Comments on: Wikimedia Foundation to Launch Arabic Catalyst

By: Wikimedia blog » Blog Archive » Wikimedia Foundation Engages in Egypt, Qatar and Jordan to Develop Arabic Content

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:24:35 +0000

[...] holds for the country. I will be in Egypt for the next nine days, as well as in Qatar for the Arabic Wikipedia Convening and in Jordan to research opportunities in the academic community as we find professors interested [...]

By: Wikimedia blog » Blog Archive » Wikimedia Foundation Report, September 2011

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:53:41 +0000

[...] Initiated our efforts to support the growth of the Arabic Wikipedia in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/10/04/wikimedia-foundation-to-launch-arabic-catalyst/ [...]

By: Can Wikipedia Find a Home of Editors in Cairo? « SKYLines and HighLines

Can Wikipedia Find a Home of Editors in Cairo? « SKYLines and HighLines — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:48:41 +0000

[...] future holds for the country. I will be in Egypt for the next nine days, as well as Qatar for the Arabic Wikipedia Convening and Jordan to research opportunities in the academic community and to find professors interested [...]

By: Salim

Salim — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:52:39 +0000

Great idea but i think the main problem i have with Arabic Wikipedia is their stupid adoption of flagged revisions since 2009. They don’t have enough active members and editors to make this work. A lot of articles and great contributions are blocked because no one has the time to review them. I made a few edits back in 2010 and some more in 2011 and 90% are still pending and waiting for one of the few editors to take a look at them.

I hope this issue will be discussed on some level at this meeting because on Arabic Wikipedia it is completely ignored by the admins. Apparently it pleases them to hold this kind of power and they refuse any sort of dialogue about it.

Add to this, the fact that most editors/admins are from Egypt/KSA meaning that you have almost no chance to have your article approved if it concerns other Arab countries like Sudan, Tunisia or Morocco. Why? Because they simply don’t care about some historical event or some town in Sudan or Algeria.

By: Moushira

Moushira — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:53:24 +0000

Hi Filceolaire, thanks for your comment. It definitely has been posted on the community portal on Arabic Wikipedia :) http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7:%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86/%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%8A%D9%81/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/10/2011

By: Filceolaire

Filceolaire — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:32:42 +0000

Interesting. I think this is a great move. I suspect all the conditions are there for arabic wikipedia to shoot up over the next few years, like russian has over the past few years
* growing internet access
* lots of people interested in getting information out
* people interested in getting access to information.

Has this been posted in arabic too?