Nigerian Princes have found the WMF grant trough

[Vigilant]

Another Nigerian project dropping poor articles here

Apparently, there are more than 60 participants[33], all of them required to create at least one article and edit two others[34], on enwiki[35]. So again a grant-subsidized dumping ground for many subpar articles without any effort to reach out to enwiki or to monitor and improve the issues. Fram (talk) 09:09, 18 August 2023 (UTC) A grant request[36], I might add, based on a falsehood: "A search on Wikipedia on “Deforestation in Nigeria using Petscan, Wikidata and List building tool yielded zero articles. A general search using Petscan yielded 37 articles. A quick scan on three of the articles (Deforestation, Afforestation, and Reforestation) shows that they have no information on Nigeria and very little information on Africa. This creates a content, contributor, and reader gap in Wikipedia. The result is that Nigerian citizens have no culturally relevant information on deforestation." At the time of the request, we already had a lengthy article titled Deforestation in Nigeria... Fram (talk) 09:20, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

You created a large project about "Deforestation in Nigeria" on enwiki, and asked for a ca. $20K grant for it, but you were "unaware of the existence" of the article Deforestation in Nigeria??? Fram (talk) 12:46, 20 August 2023 (UTC)

Dat filthy lucre...

[Vigilant]

Ngozi_Stella_Udechukwu (T-C-L)

Talk page is a hoot.

This guy is 'organizing' this mess.

[Vigilant]

Wow

[Vigilant]

Contributions

Registered March 2022, edited through June 2022, disappeared for 9 months, went to work shitting things up.

Click through on any of his 'contributions' that are over 100 bytes,
They're uniformly bad.
Really, really bad.

[lonza leggiera]

Contributions

Registered March 2022, edited through June 2022, disappeared for 9 months, went to work shitting things up.

Click through on any of his 'contributions' that are over 100 bytes,
They're uniformly bad.
Really, really bad.

Appears to be a woman, as I'd guessed from the "Stella" in the full name (although that's hardly conclusive, given the cultural differences).

[casualdejekyll]

Seriously? "Nigerian Princes"? Come on, Vigilant, I KNOW you can come up with GREAT insults that DON'T have any questionable racial undertones.

[Vigilant]

Seriously? "Nigerian Princes"? Come on, Vigilant, I KNOW you can come up with GREAT insults that DON'T have any questionable racial undertones.

Nigerian is not a race and the country is notorious for international scammers.

Even your beloved en.wp has this connection

Nigerian_prince (T-H-L)

Disambiguates to

Advance-fee_scam (T-H-L)

From the lede

There are many variations of this type of scam, including the Nigerian prince scam, also known as a 419 scam. The number "419" refers to the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with fraud and the charges and penalties for such offenders.

[Hemiauchenia]

I think Hanlon's razor applies here: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence".

[Vigilant]

Every bespoke lever turns a matching crank.

[casualdejekyll]

Seriously? "Nigerian Princes"? Come on, Vigilant, I KNOW you can come up with GREAT insults that DON'T have any questionable racial undertones.

Nigerian is not a race and the country is notorious for international scammers.

Even your beloved en.wp has this connection

Nigerian_prince (T-H-L)

Disambiguates to

Advance-fee_scam (T-H-L)

From the lede

There are many variations of this type of scam, including the Nigerian prince scam, also known as a 419 scam. The number "419" refers to the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with fraud and the charges and penalties for such offenders.

Note the very DAB you link describing it as "stereotypical". Not sure how you see it, but to me it really looks like the linking of scammers and Nigerians like this is extremely similar to saying something like "Al-Qaeda has found the WMF grant trough" if it's a bunch of editors from the Middle East. Is it not?

EDIT: Okay, that Al-Qaeda comparison was a bit off. But something like linking Indian editors with tech scammers. There are a lot of examples

My relationship with en.wp is ambivalent at best. I can't write articles for shit (I've tried) and I have just as much fun doing whatever it is I do over there nowadays as I do whatever it is I do over here. Not really "beloved"

None of this addresses the fact that it's the kind of insult a Sucks! user would come up with.

[Vigilant]

Google 419 scammers

419eater.com (T-H-L)

Nigeria is well know for exactly this scam.

Not sure why this is such a trigger for you.

[Midsize Jake]

None of this addresses the fact that it's the kind of insult a Sucks! user would come up with.

First, let's not just lump all WikipediaSucks members into some sort of generalized "can't produce appropriate thread-titles" category. Some of them are just fine at devising thread titles. (Account names, ehh, not so much.) Also, while I certainly understand your concerns, I don't think this particular title is racist — though it probably would be seen as somewhat offensive by Nigerians, most of whom have never been involved in any sort of scamming activity whatsoever.

Still, let's face it, this is about Nigerians with clearly sub-par English language skills getting grants to write English Wikipedia articles that already exist, and "Nigerian princes" is, like it or not, a hot-swappable term for "Nigerian scammers." The way I see it, the only really inaccurate thing about the title is that we know they'd found the trough in question quite a long time ago, and this is just another go-round for these folks. It's an unfortunate situation, not leastwise because the WMF seems to be completely unashamed about their history of dubious distribution of donor funds. But as much as I dislike having to say it, I don't think we'd be doing the world much good by trying to downplay the fact that this particular bit of activity is based in Nigeria.

