Wikipedia:Haus blong toktok

Seeking volunteers to join several of the movement’s committees
[edit source]Each year, typically from October through December, several of the movement’s committees seek new volunteers.
Read more about the committees on their Meta-wiki pages:
Applications for the committees open on 16 October 2024. Applications for the Affiliations Committee close on 18 November 2024, and applications for the Ombuds commission and the Case Review Committee close on 2 December 2024. Learn how to apply by visiting the appointment page on Meta-wiki. Post to the talk page or email cst@wikimedia.org with any questions you may have.
For the Committee Support team,
-- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 23:07, 16 Oktoba 2024 (UTC)
'Wikidata item' link is moving, finally.
[edit source]Hello everyone, I previously wrote on the 27th September to advise that the Wikidata item sitelink will change places in the sidebar menu, moving from the General section into the In Other Projects section. The scheduled rollout date of 04.10.2024 was delayed due to a necessary request for Mobile/MinervaNeue skin. I am happy to inform that the global rollout can now proceed and will occur later today, 22.10.2024 at 15:00 UTC-2. Please let us know if you notice any problems or bugs after this change. There should be no need for null-edits or purging cache for the changes to occur. Kind regards, -Danny Benjafield (WMDE) 11:30, 22 Oktoba 2024 (UTC)
Proposal to enable the "Contribute" entry point in Bislama Wikipedia
[edit source]Hello Bislama Wikipedians,
Apologies as this message is not in your language. Please help translate to your language.
The WMF Language and Product Localization team proposes enabling an entry point called "Contribute" to your Wikipedia.
The Contribute entry point is based on collaborative work with other product teams in the Wikimedia Foundation on Edit discovery, which validated the entry point as a persistent and constant path that contributors took to discover ways to contribute content in Wikipedia.
Therefore, enabling this entry point in your Wikipedia will help contributors quickly discover available tools and immediately click to start using them. This entry point is designed to be a central point for discovering contribution tools in Bislama Wikipedia.
Who can access it
Once it is enabled in your Wikipedia, newcomers can access the entry point automatically by just logging into their account, click on the User drop-down menu and choose the "Contribute" icon, which takes you to another menu where you will find a self-guided description of what you can do to contribute content, as shown in the image below. An option to "view contributions" is also available to access the list of your contributions.
For experienced contributors, the Contribute icon is not automatically shown in their User drop-down menu. They will still see the "Contributions" option unless they change it to the "Contribute" manually.
This feature is available in four Wikipedia (Albanian, Malayalam, Mongolian, and Tagalog). We have gotten valuable feedback that helped us improve its discoverability. Now, it is ready to be enabled in other Wikis. One major improvement was to make the entry point optional for experienced contributors who still want to have the "Contributions" entry point as default.
We plan to enable it on mobile for Wikis, where the Section translation tool is enabled. In this way, we will provide a main entry point to the mobile translation dashboard, and the exposure can still be limited by targeting only the mobile platform for now. If there are no objections to having the entry point for mobile users from your community, we will enable it by 9th November 2024.
We welcome your feedback and questions in this thread on our proposal to enable it here. Suppose there are no objections, we will deploy the "Contribute" entry point in your Wikipedia.
We look forward to your response soon.
Thank you!
On behalf of the WMF Language and Product Localization team. UOzurumba (WMF) (talk) 03:34, 23 Oktoba 2024 (UTC)
Sign up for the language community meeting on November 29th, 16:00 UTC
[edit source]Hello everyone,
The next language community meeting is coming up next week, on November 29th, at 16:00 UTC (Zonestamp! For your timezone <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1732896000>). If you're interested in joining, you can sign up on this wiki page: <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Language_and_Product_Localization/Community_meetings#29_November_2024>.
This participant-driven meeting will be organized by the Wikimedia Foundation’s Language Product Localization team and the Language Diversity Hub. There will be presentations on topics like developing language keyboards, the creation of the Moore Wikipedia, and the language support track at Wiki Indaba. We will also have members from the Wayuunaiki community joining us to share their experiences with the Incubator and as a new community within our movement. This meeting will have a Spanish interpretation.
