Yet Another Russia Thread...

[EddyTheDog]

The founder of Russia's most popular social network site says he has been fired and that allies of President Putin have taken over his site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27113292

[Sid70]

VK is now gonna be VP LOL

[Kolargol]

"Unfortunately, the country is now incompatible with internet business at the moment."

I doubt it's compatible with any large business if you are not one of Putin's people.

[deltav]

All propaganda & lies comrade! Social network was Western funded program to undermine Motherland for neo-nazis, Russian media is 105% free. Also Russia has best fighter pilots and cosmonauts.

Now for penance say 15 Heil Putins with your shirt off and watch all of VKCam's videos for truth.

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by EddyTheDog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27113292

Not again, please. Don't you guys have your own Russian boards where you can go forth and back with this crap?

[EddyTheDog]

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

Not again, please. Don't you guys have your own Russian boards where you can go forth and back with this crap?

Putin bought them all...

[Rochard]

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

Not again, please. Don't you guys have your own Russian boards where you can go forth and back with this crap?

Let 'em post. I am amazed by what is happening there.

[femdomdestiny]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russophobia

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by EddyTheDog

Putin bought them all...

What the fuck are you hoping to accomplish here? Go post on some Russian forum. Piss off! GFY is for the US news only

[EddyTheDog]

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

What the fuck are you hoping to accomplish here? Go post on some Russian forum. Piss off! GFY is for the US news only

CyberSEO has finally cracked - It had to happen eventually...

[deltav]

Kidding aside CyberSEO, from your perspective and what you've seen/heard lately in Russia - what are your predictions for the short-term? Is there still a chance they send (official) troops in? Or is it now mostly about keeping Kiev off balance up to the election, then pushing for more autonomy and Russian leaning leadership in the east?

And how are regular folks reacting to stuff like this Vkontakte thing?

[Nice_Nick]

You need to speak to VKcams about this.

[iSpyCams]

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

What the fuck are you hoping to accomplish here? Go post on some Russian forum. Piss off! GFY is for the US news only

It's SPECIFICALLY for Canadian and British commentary on US news and thinly veiled racist rants.

[TheSquealer]

So he officially resigned as CEO of one of Russias most successful online ventures and a publicly traded company.. then later announces it was a joke?

Sounds legit.

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by TheSquealer

So he officially resigned as CEO of one of Russias most successful online ventures and a publicly traded company.. then later announces it was a joke?

Sounds legit.

read again...

[TheSquealer]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

read again...

I'm pretty good at reading.

"Mr Durov announced his resignation publicly on 1 April but two days later said it was an April Fool's joke."

[crockett]

Originally Posted by Nice_Nick

You need to speak to VKcams about this.

Obviously by the name VK he's a inside strongman working for Putler trying to take over GFY..

[crockett]

Originally Posted by TheSquealer

So he officially resigned as CEO of one of Russias most successful online ventures and a publicly traded company.. then later announces it was a joke?

Sounds legit.

Seems both sides of the story are a bit shady. He claims they were strong arming him out of his company and forced him to sell off all his shares. He then resigned and shortly after claimed it was a April fools joke and now a few weeks later he was officially let go because he didn't dot the i's and cross the t's and they used it to remove him from CEO position.

The guy essentially ripped off facebook by making a "Russian" version that looked nearly identical. No real innovation or ideas he even copied FB's layout.

I say fuck him as he was a thief anyway, so serves him right to have his company taken out from under him.

[deltav]

Originally Posted by crockett

I say fuck him as he was a thief anyway, so serves him right to have his company taken out from under him.

Except they're not going to suddenly say "shit, we're ripping off FB, that's not fair" now that their CEO is gone. This by all appearances was a politically motivated "stick with the Putin playbook or else" message to the Russian business community and anyone therein who might not stick to the party line.

[crockett]

Originally Posted by deltav

Except they're not going to suddenly say "shit, we're ripping off FB, that's not fair" now that their CEO is gone. This by all appearances was a politically motivated "stick with the Putin playbook or else" message to the Russian business community and anyone therein who might not stick to the party line.