[eppur si muove]

Google 419 scammers

419eater.com (T-H-L)

Nigeria is well know for exactly this scam.

Not sure why this is such a trigger for you.

I would say because only a minority of Nigerians are scammers and insisting on the link between Nigeria and scams gives the impression of a mindset that labels all Nigerians. It's just like people who go on about the Rothschilds. That may be a family which made its wealth through banking back in the 19th century but going on about it now shows an unhealthy obsession with Jews.

Of course there are a lot of scams run from that country but there are plenty of scams run by from elsewhere too. I'd be willing to bet that the country with most people making a living as international scammers is the country with the most population. And Nigeria being the sixth most populous country in the world makes it unsurprising that it has lots of scammers too.

[owl be it]

As a compromise we should rename the thread "Nigerian princes (note that this refers only to the common scam technique not as a generalization about Nigerians most of which are fine people) have found the WMF grant trough". Is that too long?

[Vigilant]

"419 is in da hizzouse" ?

[Ron Lybonly]

419 refers to the section of the Nigerian criminal code that addresses fraud.

Fraud is a problem in Nigeria. The term “419” is used in many other contexts besides advance fee scams. People have had their homes sold to unsuspecting buyers while away on vacation so people now paint “no 419!” on their house before they leave.

15 years ago, I used an Internet cafe in Lagos. I noticed many of the young men around me were working on 419 emails.

I think my Nigerian colleagues on that assignment would have grudgingly smirked at the title of this thread. They were certainly fed up with the local corruption and fraud.

[Ron Lybonly]

When I was a kid, my father got several paper letters with some variant of the Nigerian prince scan . It was before the internet. The envelopes had Nigerian stamps that I added to my little kid stamp collection.

I don’t think there’s anything racist in associating Nigeria with crime — Cameroonians next door made a big deal of it. It’s a problem for Nigeria.

[Ron Lybonly]

Final comment: the WMF needs to do a better job of overseeing these programs and coordinating with the instructors on what Wikipedia wants and what its standards are.

Shame on the WMF, not the Nigerians. Well, maybe a little on the Nigerians but mostly on the WMF.

WMF types love travel - they should go to Lagos and get hands on with such a group when they start their project. If they follow the CDC’s and US State Dept’s safety advisories, the WMF-ers will probably be ok. They’ll need to stay close to their local handlers, too.

It’s an interesting place where the WMF could make a difference. Forget about Wikimania Singapore- pack those bags for Lagos.

[Vigilant]

They could send Laura Hale!

[casualdejekyll]

Shame on the WMF, not the Nigerians. Well, maybe a little on the Nigerians but mostly on the WMF.

I'd like to emphasize this point. Mass programs of new editors contributing articles has led overwhelmingly to a bunch of crummy articles being created, but what really matters to the WMF is that if you don't mention the quality of the articles it makes them look like the information-distributing heroes they think they are.

The worst thing the Nigerian people did here was not be very good at writing in English. I'm sure if this project was focused on one of the many native languages spoken in Nigeria's Wikipedia, it would be much more successful.

ha:Gandun_Daji_a_Najeriya (T-H-L) looks (to me, who knows nothing about the language) to be quite long, but it's full of interlanguage links that could be replaced by a project like this. It's probably quite easy to find other, more obvious gaps in the coverage of Hausa Wikipedia (or Igbo WIkipedia, or Yoruba Wikipedia, which both also have competent Deforestation in Nigeria articles...), which would do a lot more good than this project does on enwiki.

[The Blue Newt]

Shame on the WMF, not the Nigerians. Well, maybe a little on the Nigerians but mostly on the WMF.

I'd like to emphasize this point. Mass programs of new editors contributing articles has led overwhelmingly to a bunch of crummy articles being created, but what really matters to the WMF is that if you don't mention the quality of the articles it makes them look like the information-distributing heroes they think they are.

Sing it, Brother.

[bagofworms]

Ngozi_Stella_Udechukwu (T-C-L)

Talk page is a hoot.

This guy is 'organizing' this mess.

Ngozi osadebe (T-C-L) is the organizer. This Stella person is at most a project participant who jumped into the thread for some reason.

[Giraffe Stapler]

How did this get approved? I don't mean that the idea is so terrible it should never have gotten funded, I mean the proposal is full of typos and formatting errors. It is a pretty clear indication that whoever put it together is not a Wikipedia editor. And the linked budget spreadsheet is similarly incomplete.

[Anroth]

How did this get approved? I don't mean that the idea is so terrible it should never have gotten funded, I mean the proposal is full of typos and formatting errors. It is a pretty clear indication that whoever put it together is not a Wikipedia editor. And the linked budget spreadsheet is similarly incomplete.

They gave money to Fae, a person who uploaded porn of themselves to commons and advocated the retention of clearly underage penis pictures. To host an event whose stated reach included young people.