Looking forward to seeing you at the language community meeting! Cheers, Srishti 19:54, 21 Novemba 2024 (UTC)
Enabling Dark mode for logged-out users in this Wikipedia
[edit source]Hello Wikipedians,
Apologies, as this message is not written in your native language. Please help translate to your language.
The Wikimedia Foundation Web team will be enabling dark mode here on your Wikipedia by February 2025 now that pages on your wiki have passed our checks for accessibility and other quality checks. Congratulations!
The plan to enable is made possible by the diligent work of editors and other technical contributors in your community who ensured that templates, gadgets, and other parts of pages can be accessible in dark mode. Thank you all for making dark mode available for everybody!
For context, the Web team has concluded work on dark mode. If, on some wikis, the option is not yet available for logged-out users, this is likely because many pages do not yet display well in dark mode. As communities make progress on this work, we enable this feature on additional wikis once per month.
If you notice any issues after enabling dark mode, please create a page: Reading/Web/Accessibility for reading/Reporting/xx.wikipedia.org
in MediaWiki (like these pages), and report the issue in the created page.
Thank you!
On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Web team.
UOzurumba (WMF) 22:15, 21 Januware 2025 (UTC)
Universal Code of Conduct annual review: provide your comments on the UCoC and Enforcement Guidelines
[edit source]My apologies for writing in English. Please help translate to your language.
I am writing to you to let you know the annual review period for the Universal Code of Conduct and Enforcement Guidelines is open now. You can make suggestions for changes through 3 February 2025. This is the first step of several to be taken for the annual review. Read more information and find a conversation to join on the UCoC page on Meta.
The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is a global group dedicated to providing an equitable and consistent implementation of the UCoC. This annual review was planned and implemented by the U4C. For more information and the responsibilities of the U4C, you may review the U4C Charter.
Please share this information with other members in your community wherever else might be appropriate.
-- In cooperation with the U4C, Keegan (WMF) (talk) 01:11, 24 Januware 2025 (UTC)
Feminism and Folklore 2025 starts soon
[edit source]
Dear Wiki Community,
You are humbly invited to organize the Feminism and Folklore 2025 writing competition from February 1, 2025, to March 31, 2025 on your local Wikipedia. This year, Feminism and Folklore will focus on feminism, women's issues, and gender-focused topics for the project, with a Wiki Loves Folklore gender gap focus and a folk culture theme on Wikipedia.
You can help Wikipedia's coverage of folklore from your area by writing or improving articles about things like folk festivals, folk dances, folk music, women and queer folklore figures, folk game athletes, women in mythology, women warriors in folklore, witches and witch hunting, fairy tales, and more. Users can help create new articles, expand or translate from a generated list of suggested articles.
Organisers are requested to work on the following action items to sign up their communities for the project:
- Create a page for the contest on the local wiki.
- Set up a campaign on CampWiz tool.
- Create the local list and mention the timeline and local and international prizes.
- Request local admins for site notice.
- Link the local page and the CampWiz link on the meta project page.
This year, the Wiki Loves Folklore Tech Team has introduced two new tools to enhance support for the campaign. These tools include the Article List Generator by Topic and CampWiz. The Article List Generator by Topic enables users to identify articles on the English Wikipedia that are not present in their native language Wikipedia. Users can customize their selection criteria, and the tool will present a table showcasing the missing articles along with suggested titles. Additionally, users have the option to download the list in both CSV and wikitable formats. Notably, the CampWiz tool will be employed for the project for the first time, empowering users to effectively host the project with a jury. Both tools are now available for use in the campaign. Click here to access these tools
Learn more about the contest and prizes on our project page. Feel free to contact us on our meta talk page or by email us if you need any assistance.
We look forward to your immense coordination.
Thank you and Best wishes,
--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:35, 29 Januware 2025 (UTC)
Wiki Loves Folklore is back!
[edit source]Please help translate to your language

Dear Wiki Community, You are humbly invited to participate in the Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 an international media contest organized on Wikimedia Commons to document folklore and intangible cultural heritage from different regions, including, folk creative activities and many more. It is held every year from the 1st till the 31st of March.
You can help in enriching the folklore documentation on Commons from your region by taking photos, audios, videos, and submitting them in this commons contest.
You can also organize a local contest in your country and support us in translating the project pages to help us spread the word in your native language.
