Facts states (worldwide figures):
*Donation is up
*Number of new pages is up [1]
*number of edits från users is up [2}
That is not figures of a crises
The 20% decrease represent a different way of accessing info. we have to
learn how to adjust to these changes but is is NOT a general crises,
Anders
[1]
https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/new-pages/normal|bar|2-year|page_type~content|monthly
[2]
https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/edits/normal|bar|2-year|editor_type~user+(page_type)~content|monthly
Den 2026-04-28 kl. 17:31, skrev Christophe Henner via Wikimedia-l:
Hi,
3 months later, a new statistic: mobile page views dropped by 19% in
one year.
We are back to the mobile traffic levels of 2018.
https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-projects/reading/total-page-views/normal|bar|2016-01-01~2026-04-28|(access)~mobile-app*mobile-web+agent~user|monthly
<https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-projects/reading/total-page-views/normal%7Cbar%7C2016-01-01~2026-04-28%7C(access)~mobile-app*mobile-web+agent~user%7Cmonthly>
At this rate, our mobile traffic in 2026 will be at the levels of
pre-2013. 2013...
In the meantime, Ericsson is reporting a global mobile usage growth of
over 20%
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/mobility-report/dataforecasts/mobile-traffic-update
When I published my essay, I mostly received gentle to aggressive push
back. Back then I was displaying a 8% drop. Now a 20% year over year.
Why did I pick mobile traffic? Because historically bots are less
using desktop browser UAs which makes the data a bit more reliable for
trends.
3 months ago I said we had 24 months ahead of us before irrelevancy.
Well at this rate, in two years we will have lost half of our traffic.
And the sad part is that those downhill trends tend not to slow down.
And what now? Well being very blunt, there's only one body in our
movement that can muster leadership, energy and resources to tackle
this topic head on, that's the board of trustees.
And if 20% doesn't trigger fast and real actions, I have no idea what
would.
PS: yes this email is written with a lot of emotion, but minus 20% YoY
should trigger that reaction in everyone.
--
Christophe
On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 at 00:40, Christophe Henner
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hey everyone,
I struggled with the object, the most honest one would be "Last
exit before irrelevance" but that would be a bit violent.
So, Wikipedia turns 25 next week. I've been here for over twenty
of those years, including stints chairing Wikimedia France and the
Foundation Board. And honestly? I'm worried. Scared to be honnest.
Over the last years, I've been regularly crunching data and
sharing on different channels my worries. But in the last few
weeks I decided to make a much more structured "essay" of my findings
Since 2016, the internet nearly doubled in size.
Our page views? Down. New editor sign-ups? Down 36%.
The people keeping this thing running are working harder than
ever, but there are fewer of them every year.
I wrote it all up: the numbers, what I think went wrong, what I
think we need to do about it. Fair warning: it's long, it's
opinionated, and some of it will probably make you mad.
*Here it is: *https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Schiste/what-now
I'm not trying to be doom and gloom for the sake of it. I
genuinely believe we have maybe two years to make some hard calls
about AI, about money, about who we're actually serving. After
that, the window closes and we become irrelevant.
Could be wrong. Hope I am. But I'd rather we have this argument
now than wish we had later. Well I'd rather we had this argument
two or four years ago, but now we will make do.
Read it, tell me where I'm off base. Let's argue and debate.
That's what talk pages are for, right?
PS: Foundation board mailing list is bcc'ed, change cannot happen
without their commitment. And fast.
--
Christophe
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