Compared to that, giving cash to a Nigerian Prince seems reasonable.

[Vigilant]

How did this get approved? I don't mean that the idea is so terrible it should never have gotten funded, I mean the proposal is full of typos and formatting errors. It is a pretty clear indication that whoever put it together is not a Wikipedia editor. And the linked budget spreadsheet is similarly incomplete.

They gave money to Fae, a person who uploaded porn of themselves to commons and advocated the retention of clearly underage penis pictures. To host an event whose stated reach included young people.

Compared to that, giving cash to a Nigerian Prince seems reasonable.

They gave money to Laura Hale to travel around the world and take shitty pictures.

[Anroth]

How did this get approved? I don't mean that the idea is so terrible it should never have gotten funded, I mean the proposal is full of typos and formatting errors. It is a pretty clear indication that whoever put it together is not a Wikipedia editor. And the linked budget spreadsheet is similarly incomplete.

They gave money to Fae, a person who uploaded porn of themselves to commons and advocated the retention of clearly underage penis pictures. To host an event whose stated reach included young people.

Compared to that, giving cash to a Nigerian Prince seems reasonable.

They gave money to Laura Hale to travel around the world and take shitty pictures.

Did we ever get a clear timeline of when Maria was in charge of grants and did Laura receive any under her charge?

[Giraffe Stapler]

Uhoh. Paging Moneytrees. I looked at the project "dashboard" and trying to figure out how they are counting 64 "new articles". (If anyone wants to help me out with that, I'd appreciate it. It's either totally wrong or I am an idiot. Perhaps both.)

I looked at one of the new articles: Health benefits of pepper fruit (Dennettia Tripetala). It got merged into another article, so take a look at the original as created by editor Ugoji.john (T-C-L).. It could use a lot of trimming, but it's not bad. It makes some dubious claims about health benefits, but it seems to have sources for the claims. It also bears a remarkable similarity to a 2016 blog post called "18 WONDROUS BENEFITS OF PEPPER FRUIT DENNETTIA TRIPETALA". That blog post looks like it was a cut-and-paste job from somewhere else, so who knows the original source, but notice that the headings are the same and in the same order.

Ugoji.john seems to be adept at cutting and pasting. In this edit, they have copied directly from the college's own website (among other sources). Maybe someone should review the rest of their edits?

[Vigilant]

Uhoh. Paging Moneytrees. I looked at the project "dashboard" and trying to figure out how they are counting 64 "new articles". (If anyone wants to help me out with that, I'd appreciate it. It's either totally wrong or I am an idiot. Perhaps both.)

I looked at one of the new articles: Health benefits of pepper fruit (Dennettia Tripetala). It got merged into another article, so take a look at the original as created by editor Ugoji.john (T-C-L).. It could use a lot of trimming, but it's not bad. It makes some dubious claims about health benefits, but it seems to have sources for the claims. It also bears a remarkable similarity to a 2016 blog post called "18 WONDROUS BENEFITS OF PEPPER FRUIT DENNETTIA TRIPETALA". That blog post looks like it was a cut-and-paste job from somewhere else, so who knows the original source, but notice that the headings are the same and in the same order.

Ugoji.john seems to be adept at cutting and pasting. In this edit, they have copied directly from the college's own website (among other sources). Maybe someone should review the rest of their edits?

WikiEdu without actual professors...

What could go wrong?

[Vigilant]

Quite the article

Fuel_wood_utilization_in_Nigeria (T-H-L)

[casualdejekyll]

I do have to wonder how hard it would be to make up an event on the spot and get the WMF money. They seem to be a lot more interested in good vibes than in competency.

[Vigilant]

ERIKUME11 (T-C-L)

Talk page and contribs are fun.

[Vigilant]

Ekwoike (T-C-L)

More copyright violations cleaned up by teh communitah.

Can any explain the value proposition for letting WikiEdu continue to have access to article space?

[Vigilant]

Sulyman_Abdussamad (T-C-L)

More 'final warnings' on the talk page

[Vigilant]

SusuGeo (T-C-L)

Talk page is a hoot!

[Vigilant]

Emmyglo (T-C-L)

More copyright issues on the talk page

These are all recent contributors to Deforestation_in_Nigeria (T-H-L)


If Teh Communitah has to come by and doing sanitation engineering after each of these kids, what's the point in encouraging them to edit mainspace in the first place?!

[casualdejekyll]

I do have to wonder how hard it would be to make up an event on the spot and get the WMF money. They seem to be a lot more interested in good vibes than in competency.

It has occurred to me that this may constitute fraud and therefore a crime.

-

Is anybody working on a blog post about anything related to this thread at the moment? It seems like low-hanging fruit.

-

There are other projects seeking or receiving WMF funding intending to recruit Nigerian editors to English projects without making any indication of checking those editors for English proficiency. (A Ctrl+F for "Nigeria", "Lagos", and related terms on the various grant application pages may be informative.) I think the Deforestation in Nigeria incident shows that such a check would be at least a somewhat good idea.