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Tell us about Italian Wikipedia

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Italian Wikipedia edit

Questionaire edit

Contributors edit

  • Wikimedia Statistics can be difficult to interpret. What is your impression, how many steady contributors do you have?
  1. Last time I saw some "statics" they said 400/500 (it was two years ago) --DracoRoboter 00:14, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. I believe less than 500 and more than 100, it is quite difficult to be more precise, there is a continuos turnover which tooks about 20-40% of contributors.--Bramfab 07:39, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. They're between 200 and 500 I think. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. 300-400 Jalo 08:22, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. 200-400 - --Klaudio 09:38, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Several hudreds. --Panairjdde 10:19, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  7. I don't know --LaPizia 15:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  8. No more than 500, but about 200 contribute very often. Heavy turnover.--Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  9. Heavy turnover, about 200 "hard working users" and other 300/400 "medium working users"--Vituzzu 20:30, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  10. 300-500 --Dedda71 12:55, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  11. Per Vituzzu --Fabexplosive The archive man 14:56, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  12. about 200 "hard working users" and other 200/300 "medium working users" --ripe tolc 20:34, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  13. I don't know --Giancarlodessi 22:09, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  14. 250 hard working users, 250-300 medium working users, so: more than 500 . --Antiedipo 13:18, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  15. Some hundreds of very- active-to-occasional editors.--Elitre
  16. about 350-400...--Torsolo 14:52, 19 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Are your contributors mostly native speakers?
  1. Yes --DracoRoboter 00:14, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Definitively yes --Bramfab 07:39, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Yes, sure. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Yes, almost all Jalo 08:22, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Yes - --Klaudio 09:38, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Almost all of them. --Panairjdde 10:19, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Yes --LaPizia 15:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Yes --Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  9. Yes, Italian is really hard to learn--Vituzzu 20:30, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Yes; yet there are some not native users, very few indeed, that can write in a good Italian. As a rule, babelfish translations into Italian are usually speedy deleted (due to the work they require to make them readable, being the translator quite insufficient for this language). --Edipo 00:30, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  11. yes --Dedda71 12:55, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  12. Yes --Fabexplosive The archive man 15:00, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  13. yes --ripe tolc 20:34, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  14. yes --Giancarlodessi 22:09, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  15. yes--Antiedipo 13:18, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  16. Definitely.--Elitre
  17. yes --Torsolo 14:52, 19 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Where do your contributors live (regions/country)?
  1. Mostly in Italy (mostly in the northern side and near Rome), some in switzerland. --DracoRoboter 00:14, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Mainly in Italy, but some contributions come, from Italian users living quite far from their country (probably due to work or study duties)
  3. Most contributors live in Italy. Some are abroad for study or work, as said above (but I don't know many of them). --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Italy, especially the northern part Jalo 08:22, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Mostly Italy, others in different European countries, fewer in other continents. - --Klaudio 09:38, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Mostly in Italy
  7. Mostly in Italy, others live around the world --LaPizia 15:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Italy, some in Switzerland and Argentina (very few).
  9. Italy, mostly in Rome, Sicily, Veneto and Lombardy--Vituzzu 20:30, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Mostly in Italy, some in Switzerland, Germany, France and Argentina (some declared ones). In Italy there are Wikipedians throughout the whole territory (some declared ones), mostly in wealthier or technologically advanced areas (main towns, or North-East of the country); there are some curious concentrations in Rome (on appr. 90 admins, 5 of them, who didn't know each other, live in little more than an acre) and in Milan. For other areas, interesting and qualitative presences from the major islands, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy still suffers from "digital divide", however, and browsing at 20/30k can be a heavy limit --Edipo 00:30, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  11. Mostly in Italy--Dedda71 12:55, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  12. Mostly in Italy, some contributors from and EU countries. --Fabexplosive The archive man 15:00, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  13. mostly in Italy, some in switzerland. --ripe tolc 20:34, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  14. I don't know, but there is also an Italian contributor from India --Giancarlodessi 22:09, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  15. Mostly Italy; especially in Sicily, Tuscany, Rome. --Antiedipo 13:18, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  16. Most of them live in Italy.--Elitre
  17. Most of them live in Italy...--Torsolo 14:52, 19 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • How common is it that your contributors meet in real life?
  1. Quite common. There are, I guess, monthly metings for social and/or "wiki" reasons. --DracoRoboter 00:14, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. It's common, we frequently meet up in "Wikiraduni" (wiki-meetings) in several Italian cities. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Nearly once a month. Jalo 08:22, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. About 8-10 meetings per year - --Klaudio 09:38, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Several live meeting, but for a very reduced number, I guess --Panairjdde 10:19, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. It depends from where the meetings happen: I mean, a lot of meetings usually happen in the north of Italy, less in the south, and I think some people can't go far from home (for problems of money, where to sleep and so on) --LaPizia 15:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Often (about once a month), as I know, but I've never been at any meeting. --Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Often, there are a lot of unofficial wiki-meetings--Vituzzu 20:30, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  9. A few contributors (50/100) meet quite often, let's say monthly, depending on public meetings or other events. "Senators" usually are in direct contact among themselves. Most users don't meet IRL --Edipo 00:30, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  10. It depends from where the meetings happen, I agree. --Dedda71 12:55, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  11. Approx once a month. --Fabexplosive The archive man 15:00, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  12. A few contributors, 20-30, meet often, monthly; mostly, other people meet never in real life. --Antiedipo 13:18, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Some editors (among them, many long-time users and admins) do meet often: although the trend is attending and helping for a local chapter event, rather than just meeting up to drink something and have a chat. --Elitre
  14. Quite common... about once a month...--Torsolo 14:52, 19 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Other Wikipedias edit

