Tell us about Dutch Wikipedia

This page belongs to the project Tell us about your Wikipedia.

Questionnaire

Contributors

Wikimedia Statistics can be difficult to interpret. What is your impression, how many steady contributors do you have?
- not much, compared to the people living in the country. It seams rather stable. Some new come and some older go or contribute less. I blame the rules and the community for creating with every new rule an environment where less and less people can feel comfortable. It also kills creativity. Alas this seems to continu, so I guess the community stays small. Thank God for the addiction: so many people develop an addiction, so they keep coming back. If not, the project would be dead by now. Pjetter 19:35, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- I think there is a stable "hard core" of 60 +/- 20 users that contribute very frequently, half of them being moderators. Frequently, an active contributor leaves because of conflicts or frustration about the way the Dutch Wikipedia deals with problematic situation. However, there are also frequently new users that become very active. Josq 20:36, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Agree with Josq. MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- I think there are around 200 contributors, but a lot of the only contributes to the articles instead of participating in the community, so not everybody knows these people.Cumulus 12:00, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- I agree with Cumulus' estimate. A lot of the steady contributors do not engage in community-activities. Although I am an admin I do not engage often in these activities since it mostly revolves around verbal fights and does not usually bring any results. We also see a lot of contributors with a conflict of interest, writing articles abolut their totally unknown band or a small company. And we see a lot of school-IP's that usually bring nothing but vandalism. EdBever 10:32, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Are your contributors mostly native speakers?
- I think about every contributor is native speaker. --82.95.107.74 18:09, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- >99% Pjetter 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Yes, I don't know of any non-native Dutch speakers on the Dutch Wikipedia. MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - 3 users on NL Wiki have "NL-0" on their user page.84.27.84.174 11:19, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- There are users on the NL-wiki who are not native speakers of Dutch, or who don't speak Dutch at all. For example, see the category of "NL-0" users. Usually those are accounts of users that are mostly active on other Wiki's, and only use their NL-wiki account for small contributions like adding interwiki's. - Maniago 07:45, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Where do your contributors live (regions/country)?
- Mostly the Flemish Region of Belgium, the Netherlands, and a scattering in other European countries, and a few odd ones in North America and East Asia, Australasia and Latin America. --82.95.107.74 18:09, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- check Pjetter 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Agree. MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Most are from the Netherlands, there is also a smaller group of flemish contributors. Furthermoere we have a contributor from Thailand. Cumulus 12:12, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- We also some South Africans i believe. Afrikaans is based partly on dutch. EdBever 10:32, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How common is it that your contributors meet in real life?
- A few times a year some brave and sociable souls call for a IRL meeting. However, it seems to happen a lot less than a couple of years ago. --82.95.107.74 18:09, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- We have every year (third year in a row) the WCN: Wikimedia Conference Netherlands. This is very good!! Pjetter 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Because the Netherlands and Belgium, the countries where most contributors live, are relatively small, its easy to make appointments with other Wikipedians. Especially at universities you have big chance to meet a fellow Wikipedian. Josq 20:36, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- There are meetups once or twice a year, and whenever possible I try to be there. MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Other Wikipedias

Do you have special contacts with another Wikipedias (maybe in related languages)?
- Contributors to the Dutch wiki also contribute to the li-wiki, the nds-nl-wiki, the af-wiki, the fy-wiki. --82.95.107.74 18:09, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Not as much as would be good. A lot of the NL-WP contribute on EN-WP as well (and even sometimes transport their figths from NL to EN) Pjetter 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Native contributors of the vls-wiki, the li-wiki, the zea-wiki and the fy-wiki are also regarded as native Dutch-speaking people. Hanhil 21:34, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Do you translate a lot from other Wikipedias? Which ones?
- I think mainly the English version, after that the German wiki. --82.95.107.74 18:09, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- The best is the German Wikipedia. I don't care much about translations. 1) I don't trust the content 100% 2) I don't think that translations done by people not being experts on the subject are particularly good. Pjetter 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- If you want to work out a topic and don't want to do all the thinking work yourself, I find the articles on the English Wikipedia a good starting point, although they need to be adapted. Josq 20:36, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- We do, mostly from the English, German and French wikipedia's, but also from other wiki's (e.g. Russian). Hanhil 21:34, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- I don't have contacts on other Wikipedias myself. But I do upload on Commons. MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- As written above: mostly from the English, German and French wikipedia's. But I also see quite a lot of translations from the Spanish (and Catalan) wikipedia. Sindala 16:22, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Mostly from the English and Russian ones, but for definitions and introductions to a subject I prefer the German wikipedia, which also often has more information about a subject. Occasionally I translate a little content from the Afrikaanse, French, Polish, Norwegian, and other wiki's when the others are failing in information. --Hardscarf 11:18, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- For translations I prefer the german wikipedia. It usually has a high quality. I try to avoid the english wikipedia, becaese a lot of the lemma's are spoilt by writers from the USA, a country with no intellectual basis. Sometimes I also use the french wikipedia.Cumulus 12:15, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- I contribute to fr:wikipédia (fr:Projet:Pays-Bas), translate fr-nl and nl-fr, and take info from english and german wiki as well (en->fr, de->fr); I do maintenance at commons.Havang(nl) 11:51, 6 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Organization and support