Well that's a given in Russia. He is essentially a dictator with a suit on. If he wants something to happen in Russia then it will happen regardless of what anyone else may want.

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by TheSquealer

I'm pretty good at reading.

"Mr Durov announced his resignation publicly on 1 April but two days later said it was an April Fool's joke."

what about the rest of the article that says that he is indeed fired now?

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by crockett

Seems both sides of the story are a bit shady. He claims they were strong arming him out of his company and forced him to sell off all his shares. He then resigned and shortly after claimed it was a April fools joke and now a few weeks later he was officially let go because he didn't dot the i's and cross the t's and they used it to remove him from CEO position.

The guy essentially ripped off facebook by making a "Russian" version that looked nearly identical. No real innovation or ideas he even copied FB's layout.

I say fuck him as he was a thief anyway, so serves him right to have his company taken out from under him.

i really hope non of the sites you run resemble anything that existed before

[TheSquealer]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

what about the rest of the article that says that he is indeed fired now?

Seems there is a legitimate argument that he resigned considering that did so, in writing, by his own admission.

I understand that every single conversation on this forum has to have a victim and those who defend them regardless of the facts, but he did in fact resign... and only after the company acting on that resignation did he say it was a joke. Further, he also said it was his intent to resign and he is only objecting to the timing of the events. So... lets not make this into something it absolutely, 100% isn't.

He is the only one claiming he was "fired".

The company is claiming he is being replaced as per his resignation.

The facts seem to clearly be on the company's side... but that doesn't make a good headline and does little to rally the emotionally driven masses.

[MaDalton]

coincidentally i read some articles 1-2 years ago where he explained how he's under pressure to lose the company because he doesn't want to censor the way the government wants him to

also i remember some oligarch wanting to invest that wasn't Putin friendly and he saw that as chance to strengthen his position - or something along those lines.

or that was the mail.ru guy and he turned out to be more Putin friendly than he tought

anyways - the guy was on Putins shitlist for trying to keep up free speech - let's have look if all these groups and accounts in question still exist in 1-2 months

[deltav]

So Squealer - I know you've got a little more firsthand perspective than some on the subject, you don't think the CEO was politically pressured behind the scenes to resign?

[TheSquealer]

Originally Posted by deltav

So Squealer - I know you've got a little more firsthand perspective than some on the subject, you don't think the CEO was politically pressured behind the scenes to resign?

I know that nothing is as it seems and the public explanation is theater for the masses. The only few who know the real truth are those involved. For all anyone knows he had 2,000,000.00 in gambling and cocaine debts or was running a CP ring and got busted and people are trying to do him a favor by allowing him to quietly go away. Who knows. Claiming his "resignation" was an April fools joke should tell any reasonable person that either he is out of his mind, or he was scrambling to find an explanation for something he was coerced into or had no choice in doing. If it was something he was forced to do by people trying to take his shares, there would be a much better and more believable story than what he is giving. His own story makes him look like a dipshit and like someone that should be removed from the CEO position

The standard "Putin is a horrible person" theme is pretty convenient and makes for good headline for the west, but Putin is busy playing game of thrones for real... not through his favorite social media app to care.

[deltav]

Sure, but it's also an administration very very conscious of being in control of the messages coming from all media outlets. I don't profess knowing one way or another, but this would fit into that narrative.

[crockett]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

i really hope non of the sites you run resemble anything that existed before

It's one thing to copy a site concept, but he copied everything about facebook including the layout and all the basic features. It was like Chinese Disneyland..

[TheSquealer]

Originally Posted by deltav

Sure, but it's also an administration very very conscious of being in control of the messages coming from all media outlets. I don't profess knowing one way or another, but this would fit into that narrative.

If i had to bet, i'd bet that the truth has not been told and that it is all about something else entirely. That's usually the case.

Though Putin did spend quite a few years trying to wrestle the media into submission, it should also be remembered what the media was. You could buy any article or news story saying anything about yourself or another. I had a well known crime figure as a neighbor once that used to do this once a week. It was funny. This huge, scarred up guy with a limp and 10 body guards would have articles published on schedule about his "charity" and philanthropy and good deeds for children, questioning why the police thought he was such a bad guy. It was very common. The news was never news. Those who tried to be actual reporters ultimately became statistics and what made Russia one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the developed world.

