Editing Wikipedia (section)

== Language editions ==
{{main|List of Wikipedias}}
{{Pie chart
| caption = '''Distribution of the {{NUMBEROF|ARTICLES|total|N}} articles in different language editions (as of {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}})'''<ref name="meta.wikimedia">[[:m:List of Wikipedias#1+ articles|List of Wikipedias—Meta]]</ref>
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[[File:Most popular edition of Wikipedia by country.svg|thumb|right|Most popular edition of Wikipedia by country in January 2021.]]
[[File:Wikipedia page views by language over time.png|thumb|Most viewed editions of Wikipedia over time.]]
[[File:Wikipedia editors by language over time.png|thumb|Most edited editions of Wikipedia over time.]]

There are currently {{NUMBEROF|languages|Wikipedia}} language editions of Wikipedia (also called ''language versions'', or simply ''Wikipedias''). As of {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}, the six largest, in order of article count, are the {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|1}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|2}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|3}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|4}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|5}}, and {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|6}} Wikipedias.<ref name="WP list of WPs by article 1">{{cite web|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias#All_Wikipedias_ordered_by_number_of_articles|title=Wikipedia:List of Wikipedias|publisher=English Wikipedia|access-date={{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}}}</ref> The {{ordinal to word|{{Wikipedia rank by size|ceb}}}} and {{ordinal to word|{{Wikipedia rank by size|sv}}}}-largest Wikipedias owe their position to the article-creating [[Internet bot|bot]] [[Lsjbot]], which {{as of|2013|lc=y}} had created about half the articles on the [[Swedish Wikipedia]], and most of the articles in the [[Cebuano Wikipedia|Cebuano]] and [[Waray Wikipedia]]s. The latter are both languages of the Philippines.

In addition to the top six, twelve other Wikipedias have more than a million articles each ({{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|7}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|8}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|9}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|10}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|11}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|12}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|13}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|14}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|15}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|16}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|17}} and {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|18}}), seven more have over 500,000 articles ({{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|19}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|20}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|21}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|22}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|23}}, {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|24}} and {{Wikipedia rank by size/WP|25}}), 44 more have over 100,000, and 82 more have over 10,000.<ref name="ListOfWikipedias" /><ref name="WP list of WPs by article 1" /> The largest, the English Wikipedia, has over {{#expr: 0.1*floor({{NUMBEROFARTICLES:R}}/100000)}} million articles. {{As of|2021|01|post=,}} the English Wikipedia receives 48% of Wikipedia's cumulative traffic, with the remaining split among the other languages. The top 10 editions represent approximately 85% of the total traffic.<ref>{{cite AV media |author=A455bcd9 |date=February 8, 2021 |title=Wikipedia page views by language over time |format=PNG |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_page_views_by_language_over_time.png |access-date=June 25, 2021}}</ref>

{{Largest Wikipedias/graph}}

[[File:TurkishWikipedia block pageviews february-may2017.png|thumb|right|A graph for pageviews of [[Turkish Wikipedia]] shows a large drop of roughly 80% immediately after the [[block of Wikipedia in Turkey]] was imposed in 2017.]]
Since Wikipedia is based on the [[World Wide Web|Web]] and therefore worldwide, contributors to the same language edition may use different dialects or may come from different countries (as is the case for the [[English Wikipedia|English edition]]). These differences may lead to some conflicts over [[American and British English spelling differences|spelling differences]] (e.g. ''colour'' versus ''[[color]]'')<ref name="WP spelling MOS 1">{{cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Spelling |title = Spelling |website = Manual of Style |publisher = Wikipedia |access-date = May 19, 2007 |date = September 26, 2018}}</ref> or points of view.<ref name="WP countering bias 1">{{cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Countering_systemic_bias |title = Countering systemic bias |access-date = May 19, 2007 |date = July 15, 2018}}</ref>

Though the various language editions are held to global policies such as "neutral point of view", they diverge on some points of policy and practice, most notably on whether images that are not [[free content|licensed freely]] may be used under a claim of [[fair use]].<ref name="WP meta fair use 1">{{cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fair_use |title = Fair use |publisher = Meta-Wiki |access-date = July 14, 2007}}</ref><ref name="WP meta WP images 1">{{cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Images_on_Wikipedia |title = Images on Wikipedia |access-date = July 14, 2007}}</ref><ref name="IBM visual WP 1">{{cite journal |url=https://www.research.ibm.com/visual/papers/viegas_hicss_visual_wikipedia.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061024012919/https://www.research.ibm.com/visual/papers/viegas_hicss_visual_wikipedia.pdf |archive-date=24 October 2006 |first = Fernanda B. |last = Viégas |title = The Visual Side of Wikipedia |journal = Visual Communication Lab, IBM Research |date = January 3, 2007 |access-date = October 30, 2007}}</ref>