Is there a Wikimedia chapter in your country? How does your language relate to it?
- Yes there is. The chapter is for Holland (i.e. The Netherlands), Dutch is spoken in more countries than in Holland. So there is a relation, but not fully. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Are there work groups in other organizations about Wikipedia?
- Not that I know of. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your Wikipedia and the linguistic community

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?
- Yes there is, some contributors are members of these organisations. We consult them sometimes on particular issues. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- ....but then we decide to ignore their expertise afterall. Cumulus 12:08, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Who (else) supports you?
- The public, by reading the Wikipedia. The press by giving us feedback and reasons to improve the project. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How looks your public outreach for your edition? Do you have flyers, give lectures, trainings etc.?
- Some do, mainly directed through the chapter. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Do you get feedback from readers?
- Sometimes, but alas a lot of feedback is from young people thinking it is funny to make their mark on the Wikipedia. This is called vandalism. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- There is indeed a language institute (the Taalunie, see below), but people disagree about its usefulness. MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Occasionally on talk pages appear questions about content or shortcomings of the articles by anonymous readers, but
What other encyclopedias exist in your language?
- Encarta = nl:Winkler Prins Encyclopedie and some others Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- nl:Oosthoeks Encyclopedie, nl:Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indië, nl:Eerste Nederlandse Systematisch Ingerichte Encyclopaedie, but also very extensive dictionaries such as the nl:Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal and the nl:Van Dale Groot woordenboek van de Nederlandse taal. --82.95.107.74 09:16, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- On CD/DVD, Winkler Prins Encarta (by Microsoft) is dominant. Papaer encyclopedias are not being updated anymore, as far as I know. MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- The Grote Winkler Prins had plans in 2007 for a new paper edition by 2010. --Hardscarf 11:32, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Content

Does your edition concentrates on certain topics, like your region and language, or Latin Wikipedia on Roman history and Christianity?
- No particular concentration. Geographic bot-generated articles are taking op a lot of the project. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Indeed, there are a lot of Swedish towns with less than 10 inhabitants. Errabee 13:42, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- There are active high-quality collaborations on the fields of linguistics and geology. Further many stubs and lists regarding entertainment (for example, overviews of olympic sports or article series on television series). Josq 20:36, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- The Dutch wikipedia has a wide reach of subjects. Hanhil 21:34, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- At close to 500,000 articles, I'd say were are fairly broad-based. Including the unavoidable articles about eccentric details.;) MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Beside aforesaid topics, there's also a large number of articles about ancienct history, usually of high quality. And of course we have a lot of "local" articles, like buildings, historical figures and events of subnational notability, which usually don't have foreign equivalents (no interwikilinks). Sindala 16:40, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Due to a couple of very enthousiastic and knowledgeable contributors, the Dutch wikipedia has a rather large number of good articles on all kind of animals. Errabee 13:42, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- We also have a complete list of historic motorcycle manifacturers. Errabee 13:42, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Furthermore we are extremely strong is all the Harry Potter spells. Cumulus 12:07, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Did your edition enjoy text donations, for example from older encyclopedias?
- Probably some yes, not really donated though. Probably more like take a text from another encyclopedia and reorganize the words, so that it is not recognized anymore as copyright violation. But not much of those. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Not from older encyclopedies. Some texts have been (legally) copied from government sources. --Hardscarf 11:35, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Language

Is there a generally accepted norm about your language (spelling, dictionary, pronounciation)?
- Yes Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Is being "encouraged" by the nl:Nederlandse Taalunie. --82.95.107.74 09:16, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Dutch spelling and dictionary do have generally accepted norms, this does not really extend to pronounciation for which there are clear regional differences. Despite of the norms, Belgian and Dutch contributors may be recognized by differences in used vocabulary. In some cases these may lead to misunderstandings, and also to "hypercorrections" of language that is standard in one country, but seems incorrect in the other. Fvlamoen 19:13, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How do you deal with different spellings, dialects etc. (like B.E. lift and A.E. elevator)?
- Sometimes: make it pure/high Dutch (so from the Netherlands, which some people think is real dutch) and sometimes the Belgian particular words are left that way. It just depends. Pjetter 19:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- There are some regional differences in the use of the language, but the language is standardized on both sides of the Dutch-Belgian border. Hanhil 21:34, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- A compromise is sought after for geographical names from other countries: e.g. Beijing vs Peking with some guidelines from the Dutch language advisory commission, nl:Nederlandse Taalunie. --82.95.107.74 09:16, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- We have occasional discussions -which can be quite heated- about things like names of geographical locations. (Should it be Lille or Rijssel, for instance.) As to the Taalunie: yes, they do "lay down" norms about spelling, and change it with infuriation frequency, but unless you're a school pupil or a government official, this norm is as relevant as any individual person cares to let it have. For mee: not much.;) MartinD 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- Usually, the users react very fiercely when language discussions arise. Most of the times we fight eachother to death until a few users are blocked and then moderators take a decision or sometimes the users with the most energy to keep going on with the discussion. Cumulus 12:04, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - Most of the times no change comes from these discussions... EdBever 09:32, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Kleverlandish

Is it allowed to write in other North Low Franconian varieties? I'm specifically referring to those found around Cleves in the Rhineland. --Son-of-my-comfort (talk) 19:44, 6 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]