Tell us about Bulgarian 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?
  • My impression - 70 to 100. About 50 participating in political discussions including RfA, AfD, etc. --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • About 50.--Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • About 150 on a regular basis, about 30 regularly participating in community procedures. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
• Are your contributors mostly native speakers?
  • Yes, with small number of exceptions (5 to 10 people ever, up to my knowledge). --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes, mostly native. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
• Where do your contributors live (regions/country)?
  • Probably 90% in Bulgaria, most of the rest - in Western Europe (the ratio used to be 60:40 in the early stages (= 2004)). --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Most in Bulgaria.--Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • At least 25% contributors from abroad. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
• How common is it that your contributors meet in real life?
  • Several times in the last 2 years. About 25 people participated in at least one meeting. --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Twice an year, about 15 persons per meeting. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 5-6 times in the last 1,5 years. 13-14 people at most. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Other Wikipedias

• Do you have special contacts with another Wikipedias (maybe in related languages)?
  • Not much. Several disputes have spread out from/to Macedonian/English Wikipedia. --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes, with the Russian Wikipedia. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes, Macedonian and English Wikipedia, as well as other wikis: Commons, Meta, Freedom Defined. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes, Danish, Norwegian(bokmål), French and German Wikipedias. Bogorm 16:53, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
• Do you translate a lot from other Wikipedias? Which ones?
  • My impression: about 75% (90% for articles not related to Bulgaria) of the information is translation from English (to smaller extent German) Wikipedia. --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Mostly from English, some from Russian, German, French and other. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Mostly from English. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Mostly from Danish, Russian and Japanese. Bogorm 16:53, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Organization and support

• Is there a Wikimedia chapter in your country? How does your language relate to it?
  • No. There were some discussions about it but we are not convinced that it makes sense. --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • No --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • No. Idea was downed for reasons of not enough human resource to handle the organisation. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
• Are there work groups in other organizations about Wikipedia?
  • Never herd for such one.--Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • No idea. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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?
  • Институт за български език. On several occasions we have asked for their opinion on certain problems. --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes, we accept the opinion of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences as a standart, not only in linguistics, but also in the most fields of knowledge. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Per my colleagues above. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
• Who (else) supports you?
• What does the public outreach for your edition look like? Do you have fliers, give lectures, trainings etc.?
  • There were some pale attempts - FM radio studios, a couple of lections, but nothing serious at all, the audience was very small. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Mainly radio talk shows, 2-3 short TV interviews, a series press articles, one public lecture on Openfest 2007. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
• Do you get feedback from readers?
  • Only as edits.--Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • There is a FAQ mailing list, feedback mostly comes in the form of anonymous or newbie comments on the articles' talkpages. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
• What other encyclopedias exist in your language?
  • No other free content encyclopedias in Bulgarian, to the best of my knowledge. There are some proprietary online encyclopedias like Znam.bg. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Content

• Does your edition concentrates on certain topics, like your region and language, or Latin Wikipedia on Roman history and Christianity?
  • Yes, articles about Bulgaria and the Balkans are most. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • There is a trend of writing on Bulgaria and the Balkans, but IMO it's not predominant. I think that we grow uniformly in the various topics, but there is also a tendency of paying unduly attention and instantly covering what's topical. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes, articles about linguistics, history and Eurasian political developments. Bogorm 16:58, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
• Did your edition enjoy text donations, for example from older encyclopedias?
  • After request only, but there are no refusals by now. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • No, sadly, BG WP has never got donations from reputable published encyclopedias or academic sources. Severa years ago there was a larger donation of biographies of Bulgarian writers and poets from an online reading site, but in general text donations have always been occasional, partial and coming from smaller online resources. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Language

• Is there a generally accepted norm about your language (spelling, dictionary, pronunciation)?
  • Generally yes. Most of the discussions are about the transcription of foreign names. --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes, there are strict linguistical norms. Discussions are mainly on the need of translation on translitteration of foreing words and names, most of them from English. --Ivanov id 14:29, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Per my colleagues above. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Yes, and discussions on sticking to grammatical norms regarding definite article (-ът/-а, -ят/-я) and commas (syntax) are exigent, since there are numerous corrections in this realm to be made. A scarce number of editors, who are knowledgeable in this topic, are available. These rules (regarding syntax and definite article) ought to be infringed less often than now. Bogorm 17:32, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
• How do you deal with different spellings, dialects etc. (like B.E. lift and A.E. elevator)?
  • We never had such problem as much as I remember - the language norm is quite comprehensive. --Nk 11:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • We name the article on the spelling, approved by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and make links from the dialect names. --Ivanov id 14:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • Per my colleagues above. →Spiritia 11:36, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

See also

• Tell us about your Wikipedia

Links

• Main/Front page of your Wikipedia: http://bg.wikipedia.org