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Azerbaijan: Popular website back — minus forum
Saturday, February 28th, 2009 @ 09:48 UTC
by Simon Maghakyan
Excerpt
After several days of closure, the popular semi-independent
Azerbaijani news and discussion website, Day.az, is back. However,
raising additional questions about its brief disappearance, the site’s
forum — known for its open and somewhat democratic discussion — is
not.
After several days of closure, the popular semi-independent
Azerbaijani news and discussion website, Day.az, is back. However,
raising additional questions about its brief disappearance, the site’s
forum — known for its open and somewhat democratic discussion — is
not.
The day after Day.az was closed, user Zaur at Web Designers Blog
commented on the importance of the forum.
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íÁÒÔÁ, ËÁËÏÅ ÓÏ×ÐÁÄÅÎ&# xC9;Å, ÒÏ×ÎÏ ÞÅÒÅÚ ÍÅÓÑÃ! … ÌÏËÉÒÏ×Á&# xCE;ÉÅ ÒÅÓÕÒÓÁ ×
ËÏÔÏÒÏÍ ÍÏÇÌÏ ÏÔÒÁÚÉÔÓ&# xD1; ÍÁÓÓÏ×ÏÅ ÎÅÄÏ×ÏÌØ&# xD3;Ô×Ï ÇÒÁÖÄÁÎ(Ð& #xCF;ÌØÚÏ×ÁÔ&#x C5;ÌÅÊ
ÐÏÒÔ 1;ÌÁ) áÚÅÒÁÊÄÖ&# xC1;ÎÁ Ó …ÒÅÆÅÒÅÎÄ ;ÕÍÏÍ…
Most likely the closure was connected with the March 18 referendum
[that would institute unlimited presidency in Azerbaijan]: what a
coincidence that [day.az was closed] exactly a month before [the
referendum]! …[B]locking a resource where citizens could express
massive discontent about [the] referendum[…].
Writing for the Amnesty International USA Blog before Day.az reopened
on February 26, I also noted some of the forum’s controversial moves.
One of the most popular online portals in the entire former Soviet
Union, the Russian-language forum at Day.az has had thousands of
active users. One of the hottest sections of the forum has been
"Armenia and Azerbaijan."
In November 2004, as a Russian-language Armenian forum user reported
at the time, the administration of the Day.az forum promoted its first
Armenian moderator, Arthur, giving him the privilege to delete/edit
offensive and/or unrelated content from discussions.
The appointment was indeed unprecedented, as the Russian-language
announcement from the Day.az forum administrator explained […]
Another, more recent, controversial move at the forum has been the
creation of a private section where users with over 500 posts could
discuss and post adult content.
Considering the various messages left on the site’s front page
following its disappearance, many of which contradicted earlier
notices saying the whole project was closed, readers such as Arzu at
Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines are still confused.
– If there were plans to sell the portal form the very beginning then
why it wasn’t explained or announced when the website first shut down
and even before it was going to shut down? The editors could have
continued working while the management changed hands?
– Why was it all kept in dark and on the website it said it was closed
for technical reasons? Does changing management of the website has
technical sides to it?
I don’t know the answers but maybe soon it will become clear?
For now, if many were sure the site would no longer be the same when
it was announced that site would reappear, Global Voices Online’s Ali
S. Novruzov comments on his earlier Frontline Club post that the
absence of the forum is the most noticeable change.
Day.az reopened today, but its famous forum has been divorced from it
and moved to 600min.az, a former sister site of former day.az. […]
But while some wonder if the forum might have been one of the reasons
for Day.az’s disappearance, many questions about its initial
disappearance still remain unanswered.
Posted by Simon Maghakyan