Feel free to contact us on our project Talk page if you need any assistance.
Kind regards,
Wiki loves Folklore International Team --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:35, 29 Januware 2025 (UTC)
Reminder: first part of the annual UCoC review closes soon
[edit source]My apologies for writing in English. Please help translate to your language.
This is a reminder that the first phase of the annual review period for the Universal Code of Conduct and Enforcement Guidelines will be closing soon. You can make suggestions for changes through the end of day, 3 February 2025. This is the first step of several to be taken for the annual review. Read more information and find a conversation to join on the UCoC page on Meta. After review of the feedback, proposals for updated text will be published on Meta in March for another round of community review.
Please share this information with other members in your community wherever else might be appropriate.
-- In cooperation with the U4C, Keegan (WMF) (talk) 00:48, 3 Februari 2025 (UTC)
Upcoming Language Community Meeting (Feb 28th, 14:00 UTC) and Newsletter
[edit source]Hello everyone!

We’re excited to announce that the next Language Community Meeting is happening soon, February 28th at 14:00 UTC! If you’d like to join, simply sign up on the wiki page.
This is a participant-driven meeting where we share updates on language-related projects, discuss technical challenges in language wikis, and collaborate on solutions. In our last meeting, we covered topics like developing language keyboards, creating the Moore Wikipedia, and updates from the language support track at Wiki Indaba.
Got a topic to share? Whether it’s a technical update from your project, a challenge you need help with, or a request for interpretation support, we’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reply to this message or add agenda items to the document here.
Also, we wanted to highlight that the sixth edition of the Language & Internationalization newsletter (January 2025) is available here: Wikimedia Language and Product Localization/Newsletter/2025/January. This newsletter provides updates from the October–December 2024 quarter on new feature development, improvements in various language-related technical projects and support efforts, details about community meetings, and ideas for contributing to projects. To stay updated, you can subscribe to the newsletter on its wiki page: Wikimedia Language and Product Localization/Newsletter.
We look forward to your ideas and participation at the language community meeting, see you there!
MediaWiki message delivery 08:28, 22 Februari 2025 (UTC)
Universal Code of Conduct annual review: proposed changes are available for comment
[edit source]My apologies for writing in English. Please help translate to your language.
I am writing to you to let you know that proposed changes to the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) Enforcement Guidelines and Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) Charter are open for review. You can provide feedback on suggested changes through the end of day on Tuesday, 18 March 2025. This is the second step in the annual review process, the final step will be community voting on the proposed changes. Read more information and find relevant links about the process on the UCoC annual review page on Meta.
The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is a global group dedicated to providing an equitable and consistent implementation of the UCoC. This annual review was planned and implemented by the U4C. For more information and the responsibilities of the U4C, you may review the U4C Charter.
Please share this information with other members in your community wherever else might be appropriate.
-- In cooperation with the U4C, Keegan (WMF) 18:51, 7 Maj 2025 (UTC)
An improved dashboard for the Content Translation tool
[edit source]Hello Wikipedians,
Apologies as this message is not in your language, Please help translate to your language.
The Language and Product Localization team has improved the Content Translation dashboard to create a consistent experience for all contributors using mobile and desktop devices. The improved translation dashboard allows all logged-in users of the tool to enjoy a consistent experience regardless of their type of device.
With a harmonized experience, logged-in desktop users now have access to the capabilities shown in the image below.


We will implement this improvement on your wiki on Monday, March 17th, 2025 and remove the current dashboard by May 2025. Please reach out with any questions concerning the dashboard in this thread.
Thank you!
On behalf of the Language and Product Localization team.
UOzurumba (WMF) 02:55, 13 Maj 2025 (UTC)
Final proposed modifications to the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines and U4C Charter now posted
[edit source]The proposed modifications to the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines and the U4C Charter are now on Meta-wiki for community notice in advance of the voting period. This final draft was developed from the previous two rounds of community review. Community members will be able to vote on these modifications starting on 17 April 2025. The vote will close on 1 May 2025, and results will be announced no later than 12 May 2025. The U4C election period, starting with a call for candidates, will open immediately following the announcement of the review results. More information will be posted on the wiki page for the election soon.
Please be advised that this process will require more messages to be sent here over the next two months.