Yeltsin only won his second term because Berezovsky (UK, self imposed exile guy) and a couple others bought up the major media properties and ran "The boris show" 24/7 to take him from 5% approval rating to 95%. They did it by borrowing government money, investing it into GKO bonds (high interest bonds that the government ultimately defaulted on - in the end, paying 50% or more per 6 months) and spending 140,000,000.00 USD or so with a legal campaign spending limit of 30,000,000.00 USD or something like that. Thats why Berezovsky, Fridman, Abramovich, Potanin et al, became known as King Makers.

The media was used to build people up and destroy people for financial and political gain. There was never a free press to begin with. Now its quite a bit different in that the government has a great deal more control but i just mean to say that behind that was a huge amount of abuse with people using them to build billion dollar fortunes and crush others who got in their way.

So.. the wests talking about "Freedom of speech" in Russia, needs some context. The media was once largely owned by a fist full of super wealthy that used the news to take control of more and more of the country, to appoint corrupt governors and mayors and legislators etc etc. as well as destroy those who dared get in their way. The "free press" was just as big a problem as everything else in Russia. So it was always more complicated than what was perceived as the Kremlin encroaching on freedom of speech.

I am not for or against anything really.. just trying to add context.

[EddyTheDog]

Now Putin gets coins minted to celebrate the takeover of Crimea -

The limited edition of 500 silver coins has been called The Gatherer of Russian Lands - a phrase traditionally associated with Ivan III - better known as Ivan the Great - who significantly expanded Russia's territories during his rule. The coins haven't been priced yet, but the factory says it is planning to present some of them to the Russian leadership.

I think that clears things up nicely...

[ZiggiZiggiCrew]

[klinton]

Originally Posted by EddyTheDog

Now Putin gets coins minted to celebrate the takeover of Crimea -



I think that clears things up nicely...

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by deltav

Kidding aside CyberSEO, from your perspective and what you've seen/heard lately in Russia - what are your predictions for the short-term? Is there still a chance they send (official) troops in? Or is it now mostly about keeping Kiev off balance up to the election, then pushing for more autonomy and Russian leaning leadership in the east?

I don't know what's going on in the Putin's head. He is old and I think he has some king of age-related mentality problem. Russia as a country is not interested in invasion of the Ukraine.

Originally Posted by deltav

And how are regular folks reacting to stuff like this Vkontakte thing?

I don't know actually. I'm and old-school dude. I don't understand this "social" thing and have no accounts in vkontakte, facebook, twitter or anywhere else. Thus I'm not the best person to be asked.

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by crockett

The guy essentially ripped off facebook by making a "Russian" version that looked nearly identical. No real innovation or ideas he even copied FB's layout.

Oh, there was an innovation. I'd say a HUGE innovation. The name of this innovation is PIRACY. Vkontakte is a largest piracy network on the Earth which does contain tons of copyrighted content such as music and videos (in both adult and mainstream niches). Tell me a name of the movie you want to watch online and I'll give you a list of its URLs in Vkontakte. I think that 90% of users have registered there only to download all that pirated content.

Do a simple search in google: site:vk.com THE_ITEM_NAME and you'll find anything.

E.g.: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Avk.com+brazzers.

Just a warning for you. When you browse videos in Vkontakte, do it at your own risk, because there is a chance that you can be exposing to some real illegal content.

[VKcams]

Originally Posted by EddyTheDog

Now Putin gets coins minted to celebrate the takeover of Crimea -
I think that clears things up nicely...

That You are a dumbass.

This coin is a private company product.



http://ria.ru/economy/20140421/1004804888.html
http://slon.ru/fast/economics/monety...-1087793.xhtml
http://www.art-grani.ru/

[just a punk]

Do you guys know the story behind of this?

