Ruwiki (Wikipedia fork)

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Ruwiki
Type of site
Online encyclopedia
Available inRussian
Predecessor(s)Russian Wikipedia
Country of originRussia
Founder(s)Vladimir Medeyko
URLruwiki.ru
Launched15 January 2024
Content license
Creative Commons Public License Attribution-Shared Terms 4.0 International

Ruwiki (Russian: Рувики, romanized: Ruviki) is a Russian online encyclopedia.[1] It was launched in July 2023 as a fork of the Russian Wikipedia,[1] and has been described by some media groups as "Putin-friendly" and "Kremlin-compliant".[2][3] A full-scale launch took place on January 15, 2024.[4]

The project is led by Vladimir Medeyko, who was formerly involved with the Russian Wikipedia project and a director of Wikimedia Russia.[1][5] Medeyko has been reported to have created the project as an alternative to the Russian Wikipedia that is more friendly to the Russian government.[3]

The words "рувики" and its English version, "ruwiki", have long been used to refer to Russian Wikipedia among Wikipedians.[6]

Origins[edit]

Medeyko in 2021

On 24 May 2023, long-time Wikimedia Russia director Vladimir Medeyko announced Ruwiki as a Russian fork of Wikipedia on the Russian technology website Habr.[7] The Russian politician Anton Gorelkin stated that the new "ruviki" website would be hosted on Russian servers and managed by a Russian organization.[8] Medeyko has stated that Ruwiki will follow Russian laws, but is independent of the Russian government.[3]

Russian Wikipedia contributors were shocked that Medeyko left the project he had been involved in since 2003 - they were even more stunned when he said that his reason for leaving was to create a competitor to Wikipedia for the benefit of the government of Russia. The project's name, Ruwiki, is widely used by contributors to Russian Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects to refer to Russian Wikipedia itself, which has drawn criticism from Wikipedians.

In late May 2023, Stanislav Kozlovsky, then executive director of Wikimedia RU, stated that "anyone can take Wikipedia content and use it, it's perfectly normal. It's not normal to use the authority of the director of Wikimedia RU for this purpose and to do it in secret for several years". According to Medeyko, work on Ruwiki was not done in secret.

Content and editorial policy[edit]

Ruwiki was created by copying all 1.9 million articles from the Russian Wikipedia, as well as several media components from Wikimedia Commons,[9] and data items from Wikidata. However, articles containing content contrary to the Russian government's official line have been removed.[1][3] Removals of content considered "anti-Russian propaganda" include coverage of the Russo-Ukraine War, the Wagner rebellion, and criticism of Vladimir Putin.[2]

In mid-July 2023, Ruwiki was not yet editable by third parties. Medeyko had stated that he plans to allow public editing to resume, but that content will be vetted by panels of experts.[3] Nevertheless, as of August 2023, Ruwiki was available to edit by all registered accounts.[10]

Public launch[edit]

In January 2024, it was reported that Ruwiki would enter full public service on Monday, 15 January.[11] Ruwiki confirmed the statements shortly thereafter, announcing the "end of beta testing on January 15, 2024".[12]

Similar projects[edit]

There were other Russian encyclopedic projects advertised as an alternative to Wikipedia: an online portal to Great Russian Encyclopedia[13] and a wiki (Znanie.wiki) by the Znanie Society [ru] ("Knowledge Society"), inherited from the Soviet times.[14]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Corfield, Gareth (2023-07-12). "Russia launches Wikipedia rival in new censorship crackdown". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 2023-07-12. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
  2. ^ a b Jankowicz, Mia. "Russia has launched its own version of Wikipedia, called Ruwiki, which is notably more sympathetic to Putin". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
  3. ^ a b c d e Cohen, Noam (2023-07-12). "Russian Wikipedia's Top Editor Leaves to Launch a Putin-Friendly Clone". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2023-07-13. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
  4. ^ "Russian version of Wikipedia to launch Monday, reports say". Reuters. January 15, 2024. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  5. ^ "Wikipedia Russia, Other Sites Protest Proposed Internet 'censorship' Law". PCWorld. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
  6. ^ Переписать «Википедию»: что думают администраторы свободной энциклопедии о проекте Рувики?, SOTA, June 29, 2023
  7. ^ "Запуск проекта Рувики". Хабр (in Russian). 2023-05-24. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
  8. ^ "Resource "Ruviki" will become a new analogue of "Wikipedia" in Russia". Orient. 2023-05-24. Archived from the original on 2023-07-13. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
  9. ^ "Заглавная страница". РУВИКИ.Медиа (in Russian). 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  10. ^ "Россиянам разрешили редактировать отечественный аналог «Википедии»". Rambler.ru (in Russian). 21 August 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  11. ^ Bureau, BW Online. "Russia To Launch Its Version Of Wikipedia Called 'Ruwiki': Reports". BW Businessworld. Retrieved 2024-01-15.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ "Рувики: Новая интернет-энциклопедия". РУВИКИ (in Russian). 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-16. [RUVIKI announces the end of beta testing on January 15, 2024. Technology updates will be introduced throughout 2024.]
  13. ^ Российский аналог "Википедии" обойдется бюджету РФ почти в 2 млрд рублей
  14. ^ Помощник Путина предложил скопировать Википедию ("Putin's assistant suggested copying Wikipedia")

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ruwiki (website).
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