https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Conference_Fund/Open_Knowledge_Conference
On Thursday, April 30th, 2026 at 10:56 AM, Gerard Meijssen via Wikimedia-l
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Hoi,
> Apparently the tough nut question is "When are we going to recognise that we
> have a multi dimensional, multi lingual freely licensed wiki content
> environment that has so far only focussed on text?"
> Thanks,
> GerardM
>
> On Thu, 30 Apr 2026 at 07:08, Luis Villa via Wikimedia-l
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> The fundraising team would be the first to say that revenue is the means,
>> not the end. They can tweak the numbers by running more/different banners,
>> but that does not mean the project is healthy.
>> Bigger picture point: at WikiCredCon, it was suggested that this year's
>> strategic discussions would focus on last year's 6-8% decline.
>> I would go a much different direction. After the 1st quarter, our strategic
>> process has to start by asking the hardest possible question: what if
>> "reading an encyclopedia" is mostly over, like reading a print newspaper? In
>> other words, what if our long-term on-wiki readership graph looks like this
>> one? https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/newspapers/
>>
>> So, for purposes of strategic discussion: assume that within 2-3 years our
>> on-wiki readership will be at 5% of peak. Or even braver: assume that
>> on-wiki readership goes to essentially zero, with only editors reading it.
>> I'm not saying this is the most likely outcome, just that approaching the
>> question from that frame is much more likely to generate interesting and
>> important ideas than trying to slowly tweak our decline.
>>
>> What then?
>>
>> "zero on-wiki readers" wouldn't mean our mission is over: there are many
>> ways (including many new and fun and productive ways!) to collaborate on
>> open knowledge, many partners we could co-create with, and many channels to
>> distribute that knowledge. And despite the general downturn, at least some
>> outlets adjacent to us are thriving right now:
>> https://lu.is/2026/04/web-collaboration-five-graphs/ So I'm not saying "all
>> is doomed".
>>
>> But approaching our mission *without* assuming the magnetic force of the
>> wiki would force us to be creative--to start experimenting widely and
>> boldly. I think we need to place 1,000 bets with 10,000 motivated
>> volunteers, sooner rather than later.
>> This is not going to be easy. Among other things:
>> - lots of old habits to unlearn. (I admit my own first public experiment is
>> on... en-wiki. Hopefully #2 will be on wikidata, at least! And I've finally
>> bought a .wiki domain for #3...)
>> - if those 10,000 volunteers have to do this entirely on their own time (and
>> own GPUs) then we'll again be building a movement by and for the
>> (relatively) wealthy. Hopefully we can find many funders, not just WMF, so
>> that we have a diversity of approaches and risk-tolerances.
>> - lots of those experiments are going to fail, and we're going to have to
>> pick ourselves up and try again anyway. (Shades of Mako's paper:
>> https://mako.cc/academic/hill-almost_wikipedia-DRAFT.pdf)
>> - we're going to have to find new signs of success. It might be readers, but
>> it might not, or it might be different kinds of readers, or it might more
>> explicitly be GLAMs, or... we don't know yet. But the One Big Number of
>> readership likely will never be The Thing again.
>> Anyway, I'm mostly going to go back to experimenting (and hopefully sharing
>> more about that experimentation). But had to get that off my chest. Hope it
>> spurs others to plant some seeds and run some experiments!
>> Trying to be Bold-
>> Luis
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 29, 2026 at 6:30 PM Anders Wennersten via Wikimedia-l
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> 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](https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/new-pages/normal%7Cbar%7C2-year%7Cpage_type~content%7Cmonthly)
>>>
>>> [2]
>>> [https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/edits/normal|bar|2-year|editor_type~user+(page_type)~content|monthly](https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/edits/normal%7Cbar%7C2-year%7Ceditor_type~user+(page_type)~content%7Cmonthly)
>>>
>>> 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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