Jimmy Wales has described Wikipedia as "an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language".<ref name="WP Wales free multi-lingual encyclopedia">[[Jimmy Wales]], [[:mailarchive:wikipedia-l/2005-March/020469.html|"Wikipedia is an encyclopedia"]], March 8, 2005, &lt;Wikipedia-l@wikimedia.org&gt;</ref> Though each language edition functions more or less independently, some efforts are made to supervise them all. They are coordinated in part by Meta-Wiki, the Wikimedia Foundation's wiki devoted to maintaining all its projects (Wikipedia and others).<ref name="WP metawiki maintenance 1">{{cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org |title = Meta-Wiki |publisher = Wikimedia Foundation |access-date = March 24, 2009}}</ref> For instance, Meta-Wiki provides important statistics on all language editions of Wikipedia,<ref name="WP meta stats 1">{{cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Statistics |title = Meta-Wiki Statistics |publisher = Wikimedia Foundation |access-date = March 24, 2008}}</ref> and it maintains a list of articles every Wikipedia should have.<ref name="WP meta articles on all sites 1">{{cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_articles_every_Wikipedia_should_have |title = List of articles every Wikipedia should have |publisher = Wikimedia Foundation |access-date = March 24, 2008}}</ref> The list concerns basic content by subject: biography, history, geography, society, culture, science, technology, and mathematics. It is not rare for articles strongly related to a particular language not to have counterparts in another edition. For example, articles about small towns in the United States might be available only in English, even when they meet the notability criteria of other language Wikipedia projects.

[[File:User - demography.svg|thumb|left|upright=2.27|Estimation of contributions shares from different regions in the world to different Wikipedia editions<ref name="PLoS One 2012" />]]
Translated articles represent only a small portion of articles in most editions, in part because those editions do not allow fully automated translation of articles. Articles available in more than one language may offer "interwiki links", which link to the counterpart articles in other editions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Massa |first1=Paolo |last2=Scrinzi |first2=Federico |date=2013-01-04 |title=Manypedia: Comparing language points of view of Wikipedia communities |url=https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3939 |journal=First Monday |volume=18 |language=en |doi=10.5210/fm.v18i1.3939 |issn=1396-0466}}</ref>

A study published by ''[[PLOS One]]'' in 2012 also estimated the share of contributions to different editions of Wikipedia from different regions of the world. It reported that the proportion of the edits made from North America was 51% for the [[English Wikipedia]], and 25% for the [[simple English Wikipedia]].<ref name="PLoS One 2012">{{cite journal |last1 = Yasseri |first1 = Taha |last2 = Sumi |first2 = Robert |last3 = Kertész |first3 = János |author-link3 = János Kertész |title = Circadian Patterns of Wikipedia Editorial Activity: A Demographic Analysis |journal = [[PLOS One]] |date = January 17, 2012 |volume = 7 |issue = 1 |pages = e30091 |doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0030091 |pmid = 22272279 |pmc = 3260192 |arxiv = 1109.1746 |bibcode = 2012PLoSO...730091Y|doi-access = free }}</ref>

=== English Wikipedia editor numbers ===
[[File:Editors English Wikipedia History.png|thumb|Number of editors on the English Wikipedia over time.]]

On March 1, 2014, ''[[The Economist]]'', in an article titled "The Future of Wikipedia", cited a trend analysis concerning data published by the Wikimedia Foundation stating that "[t]he number of editors for the English-language version has fallen by a third in seven years."<ref name="economist1">{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/international/21597959-popular-online-encyclopedia-must-work-out-what-next-wikipeaks |title = The future of Wikipedia: WikiPeaks? |newspaper = The Economist |date = March 1, 2014 |access-date = March 11, 2014}}</ref> The attrition rate for active editors in English Wikipedia was cited by ''The Economist'' as substantially in contrast to statistics for Wikipedia in other languages (non-English Wikipedia). ''The Economist'' reported that the number of contributors with an average of five or more edits per month was relatively constant since 2008 for Wikipedia in other languages at approximately 42,000 editors within narrow seasonal variances of about 2,000 editors up or down. The number of active editors in English Wikipedia, by sharp comparison, was cited as peaking in 2007 at approximately 50,000 and dropping to 30,000 by the start of 2014.

In contrast, the trend analysis published in ''The Economist'' presents Wikipedia in other languages (non-English Wikipedia) as successful in retaining their active editors on a renewable and sustained basis, with their numbers remaining relatively constant at approximately 42,000.<ref name="economist1" /> No comment was made concerning which of the differentiated edit policy standards from Wikipedia in other languages (non-English Wikipedia) would provide a possible alternative to English Wikipedia for effectively ameliorating substantial editor attrition rates on the English-language Wikipedia.<ref>Andrew Lih. ''Wikipedia''. Alternative edit policies at Wikipedia in other languages.</ref>