The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is a global group dedicated to providing an equitable and consistent implementation of the UCoC. This annual review was planned and implemented by the U4C. For more information and the responsibilities of the U4C, you may review the U4C Charter.
Please share this message with members of your community so they can participate as well.
-- In cooperation with the U4C, Keegan (WMF) (talk) 02:04, 4 Epril 2025 (UTC)
Ukraine's Cultural Diplomacy Month 2025: Invitation
[edit source]
Please help translate to your language
Hello, dear Wikipedians!
Wikimedia Ukraine, in cooperation with the MFA of Ukraine and Ukrainian Institute, has launched the fifth edition of writing challenge "Ukraine's Cultural Diplomacy Month", which lasts from 14th April until 16th May 2025. The campaign is dedicated to famous Ukrainian artists of cinema, music, literature, architecture, design, and cultural phenomena of Ukraine that are now part of world heritage. We accept contributions in every language!
The most active contesters will receive prizes.
If you are interested in coordinating long-term community engagement for the campaign and becoming a local ambassador, we would love to hear from you! Please let us know your interest.
We invite you to take part and help us improve the coverage of Ukrainian culture on Wikipedia in your language! Also, we plan to set up a banner to notify users of the possibility to participate in such a challenge! OlesiaLukaniuk (WMUA) (talk)
16:11, 16 Epril 2025 (UTC)
Vote now on the revised UCoC Enforcement Guidelines and U4C Charter
[edit source]The voting period for the revisions to the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines ("UCoC EG") and the UCoC's Coordinating Committee Charter is open now through the end of 1 May (UTC) (find in your time zone). Read the information on how to participate and read over the proposal before voting on the UCoC page on Meta-wiki.
The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is a global group dedicated to providing an equitable and consistent implementation of the UCoC. This annual review of the EG and Charter was planned and implemented by the U4C. Further information will be provided in the coming months about the review of the UCoC itself. For more information and the responsibilities of the U4C, you may review the U4C Charter.
Please share this message with members of your community so they can participate as well.
In cooperation with the U4C -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 00:34, 17 Epril 2025 (UTC)
Sub-referencing: User testing
[edit source]
Apologies for writing in English, please help us by providing a translation below
Hi I’m Johannes from Wikimedia Deutschland's Technical Wishes team. We are making great strides with the new sub-referencing feature and we’d love to invite you to take part in two activities to help us move this work further:
- Try it out and share your feedback
- Please try the updated wikitext feature on the beta wiki and let us know what you think, either on our talk page or by booking a call with our UX researcher.
- Get a sneak peak and help shape the Visual Editor user designs
- Help us test the new design prototypes by participating in user sessions – sign up here to receive an invite. We're especially hoping to speak with people from underrepresented and diverse groups. If that's you, please consider signing up! No prior or extensive editing experience is required. User sessions will start May 14th.
We plan to bring this feature to Wikimedia wikis later this year. We’ll reach out to wikis for piloting in time for deployments. Creators and maintainers of reference-related tools and templates will be contacted beforehand as well.
Thank you very much for your support and encouragement so far in helping bring this feature to life!Johannes Richter (WMDE) (talk) 15:04, 28 Epril 2025 (UTC)
Vote on proposed modifications to the UCoC Enforcement Guidelines and U4C Charter
[edit source]The voting period for the revisions to the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines and U4C Charter closes on 1 May 2025 at 23:59 UTC (find in your time zone). Read the information on how to participate and read over the proposal before voting on the UCoC page on Meta-wiki.
The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is a global group dedicated to providing an equitable and consistent implementation of the UCoC. This annual review was planned and implemented by the U4C. For more information and the responsibilities of the U4C, you may review the U4C Charter.
Please share this message with members of your community in your language, as appropriate, so they can participate as well.
In cooperation with the U4C --
Call for Candidates for the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C)
[edit source]The results of voting on the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines and Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) Charter is available on Meta-wiki.
You may now submit your candidacy to serve on the U4C through 29 May 2025 at 12:00 UTC. Information about eligibility, process, and the timeline are on Meta-wiki. Voting on candidates will open on 1 June 2025 and run for two weeks, closing on 15 June 2025 at 12:00 UTC.