  • Do you have special contacts with another Wikipedias (maybe in related languages)?
  1. Some it.wiki user are also lmo, sc, em.. user (so called "dialetti italiani" 'pedias). These are romance languages spoken mostly in italy: several people in Italy are bilingual. --DracoRoboter 00:18, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. I'm not an active contributor in Wikipedias other than Italian (and I can't speak any Italian dialect). --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. All the wikis, but just for Maintenance Jalo 08:25, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. No, I usually don't write in other wikipedias --LaPizia 15:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Sometimes in en, fr and es (only minor contributions). --Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Often I get in touch with other wiki-projects on official IRC channels but sometimes I do minor edit (as adding interiwiki) or reverts on more projects--Vituzzu 20:25, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  7. I read and sometimes write on vec.wiki
  8. I sometimes write in sc.wiki (sardinian wikipedia), but it isn't a very good project... --ripe tolc 20:39, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  9. I guess you refers to the community, the answer would be "no we don't, AFAIK".--Elitre
  10. Principally for SWMT, sometimes for uplod images (ex: commonswiki). --Fabexplosive The archive man 19:43, 21 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Do you translate a lot from other Wikipedias? Which ones?
  1. sometimes from en. --DracoRoboter 00:18, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. I sometimes translate computer science articles from English Wikipedia. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Often (almost always) from en.wiki. Sometimes from fr.wiki or es.wiki Jalo 08:24, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Yes, I do. Mostly from en.wiki, then de.wiki, es.wiki and fr.wiki. --Panairjdde 10:19, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Personally I translate only short pages (when I'm on hurry), I prefer taking contents from books (in Italian). --Sailko 10:55, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. I usually translate from en and fr wikipedias --LaPizia 15:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  7. sometimes from en., but I put my hands on fr., es., de. and even nl.wiki - εΔω 19:52, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  8. Often from en.wiki, less from es.wiki and fr.wiki. --Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  9. Often from en.wiki and less from fr.wiki--Vituzzu 20:25, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  10. I just translate form en..wiki and fr.wiki. --Dedda71 12:58, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  11. I often add interlinks of articles about Insects in other wikipedias taken from Global Wikipedia Article Search --Giancarlodessi 22:09, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  12. I write sometimes in english in global project as Commons and more rarely in en.wiki--Mattia Luigi Nappi 11:04, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Only enwiki --Fabexplosive The archive man 19:47, 21 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Organization and support edit

  • Is there a Wikimedia chapter in your country? How does your language relate to it?
  1. Yes (Wiki Media Italia: WMI). My mother native language is italian, WMI main language. WMI also is related with "dialetti italiani" languages. (see above) --DracoRoboter 00:21, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Yes, there is WMI (I'm affiliated with it). --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. WMI's members live almost all in Italy and are native speakers of Italian. --Elitre


  • Are there work groups in other organizations about Wikipedia?
  1. "other organizations" ha a very broad meaning :-) I don't know about them if they exist... --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Yes; it's related with some italian regional chapter. --Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. The only chapter operating in Italy is Wikimedia Italia; we're trying to create some local groups in the cities/regions where the chapter counts more associates. Such groups are anyway considered as part of the national chapter. --Paginazero - Ø 18:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Not officially, but AFAIK it may happen that groups of people gather to write articles about matters they're interested in (i.e. the organization itself).
Well, maybe the definition also applies to Wikiafrica (which is partly a project of WMI).
There may be other groups leading activities related to Wikipedia, often in touch with dialects' wikis. These people may give a non accurate idea of aim and mission of a Wikipedia and offer wrong infos about licenses. --Elitre

Your Wikipedia and the linguistic community edit

  • Is there a language institution for your language, like an Academy, or a club of people interested in your language? Do you have contact with them?
  1. Yes, the Accademia della Crusca is widely known as the main Academy for preservation and care of Italian language. It has many resources on the net, as well as many publications on Italian linguistics. The manual of style on it.wiki (Manuale di stile) is widely based on their recommendations --Rutja76 06:23, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. there si not official contact or other type of relationship with Accademia della Crusca. --Bramfab 07:44, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Yes, in our discussion we often link to the "Accademia della Crusca" for Italian language guidelines. But we haven't any official relationship with it, AFAIK. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Yes, the Accademia della Crusca, with many hundred years of history. No contact with them. --Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. No contacts with the Crusca. --Elitre
  • Who (else) supports you?
  1. No one but the readers/editors. We don't have any official recognition by the national political authorities or other organizations. Just words of general appreciation. --Paginazero - Ø 18:11, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. I'm not talking about money, but I think it is worth saying that WMI is very often supported and encouraged by groups such as Linux Users Groups, open source movements and others, which help us organizing events and/or host them, provide technical help and so on. --Elitre
  • How looks your public outreach for your edition? Do you have flyers, give lectures, trainings etc.?
  1. We have flyers, give lectures, organize tranings and distribute gadgets, and so on. Through the chapter, we tour the nation taking part in popular events (fairs, congresses, etc.) whose aim is coherent with WMF goals for promoting Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects. --Paginazero - Ø 18:11, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. This is the main part of WMI's activities. Please read this (for flyers, cheatsheets, slideshows) and this (further activity). --Elitre
  • Do you get feedback from readers?
  1. The feedback received is very very small compared to the extimated numbers of readers. --Bramfab 07:51, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. We receive some feedback; many anonyms correct errors in articles, or request us to do so. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. As an OTRS volunteer I can say that people write frequently to report bugs, mistakes... Anonymous readers sometimes do this in articles' talk pages, a namespace poorly patrolled IMHO.--Elitre
  • What other encyclopedias exist in your language?
  1. The main encyclopedia in Italian is Treccani. Sometimes the papers publish comparisons of Treccani and Wikipedia regarding a particular topic. Balabiot 06:29, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. There'a s certain number of them, but AFAIK none of these has a free online version, whilst some dictionaries have one. --Elitre

