Mikhail Gruznov (Russian: Михаил Александрович Грузнов). Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on April 25, 1988. A Russian Wikipedia contributor since December 2005 and an ex-administrator (2008, 2009—2013). Former member of OTRS team. Wikimedia Commons ex-administrator (June 2009 — February 2019).
My interests include business and venture financing, art, history and architecture. I contribute to Russian Wikipedia and sometimes translate the articles that show the better side of my homeland.
Since 2013 I have also been contributing to Wikipedia as a paid editor and a founder of wikify.ru consultancy. My idea was to reduce the tension between the community and organizations trying to approach Wikipedia and I eventually became the first person to disclose paid editing in Russian-speaking community. My experience is positive as paid services allowed me to spend more on contributing as a volunteer and helping NGOs pro bono. In 2022, I decided to close Wikify.ru as a commercial organization and shift my attention exclusively to non-profit activities.
Currently, I'm not engaged in paid services and lead a team of 7 people in the nonprofit project Wikiganda.org. We focus on creating non-commercial articles about climate, ecology, and healthcare in the Russian-language Wikipedia. Additionally, we counteract propaganda and conduct investigations. Since 2022, we have been heavily focused on refining articles about the invasion of Ukraine and hindering pro-Kremlin agents. We also develop software for Wikipedia analysis — wikify.io (still in early beta).
This user, in accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, discloses that they have been paid by: