Topic on Talk:New Editor Experiences

This is an interesting idea to explore. I would have expected it to be the opposite ("I don't know what to write about on English Wikipedia, since all the main article topics are already posted") (this is obviously not true; I'm just talking about a trend of perception as the encyclopedia grows).

Is it:

• Because ("readily available resources in English (including English Wikipedia) in 2017" - "size of Korean/Czech Wikipedia in 2017") is a bigger difference than ("readily available resources in English in 2001" - "almost empty English Wikipedia in 2001") and people speak English well enough they don't mind using it? This suggests people might contribute more in their native tongue if they had a particular motive, such as:
  • Sharing knowledge with people who are not as proficient in English
  • Cultural autonomy
• There are more free online resources in Korean/Czech in 2017 then there were in English in 2001 (thus, less perceived need for a Wikipedia in that language)?
• Cultural?

Finally, did you ask if people from these countries are editing English Wikipedia in addition to reading it?

Thank you for reading! :D

I would say that it's primarily the availability of resources in English, particularly the English Wikipedia, that creates this dynamic. I don't have a exact number on this, but I'd say that almost all of our participants had some familiarity with English, and most used the English Wikipedia (in some cases with the help of machine translation). A few used Wikipedias in "neighboring" languages, like Japanese, Polish, or German, but English was the second language that was really omnipresent. And most people said specifically, without prompting, that English was better and more complete (though some mentioned that local cultural topics were an exception).

Obviously, by looking only at people who had tried editing Wikipedia, we got samples that were more educated and more tech savvy than average, but still, this supports the idea that English, for better or worse, is the global lingua franca.

With the caveat that not everybody followed this pattern of being demotivated by this content gap, I think you're right that the sharing knowledge and cultural pride angles are good avenues for overcoming it.

We didn't ask specifically if people edited English Wikipedia, but conversation would definitely have led us there if they had. I only remember two people who did, and they were definitely on the upper end of the wiki success range in their native language as well. I imagine that for most people, the smaller content gaps and lack of confidence in their own English would be a big barrier.

From Korean Wikipedia community perspective, some people believes people find more information from namu wiki more than on Korean Wikipedia. Also, Korean Wikipedia has lots of articles with "ONLY FEW SENTENCE" (I'm emphasizing it because it is true, 1, 2, 3, I only did 6 Special:Random search.) which gives perception of "Korean Wikipedia has no information available: Go to English Wikipedia if you need something". Furthermore, Korean Wikipedia had a more popular Korean local counterpart, Naver, who had implemented Stack Overflow like question-answering system around 2002, and given their market-dominating (#1 in Korea) status, they were more used in Korea. Also, given our long term abuser who has active as 300 socks and his lots of attempts (which is privacy sensitive), Korean Wikipedia has a long prejudice against newbies, lots of experienced guys thinking "Is this guy (the guy who shall not be named)?" or actively asking for block, Korean Wikipedia is notorious for biting newbies, outside the Wikipedia.

I agree to some of the community's opinion and disagree some.