Content edit

  • Does your edition concentrates on certain topics, like your region and language, or Latin Wikipedia on Roman history and Christianity?
  1. There is no intentional concentration on certain topics, obviously there is a bias of several users to write mainly on subject related to italian issues. This bias is not encouraged --Bramfab 07:47, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. On it.wikipedia Italian topics are obviosly more covered, because our users are mainly Italian and are likely to write on their country. But we try to avoid localism. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Mostly in Italian topics, with an insane trend for a contributor to strive to reach featured article status for his own small town article. --Panairjdde 10:19, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Not intentionally, but there are some topics, like history, sports, politics and religions, on which focuses attention of a wide part of contributors. --Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Some topics as ancient history, Cristianity, art and local traditions are more common than others--Vituzzu 20:34, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Not intentionally. --Dedda71 13:01, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  7. In the life project (animals and plants) there are many articles about specimens of other Countries. When it is possible we put inside the article also some references about Italy --Giancarlodessi 22:09, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Some topics as ancient history, Christianity, are more common than others; catholic point of view is overreppresented. Edits about sciences, math, are fewer than others. --Antiedipo 14:49, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  9. If it does, it is just because of a good/better knowledge of these topics. Italy-centric POV is deprecated. There are many portals and/or projects not so related to Italian subjects. --Elitre
  10. Probably some projects are better developed than others: football, Catholicism and history have achieved an interesting depth and extension, in some cases italian wiki is "world leader". Italian biographies are also well developed. Other topics do not have the same coverage: geography, sociology, economics have rather poor contents. It is still easy not to find an article present on 10+ wikis. Avemundi 00:13, 15 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Did your edition enjoy text donations, for example from older encyclopedias?
  1. Not that I know; however, "OTRS donations" (text found as copyviol and later donated by the copyright owner to publish it under the GFDL) are relatively commons. Balabiot 06:29, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Not very much AFAIK. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. There is something like Emanuele Repetti's Dizionario Geografico Fisico Storico della Toscana, in PD, but the pages need serious proof reading, updates check and wikification, so it is mostly quicker to write the pages ex-novo --Sailko 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. We recive several texts donations (for example the "Regione.toscana"'s one)--Vituzzu 20:34, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Only common people or organizations write to donate text or images, and this usually happens because they have been notified that publishing such materials on WP without an OTRS ticket is forbidden (or because a WP user asked for that material to be freely available). We had some major donations, i.e. this or this. --Elitre

Language edit

  • Is there a generally accepted norm about your language (spelling, dictionary, pronounciation)?
  1. Yes there is. Spelling and written Italian are unambiguous, spoken pronuciation might change from region to region, but the written form doesn't --Rutja76 06:23, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Yes, the written form of our language is quite standard; if we are in doubt we consult the QA of "Accademia della Crusca", and different dictionaries. --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Yes, Italian is a standard language, even if there are many dialects commonly used daily by a large part of Italians. --Pigr8 17:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Yes, formal Italian is quite well defined by huge amounts of literature. However, Italian is an ancient language and sometimes legacies from the past do appear: in these cases, part of the users tend to prefer modern forms and some conflicts remain unsolved. In common or service pages, questions arise sometimes about similar details and usually the best formal variants are chosen and used. As a common habit, Latin is widely used (especially about law) and it's seldom shown as a foreign language. We have very little problems about pronounciation; this could be a reason why I can't remember an audio file to explain a pronounciation :-) --Edipo 00:24, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Yes --Dedda71 13:02, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. yes --ripe tolc 21:05, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Yes, the written form of our language is quite standard and unambiguous, there aren't conflicts on these issues.--Mattia Luigi Nappi 11:04, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Yes. Maybe it's the only topic italian editors can not squabble about. --Elitre
  • How do you deal with different spellings, dialects etc. (like B.E. lift and A.E. elevator)?
  1. There are not such major differences as in B.E. and A.E., although some differences in dictionary may appear in Swiss Italian, which is the only official variation of the language spoken outside Italy. As for dialects, they are some dialect words that nowadays are used in common Italians, but only the ones which appear in main dictionaries can be accepted in written form. Two major Italian dictionaries are freely available on the Internet (De Mauro and Garzanti) --Rutja76 06:23, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Sometimes we declare two forms of the same word as accepted, and sometimes we declare one form right and the other wrong, according to dictionaries and consensus; usually the standard language doesn't vary very much: big variations are recognized as dialects (and we don't use them, dialect are used on specified Wikipedias). --Pietrodn · talk with me 08:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  3. The language is spoken mostly in a single country, therefore there aren't many different spellings. --Panairjdde 10:19, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    eh eh, non sarei così sicuro che single country = single spelling :-) vallo a dire ai norvegesi. Balabiot 13:11, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Italian is a standard language but speaking it it's possible to use a lot of different forms, from an spelling point of view we have no particoular issues becouse our phonetic structures are really simple--Vituzzu 20:37, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Spelling problems are quite rare in Italian, while dialects are not allowed (as said above, they have their own projects, indeed). Familiar lexicon, as well as slang, are very soon translated into formal Italian --Edipo 00:24, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  6. This issue does not involve us. When an article deals with something mainly or widely known by its name in dialect, this is reported in the introduction (i.e. here). --Elitre

See also edit

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