P.S. I believe your media just "forgets" to tell you about some significant facts what may change a whole picture. They just want to show you a victim of Putin's regime and you see it. This is how your government manipulates you every single day. Soviet propaganda was nothing comparing with all that shit you're being fed by CNN, Fox, BBC and others

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by VKcams

That You are a dumbass.

He just a regular brainwashed person. Not a dumbass actually.

[deltav]

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

Do you guys know the story behind of this?

P.S. I believe your media just "forgets" to tell you about some significant facts what may change a whole picture. They just want to show you a victim of Putin's regime and you see it. This is how your government manipulates you every single day. Soviet propaganda was nothing comparing with all that shit you're being fed by CNN, Fox, BBC and others

Yup, that's sort of what we're discussing, it seemed like there was something else going on. I'm curious, you should enlighten us.

Far as the Western media goes, any American with half a brain (a minority) knows that CNN & Fox are Mickey Mouse style garbage. There is no question of this. If a person cites them as a real news source you know they are dumb. BBC I've been surprised how biased they've seemed with the Ukraine crisis, it seems they've skewed towards a more controlled corporate message in recent years - maybe some of the UK folks can elaborate.

Both sides seem pretty guilty of distortions here. I get a lot of my USA news from the New York Times, who actually have reasonable journalistic standards and still have a budget to do actual correspondence (not common these days), and though they're much more balanced than say CNN they still use subtly negative language when talking about China or Russia for example. Bums me out because it's unnecessary and there's enough bias in the world already, I don't need that shit from my news sources. I only have English-language Russian news to watch, but what I see there is on par with Fox, i.e. ridiculous. Nobody is telling this story straight, not even close.

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

I don't know what's going on in the Putin's head. He is old and I think he has some king of age-related mentality problem. Russia as a country is not interested in invasion of the Ukraine.

I've been surprised that Russia's kept the rhetoric & pressure up, gotta think it's a bluff because I see absolutely zero benefit from invading. Then again, there was zero benefit to invading Iraq and Bush did it anyway with predictable results - let's hope Putin has more sense than Bush, not a tall order but you never know.

[femdomdestiny]

Lol....new york times....few days ago I was I was observing same news on different medias. Can't precisely remember now which one in tons of these happenings, but new york times put accent on same event in a way that is absolutely negative toward Russians and that reaction would be negative or aggressive for anyone who is reading.

it is also funny watching RT that is using same idiotic approach as "western" medias are doing for years.

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

Do you guys know the story behind of this?

P.S. I believe your media just "forgets" to tell you about some significant facts what may change a whole picture. They just want to show you a victim of Putin's regime and you see it. This is how your government manipulates you every single day. Soviet propaganda was nothing comparing with all that shit you're being fed by CNN, Fox, BBC and others

i hope you keep in mind that "significant facts" sometimes turn out to be fabricated.

and while i agree that especially Fox and MSNBC (but also CNN and others) do spread their site of propaganda, i hope you don't want to tell me that the russian media is completely neutral and unbiased

Not long ago you named Nawalny as example that there is opposition and free media in Russia - they couldn't lock him up with an obviously bogus lawsuit and now he will be silenced in other ways.

once again - i am not blaming just one side - i blame both. just the methods are different.

[klinton]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

i hope you keep in mind that "significant facts" sometimes turn out to be fabricated. and while i agree that especially Fox and MSNBC (but also CNN and others) do spread their site of propaganda, i hope you don't want to tell me that the russian media is completely neutral and unbiased

the only & only remedy for that - watch fox news, cnn, guardian, and Russia Today together...

later use your brain to find truth laying somewhere in between ;-)

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by klinton

the only & only remedy for that - watch fox news, cnn, guardian, and Russia Today together...

later use your brain to find truth laying somewhere in between ;-)

or get a stroke

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

i hope you keep in mind that "significant facts" sometimes turn out to be fabricated.

O'rly? What exactly facts do you consider as "fabricated" ones? This one:



Or maybe this one:



Do you think that both were shot at Lubianka's basements? Ok, so what's about the "Porn King" status from Durov's page in vkontakte?