If you have any questions, you can ask on the discussion page for the election. -- in cooperation with the U4C,Keegan (WMF) (toktok) 22:06, 15 Mei 2025 (UTC)
RfC ongoing regarding Abstract Wikipedia (and your project)
[edit source](Apologies for posting in English, if this is not your first language)
Hello all! We opened a discussion on Meta about a very delicate issue for the development of Abstract Wikipedia: where to store the abstract content that will be developed through functions from Wikifunctions and data from Wikidata. Since some of the hypothesis involve your project, we wanted to hear your thoughts too.
We want to make the decision process clear: we do not yet know which option we want to use, which is why we are consulting here. We will take the arguments from the Wikimedia communities into account, and we want to consult with the different communities and hear arguments that will help us with the decision. The decision will be made and communicated after the consultation period by the Foundation.
You can read the various hypothesis and have your say at Abstract Wikipedia/Location of Abstract Content. Thank you in advance! -- Sannita (WMF) (toktok) 15:26, 22 Mei 2025 (UTC)
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees 2025 Selection & Call for Questions
[edit source]Dear all,
This year, the term of 2 (two) Community- and Affiliate-selected Trustees on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees will come to an end [1]. The Board invites the whole movement to participate in this year’s selection process and vote to fill those seats.
The Elections Committee will oversee this process with support from Foundation staff [2]. The Governance Committee, composed of trustees who are not candidates in the 2025 community-and-affiliate-selected trustee selection process (Raju Narisetti, Shani Evenstein Sigalov, Lorenzo Losa, Kathy Collins, Victoria Doronina and Esra’a Al Shafei) [3], is tasked with providing Board oversight for the 2025 trustee selection process and for keeping the Board informed. More details on the roles of the Elections Committee, Board, and staff are here [4].
Here are the key planned dates:
- May 22 – June 5: Announcement (this communication) and call for questions period [6]
- June 17 – July 1, 2025: Call for candidates
- July 2025: If needed, affiliates vote to shortlist candidates if more than 10 apply [5]
- August 2025: Campaign period
- August – September 2025: Two-week community voting period
- October – November 2025: Background check of selected candidates
- Board’s Meeting in December 2025: New trustees seated
Learn more about the 2025 selection process - including the detailed timeline, the candidacy process, the campaign rules, and the voter eligibility criteria - on this Meta-wiki page [link].
Call for Questions
In each selection process, the community has the opportunity to submit questions for the Board of Trustees candidates to answer. The Election Committee selects questions from the list developed by the community for the candidates to answer. Candidates must answer all the required questions in the application in order to be eligible; otherwise their application will be disqualified. This year, the Election Committee will select 5 questions for the candidates to answer. The selected questions may be a combination of what’s been submitted from the community, if they’re alike or related. [link]
Election Volunteers
Another way to be involved with the 2025 selection process is to be an Election Volunteer. Election Volunteers are a bridge between the Elections Committee and their respective community. They help ensure their community is represented and mobilize them to vote. Learn more about the program and how to join on this Meta-wiki page [link].
Thank you!
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2022/Results
[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Committee:Elections_Committee_Charter
[3] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Committee_Membership,_December_2024
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee/Roles
[5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2025/FAQ
[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2025/Questions_for_candidates
Best regards,
Victoria Doronina
Board Liaison to the Elections Committee
Governance Committee
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:07, 28 Mei 2025 (UTC)
Upcoming Deployment of the CampaignEvents Extension
[edit source]Hello everyone,
(Apologies for posting in English if English is not your first language. Please help translate to your language.)
The Campaigns Product Team is planning a global deployment of the CampaignEvents extension to all Wikipedias, including this wiki, during the week of June 23rd.
This extension is designed to help organizers plan and manage events, WikiProjects, and other on-wiki collaborations - and to make these efforts more discoverable.
The three main features of this extension are:
- Event Registration: A simple way to sign up for events on the wiki.
- Collaboration List: A global list of events and a local list of WikiProjects, accessible at Special:AllEvents.
- Invitation Lists: A tool to help organizers find editors who might want to join, based on their past contributions.
Note: The extension comes with a new user right called "Event Organizer", which will be managed by administrators on this wiki. Organizer tools like Event Registration and Invitation Lists will only work if someone is granted this right. The Collaboration List is available to everyone immediately after deployment.
