Re: Google Zero is coming [was Re: Wikipedia at 25: A Wake-Up Call (essay)]
Nicolas VIGNERON via Wikimedia-l <[email protected]> Thu, 9 Jul 2026 08:12:13 +0200
| Newsgroups | gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <CANTrCmjb1huFKea+m0p7Msfp8p_jTXh0qb0uwBqS5K_+hs0SFA@mail.gmail.com> |
--===============3795350189810646201== Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="0000000000000cd3f2065627823f" --0000000000000cd3f2065627823f Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi y'all, First could someone remind me how much traffic comes from Google (I have a vague memory from last year that this is already very low - maybe 10 or 20 % - and that LLMs are already bringing more traffic to Wikipedia, if true we essentially are at Google Zero already). Secondly, I'd love to see initiative outside of enwiki. If you look at all the ~1000 Wikimedia projects, almost all of them are seeing an increase in traffic ; only a few big old wikipedias are seeing a decrease (which are also the ones with the most traffic, hence why it's more visible but it obfuscate at the big picture). I think we should start by looking at and learning from the "successful" projects instead of focusing on the declining ones. For instance, Wikisources always have been badly to not-at-all referenced by Google and yet there is a strong increase in pageviews recently. Cheers, Nicolas Le jeu. 9 juil. 2026 =C3=A0 03:38, Michael Snow via Wikimedia-l < [email protected]> a =C3=A9crit : > On 7/8/2026 12:52 PM, Luis Villa via Wikimedia-l wrote: > > - Scale of impact is important, but it isn=E2=80=99t everything. Someti= mes > > we=E2=80=99ll have to build things without knowing if they=E2=80=99ll s= cale, or even > > perhaps knowing that they won=E2=80=99t scale (eg Depths of Wikipedia i= s one > > of the best community-builders we have even though it has =E2=80=9Conly= =E2=80=9D a few > > million followers). =E2=80=9CThat=E2=80=99s good but it won=E2=80=99t s= cale to enwiki=E2=80=9D can > > never be allowed to be a blocker for anyone. If the experiment is > > actually great, then we=E2=80=99ll figure out a way to get it onto enwi= ki. Or > > not! That shouldn=E2=80=99t stop people. > > At this point, no single initiative (whether community, chapter, or > WMF-led) will have an inherent capacity to scale to enwiki. To do so > would require corporate-style resources with a corresponding top-down > mandate for implementation, and risk (rightly) triggering resistance to > the point of launching a true durable fork, for once. Instead, the best > approach would be to find ideas that are good enough to propagate, > encourage them, and when they have propagated enough, they will scale > with relatively little intervention needed. > > --Michael Snow > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]= rg/message/6EQOFSG34E3BC6FIYL55HYBTQBAW4XFN/ > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave-RusutVdil2icGmH+5r0DM0B+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org --0000000000000cd3f2065627823f Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Hi y'all,</div><div><br></div><div>First could so= meone remind me how much traffic comes from Google (I have a vague memory f= rom last year that this is already very low - maybe 10 or 20 % - and that L= LMs are already=C2=A0bringing more traffic to Wikipedia, if true we essenti= ally are at Google Zero already).</div><div><br></div><div>Secondly, I'= d love to see initiative outside of enwiki. If you look at all the ~1000 Wi= kimedia projects, almost all of them are seeing an increase in traffic ; on= ly a few big old wikipedias are seeing=C2=A0a decrease (which are also the = ones with the most traffic,=C2=A0hence why it's more visible but it obf= uscate at the big picture).</div><div>I think we should start by looking at= and learning from the "successful" projects instead of focusing = on the declining ones. For instance, Wikisources always have been badly to = not-at-all referenced by Google and yet there is a strong increase in pagev= iews recently.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Nicolas</div></di= v><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir=3D"ltr" cla= ss=3D"gmail_attr">Le=C2=A0jeu. 9 juil. 2026 =C3=A0=C2=A003:38, Michael Snow= via Wikimedia-l <<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">wik= [email protected]</a>> a =C3=A9crit=C2=A0:<br></div><blockquo= te class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px = solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">On 7/8/2026 12:52 PM, Luis Villa v= ia Wikimedia-l wrote:<br> > - Scale of impact is important, but it isn=E2=80=99t everything. Somet= imes <br> > we=E2=80=99ll have to build things without knowing if they=E2=80=99ll = scale, or even <br> > perhaps knowing that they won=E2=80=99t scale (eg Depths of Wikipedia = is one <br> > of the best community-builders we have even though it has =E2=80=9Conl= y=E2=80=9D a few <br> > million followers). =E2=80=9CThat=E2=80=99s good but it won=E2=80=99t = scale to enwiki=E2=80=9D can <br> > never be allowed to be a blocker for anyone. If the experiment is <br> > actually great, then we=E2=80=99ll figure out a way to get it onto enw= iki. Or <br> > not! That shouldn=E2=80=99t stop people.<br> <br> At this point, no single initiative (whether community, chapter, or <br> WMF-led) will have an inherent capacity to scale to enwiki. To do so <br> would require corporate-style resources with a corresponding top-down <br> mandate for implementation, and risk (rightly) triggering resistance to <br= > the point of launching a true durable fork, for once. Instead, the best <br= > approach would be to find ideas that are good enough to propagate, <br> encourage them, and when they have propagated enough, they will scale <br> with relatively little intervention needed.<br> <br> --Michael Snow<br> <br> _______________________________________________<br> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- <a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]= rg" target=3D"_blank">[email protected]</a>, guidelines at: <= a href=3D"https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines" rel=3D"= noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists= /Guidelines</a> and <a href=3D"https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l"= rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikim= edia-l</a><br> Public archives at <a href=3D"https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/w= [email protected]/message/6EQOFSG34E3BC6FIYL55HYBTQBAW4XFN/" r= el=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/= list/[email protected]/message/6EQOFSG34E3BC6FIYL55HYBTQBAW4X= FN/</a><br> To unsubscribe send an email to <a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]= ikimedia.org" target=3D"_blank">wikimedia-l-leave-RusutVdil2icGmH+5r0DM0B+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org</a></= blockquote></div> --0000000000000cd3f2065627823f-- --===============3795350189810646201== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/4WPCSTZNDMBDMYHWHV27BN2EZLGY5LXB/ To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave-RusutVdil2icGmH+5r0DM0B+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org --===============3795350189810646201==--