Originally Posted by MaDalton

and while i agree that especially Fox and MSNBC (but also CNN and others) do spread their site of propaganda, i hope you don't want to tell me that the russian media is completely neutral and unbiased

I never said that the state Russian news channels are not propaganda. They are and I just do not watch/read them. However, here in Russian we have a lot of independent (independent from the government, but not from their owners of course) ones and also we have access to all the western media too. How many Russian news sources you have in your TV packets? RT only? For example, my TV packet includes almost all the major Western channels, so I have a lot of sources to choose from.

Originally Posted by MaDalton

Not long ago you named Nawalny as example that there is opposition and free media in Russia - they couldn't lock him up with an obviously bogus lawsuit and now he will be silenced in other ways.

Yes he is. He is the man who's got 27% of votes in Moscow without using of any administrative resource (has has started his election company with about 5%). He had no access to the state TV channels, for example. However, almost all the sane Moscow citizens (basically 18-40 y.o. ones) have voted for him. This means that Russian citizens have access to lots of alternative sources of information. He is the one whom Putin is afraid like a death. Putin even afraid to call his name publicly (that's a proven fact) because he thinks (there is an official proof too) that if he do that, Navalny will bite a piece of his reputation. So everything that Putin does against Navalny is just a panic - a blind, crazy and uncontrollable fear.

Originally Posted by MaDalton

once again - i am not blaming just one side - i blame both. just the methods are different.

The story behind Durov has nothing to do with Putin. Navalny is a way another case indeed

[MaDalton]

<yawn...>

[deltav]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

<yawn...>

Dude, he actually took the time to respond to you, "yawn" is just a fuck-off...

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by deltav

Yup, that's sort of what we're discussing, it seemed like there was something else going on. I'm curious, you should enlighten us.

It was never a secret here for years that (vkontakte) had 1000's of CP-related communities (groups) and countless number of such video materials. They even didn't try to hide anything. It was open to anyone and was spreading like a virus. It was lasted for years and was a subject of the claims in Russian media. Even a lazy public person here didn't mention that. And what Durov did after all those public accusations? Did he start a cleaning? No. He just "proudly" added a "porn king" status to his personal page (to be honest, the real cleaning has started later, but only just about a year or two ago), because he didn't want to do any "censorship" (sounds familiar, right?) This story was widely discussed in Russian media a few years ago (e.g. http://www.rosbalt.ru/style/2009/08/07/661536.html, http://www.dp.ru/a/2011/05/03/Pavel_...argumentirova/, http://sobesednik.ru/scandals/201207...detskogo-porno, http://мызд&...E%D0%BD%D1%82/ etс), but course the "independent" Western channels just forgot or completely missed it...

Durov has never been a fighter against the regime (on the contrary he was supporting pro-Putin's groups in vkontakte during the mass protests in 2011). He was using all the scandals to make vkontakte more and more popular. But after moving to a .com zone, his network is going to lose its main advantage - PIRACY. He knows that now it will be hard to host all the copyrighted content there and get away with that. He knew that now vkontakte will lose most of its members or he will lose a freedom...

Just a month ago, Durov has published his famous Seven reasons not to emigrate from Russia (20 days before his "1st April joke"), and now he said that he just can't work here? Do you servilely thing he is for real and he is a victim of Putin's regime?

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by deltav

I've been surprised that Russia's kept the rhetoric & pressure up, gotta think it's a bluff because I see absolutely zero benefit from invading.

I think I know why Putin is doing that. We all know that the USA and EU have announced personal sanctions against his close friends after the annexation of Crimea. Now these guys need something to be used as a threat as a condition for lifting of all those sanctions. I.e. "we can annex the eastern half of the Ukraine but we won't do it if you lift all those Crimea-related sanctions". This is how I see it

[deltav]

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

Do you servilely thing he is for real and he is a victim of Putin's regime?

Relax. That's why I asked you, no sarcasm intended.

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by deltav

Relax. That's why I asked you, no sarcasm intended.

That was just a rhetorical question too (no aggression or something like that).

[just a punk]

I meant "Do you seriously think he is for real and he is a victim of Putin's regime?" The syntax auto-correction function makes me real mad sometimes