The extension is already live on several wikis, including Meta, Wikidata, English Wikipedia, and more ( See the full deployment list)
If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please feel free to share them on the extension talkpage. We’d love to hear from you before the rollout.
Thank you!
Udehb-WMF (toktok) 16:47, 29 Mei 2025 (UTC)
Vote now in the 2025 U4C Election
[edit source]Apologies for writing in English. Please help translate to your language
Eligible voters are asked to participate in the 2025 Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee election. More information–including an eligibility check, voting process information, candidate information, and a link to the vote–are available on Meta at the 2025 Election information page. The vote closes on 17 June 2025 at 12:00 UTC.
Please vote if your account is eligible. Results will be available by 1 July 2025. -- In cooperation with the U4C, Keegan (WMF) (talk) 23:00, 13 Jun 2025 (UTC)Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees 2025 - Call for Candidates
[edit source]Hello all,
The call for candidates for the 2025 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees selection is now open from June 17, 2025 – July 2, 2025 at 11:59 UTC [1]. The Board of Trustees oversees the Wikimedia Foundation's work, and each Trustee serves a three-year term [2]. This is a volunteer position.
This year, the Wikimedia community will vote in late August through September 2025 to fill two (2) seats on the Foundation Board. Could you – or someone you know – be a good fit to join the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees? [3]
Learn more about what it takes to stand for these leadership positions and how to submit your candidacy on this Meta-wiki page or encourage someone else to run in this year's election.
Best regards,
Abhishek Suryawanshi
Chair of the Elections Committee
On behalf of the Elections Committee and Governance Committee
[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Bylaws#(B)_Term.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:43, 17 Jun 2025 (UTC)
Sister Projects Task Force reviews Wikispore and Wikinews
[edit source]Dear Wikimedia Community,
The Community Affairs Committee (CAC) of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees assigned the Sister Projects Task Force (SPTF) to update and implement a procedure for assessing the lifecycle of Sister Projects – wiki projects supported by Wikimedia Foundation (WMF).
A vision of relevant, accessible, and impactful free knowledge has always guided the Wikimedia Movement. As the ecosystem of Wikimedia projects continues to evolve, it is crucial that we periodically review existing projects to ensure they still align with our goals and community capacity.
Despite their noble intent, some projects may no longer effectively serve their original purpose. Reviewing such projects is not about giving up – it's about responsible stewardship of shared resources. Volunteer time, staff support, infrastructure, and community attention are finite, and the non-technical costs tend to grow significantly as our ecosystem has entered a different age of the internet than the one we were founded in. Supporting inactive projects or projects that didn't meet our ambitions can unintentionally divert these resources from areas with more potential impact.
Moreover, maintaining projects that no longer reflect the quality and reliability of the Wikimedia name stands for, involves a reputational risk. An abandoned or less reliable project affects trust in the Wikimedia movement.
Lastly, failing to sunset or reimagine projects that are no longer working can make it much harder to start new ones. When the community feels bound to every past decision – no matter how outdated – we risk stagnation. A healthy ecosystem must allow for evolution, adaptation, and, when necessary, letting go. If we create the expectation that every project must exist indefinitely, we limit our ability to experiment and innovate.
Because of this, SPTF reviewed two requests concerning the lifecycle of the Sister Projects to work through and demonstrate the review process. We chose Wikispore as a case study for a possible new Sister Project opening and Wikinews as a case study for a review of an existing project. Preliminary findings were discussed with the CAC, and a community consultation on both proposals was recommended.
Wikispore
[edit source]The application to consider Wikispore was submitted in 2019. SPTF decided to review this request in more depth because rather than being concentrated on a specific topic, as most of the proposals for the new Sister Projects are, Wikispore has the potential to nurture multiple start-up Sister Projects.
After careful consideration, the SPTF has decided not to recommend Wikispore as a Wikimedia Sister Project. Considering the current activity level, the current arrangement allows better flexibility and experimentation while WMF provides core infrastructural support.
We acknowledge the initiative's potential and seek community input on what would constitute a sufficient level of activity and engagement to reconsider its status in the future.
