation of the station in question [7].
• The bigger picture is this edit by User:Irpen whose authority in wikipedia and Ukrainian articles I will not question. What do we get out removing names that have never hurt anyone. I though it was wikipedia's policy to provide as much information as possible, not remove it.
• Regards, Kuban Cossack 18:16, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

TAG

My opinion is that the Russian name of the metro line should be included in the lead of that article and other Kiev Metro articles.

I think this because:

• According to closest matching guideline WP:NCGN - all names that used by group of people living in this location should be included in lead. Usage of this guideline will make articles consistent.
• Ukraine is de jure and de facto support and use all languages (per s:Constitution of Ukraine#Article 10 and census).
• Russian names of old stations were used in the past and should be preserved in articles for historic reasons.
• Additionally Russian names are currently used as can be witnessed on websites of state owned airport, Kiev city administration and also introduced for newly built stations like on president website.

So in summary here is my proposal - as long as there are trusted sources (per WP:V) for Russian name, based on WP:NPOV - names should be represented fairly and without bias in all significant languages (in our situation this is Russian and Ukrainian as others languages does not pass 10% test). There should not be omissions because some people don't like it to be included.

I can only agree that transliteration of Russian name in English can be omitted - to not introduce WP:OR as transliteration is often unsourced. I.e. in my opinion this is correct lead (per WP:NCGN - all names in () with official comes first).

The Podilsko-Voskresenska Line ( Ukrainian: Подільсько-Воскресенська лінія, Russian: Подольско-Воскресенская линия).

TAG 17:28, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

• Since I was asked, I will comment on the choice made on the Dutch language wikipedia, but I will not take a stand in this discussion. I chose to use Ukrainian names in both the titles and the text of the articles themselves, because these are currently the only ones that are officially used by the metro company. Even though Russian language signes may still be present, no new signs in Russian are placed. It will probably only be a matter of time before all Russian signes have been replaced. Furthermore, accoustic station announcements are in Ukrainian only. It may well be true that some/many Kievans use Russian names when referring to metro stations, but since these do not seem to have an official status (anymore), I stuck to the Ukrainian ones. (Contrarily, in the case of Kazan, where both Tatar and Russian are used on signes, accoustic announcements, and maps, even the titles of Dutch articles are bilingual.) Also, using names in one language only is more convenient and less confusing for readers. I'll gladly leave the question whether including Russian names is (un)necessary, informing, imperialist, useful, .. and whether excluding them is POV, distruction/withholding of information, straightforward or realistic to you. Greetings, Xyboi 15:56, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Note - the following is a clarification, which was added upon request of a party in this Mediation.

• I'm beginning to feel like I'm a witness in a trial ;). In understand what the argument is about here, but as I said, I will not take a stand in it, I only explained my choices in the Dutch articles. All station descriptions feature Ukrainian names only, both for practical reasons and because these are the only official ones. The same holds for the main article on the Kiev Metro, which also features a section on language issues, which was actually based on the English version by Kuban Kazak. Xyboi 10:02, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm getting a little concerned that there isn't enough input from the other parties in this Mediation. Please note that I cannot provide a platform for Mediation (that is, keep this case open) unless all the parties are willing to participate in Mediation.

I'd encourage the active parties at this page to get in touch with those who are inactive, urging them to participate.

Anthøny 12:19, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

I've contacted several users, but am afraid, it is the middle of the holiday season, some time will be needed to get them all to contribute. -- Hillock65 09:35, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Not a problem; it's good too see that it's because of extra-Wiki commitments that there's a party absence, rather than simply neglect! My thanks for your efforts - it's much appreciated ~ Anthøny 19:51, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

I am afraid it is bad timing as well, it being the holiday season. For example, one of the most important people in this mediation — User:Akhristov the one, who filed for this mediation appears to be on holidays and has not edited for days. More time is needed. -- Hillock65 20:25, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

That's okay: time isn't an issue in Formal Mediation, so long as it's not in the sense of party neglect. So long as a satisfactory conclusion seems a reachable goal, I'm fully prepared to persevere with this case, including waiting over stale stretches. Anthøny 20:53, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

I've removed all the discussion sections, and I'd ask parties to both refrain from restoring them (or the content that was included in them), and to refrain from continuing discussion over statements: this will come at a later stage. The only discussion section that will remain is that which came under the statement of Hillock65 ( talk · contribs), as that contains invited outside views that I believe have a place here ~ Anthøny 20:57, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Well. It was clearly specified by you that there are place for discussion (per Wikipedia talk:Requests for mediation/Podilsko-Voskresenska Line). That's that we did. -- TAG 21:56, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Indeed - I am not at all "giving anybody into trouble" (for want of a better phrase); I'm simply revising my own decision, using that wonderful tool hindsight. Anthøny 23:28, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Parties - could I please have some input over the status of this case? Are there any parties willing to participate, or is the general opinion that Mediation is no longer necessary, either due to extra-Mediation circumstances, or due to recent developments on the party front (e.g., Hillock retiring).

Anthøny ん 10:38, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'm still willing to participate (except for the fact that I'm a bit busy at the moment, I'll do my best to check Wikipedia regularly). Except there's one problem: User:Kuban kazak, who was one of the original people in this dispute, doesn't seem to care that much about this case... Which means that if we come to a decision, the dispute might start all over. — Alex Khristov 02:44, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm still in. We need guideline developed for situations like this one. -- TAG 22:08, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm willing to persevere insofar as all the parties also are. If we are going to continue, I'd like to see a much higher level of input in the case - otherwise, my course of action will be to close the case as stale. Perhaps a couple of the active parties could give the more inactive ones a nudge? Anthøny ん 21:20, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Sure, I'll try to do that within the next couple of days. — Alex Khristov 06:54, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, Ak. for making that effor - much appreciated. Just a note here, but I'd like for general participation to be higher than in our previous Mediation attempts. If any parties are going to be absent, I'd rather temporarily suspend the Mediation than waste resources in attempting to push participation that's not going to come (in that one or more parties are away from Wikipedia).

But, more on that when we get re-started; in the meanwhile, thank you Akhristov for contacting the parties - if anybody else can assist him, feel free. Cheers, Anthøny ん 18:32, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Sorry for my lengthy absense, I was away, and did not realise this was still on, can someone summarise what happened between 10 August and now? -- Kuban Cossack 12:49, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Basically - nothing. The case has remained stale since August 5, if I am reading the archives correctly. We're currently trying to get the Mediation back off the ground and running again, but (as you'll see if you read above) I'm unwilling to proceed if the participation levels are not substantially higher than the previous attempt(s).

If you check out the "archive box" at the page top, you'll be able to read through the old discussions; if you have any questions, drop me a note or an email, or raise it in a new section on this page. Kind regards, Anthøny ん 19:10, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Well I thought that consensus was already in place, as me and Hillock have agreed to the new format? Well if the parties opposed to it have any objections let's hear them. -- Kuban Cossack 08:45, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

I think that it was the parties who had not been contributing in the Mediation who opposed it, so obviously we'll need to backtrack and do the whole Proposed Changes to Article process again. That's why I'm pushing for a higher participation level this time around - the Mediation simply can't work without all (or virtually all) the parties contributing. Anthøny ん 15:48, 11 October 2007 (UTC)