As part of the process, we shared the decision with the Wikispore community and invited one of its leaders, Pharos, to an SPTF meeting.
Currently, we especially invite feedback on measurable criteria indicating the project's readiness, such as contributor numbers, content volume, and sustained community support. This would clarify the criteria sufficient for opening a new Sister Project, including possible future Wikispore re-application. However, the numbers will always be a guide because any number can be gamed.
Wikinews
[edit source]We chose to review Wikinews among existing Sister Projects because it is the one for which we have observed the highest level of concern in multiple ways.
Since the SPTF was convened in 2023, its members have asked for the community's opinions during conferences and community calls about Sister Projects that did not fulfil their promise in the Wikimedia movement.[1][2][3] Wikinews was the leading candidate for an evaluation because people from multiple language communities proposed it. Additionally, by most measures, it is the least active Sister Project, with the greatest drop in activity over the years.
While the Language Committee routinely opens and closes language versions of the Sister Projects in small languages, there has never been a valid proposal to close Wikipedia in major languages or any project in English. This is not true for Wikinews, where there was a proposal to close English Wikinews, which gained some traction but did not result in any action[4][5], see section 5 as well as a draft proposal to close all languages of Wikinews[6].
Initial metrics compiled by WMF staff also support the community's concerns about Wikinews.
Based on this report, SPTF recommends a community reevaluation of Wikinews. We conclude that its current structure and activity levels are the lowest among the existing sister projects. SPTF also recommends pausing the opening of new language editions while the consultation runs.
SPTF brings this analysis to a discussion and welcomes discussions of alternative outcomes, including potential restructuring efforts or integration with other Wikimedia initiatives.
Options mentioned so far (which might be applied to just low-activity languages or all languages) include but are not limited to:
- Restructure how Wikinews works and is linked to other current events efforts on the projects,
- Merge the content of Wikinews into the relevant language Wikipedias, possibly in a new namespace,
- Merge content into compatibly licensed external projects,
- Archive Wikinews projects.
Your insights and perspectives are invaluable in shaping the future of these projects. We encourage all interested community members to share their thoughts on the relevant discussion pages or through other designated feedback channels.
Feedback and next steps
[edit source]We'd be grateful if you want to take part in a conversation on the future of these projects and the review process. We are setting up two different project pages: Public consultation about Wikispore and Public consultation about Wikinews. Please participate between 27 June 2025 and 27 July 2025, after which we will summarize the discussion to move forward. You can write in your own language.
I will also host a community conversation 16th July Wednesday 11.00 UTC and 17th July Thursday 17.00 UTC (call links to follow shortly) and will be around at Wikimania for more discussions.
-- Victoria on behalf of the Sister Project Task Force, 20:56, 27 Jun 2025 (UTC)
Wikidata Item and Property labels soon displayed in Wiki Watchlist/Recent Changes
[edit source](Apologies for posting in English, you can help by translating into your language)
Hello everyone, the Wikidata For Wikimedia Projects team is excited to announce an upcoming change in how Wikidata edit changelogs are displayed in your Watchlists and Recent Changes lists. If an edit is made on Wikidata that affects a page in another Wikimedia Project, the changelog will contain some information about the nature of the edit. This can include a QID (or Q-number), a PID (or P-number) and a value (which can be text, numbers, dates, or also QID or PID’s). Confused by these terms? See the Wikidata:Glossary for further explanations.
The upcoming change is scheduled for 17.07.2025, between 1300 - 1500 UTC.
The change will display the label (item name) alongside any QID or PIDs, as seen in the image below:
These changes will only be visible if you have Wikidata edits enabled in your User Preferences for Watchlists and Recent Changes, or have the active filter ‘Wikidata edits’ checkbox toggled on, directly on the Watchlist and Recent Changes pages.
Your bot and gadget may be affected! There are thousands of bots, gadgets and user-scripts and whilst we have researched potential effects to many of them, we cannot guarantee there won’t be some that are broken or affected by this change.
Further information and context about this change, including how your bot may be affected can be found on this project task page. We welcome your questions and feedback, please write to us on this dedicated Talk page.
Thank you, - Danny Benjafield (WMDE) on behalf of the Wikidata For Wikimedia Projects Team. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:45, 14 Julae 2025 (UTC)