Wikinews talk:Migration - Wikinews, the free news source

Wikinews talk:Migration - Wikinews, the free news source
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Latest comment:
11 days ago
by PetraMagna
Please share your opinion regarding the migration on Meta at
meta:Migration of Wikinews and future hosts
1. Name and geographical location of new hosting.
edit
I have no idea about this, please advise. How can this be done when half of users have slow internet and are geographically dispersed.
Gryllida
22:22, 25 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
A Meta page has been created for discussion about the migration. Please share your votes and comments there.
meta:Migration of Wikinews and future hosts
. --
Asked42
talk
14:57, 31 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Miraheze
edit
Maybe we could consider migrating to
. Their Meta page is here:
They provide free hosting, although I am not sure whether we would need to purchase our own domain name. They also do not run advertisements and operate entirely on donations.
However, a major clarification is required: If Wikinews is closed, will the WMF also relinquish copyright to the name 'Wikinews' and its logo? If not, I'm not sure how we could proceed. Perhaps someone with legal knowledge, or someone from the WMF, could advise on this? --
Asked42
talk
07:13, 26 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Is it easy to install our own mediawiki extensions there. Do they provide shell access. The name question is in section 5 below.
Gryllida
20:52, 26 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Gryllida
: Yes, almost all MediaWiki extensions are available there. There are also users with strong MediaWiki knowledge who can help us move forward technically. --
Asked42
talk
03:29, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
"almost all MediaWiki extensions" is an exaggeration. But it is true that Miraheze is significantly more willing to install new extensions than Wikimedia is:
is an incomplete list. Miraheze, while they won't provide you shell access, will let you self-service many things that require shell access on Wikimedia, such as config changes - they have a fairly flexible
interface.
* Pppery *
it has begun...
03:53, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
True. What I mean is at least enough to support Wikinews or such that Wikinews is going to need. --
Asked42
talk
14:18, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Miraheze might be our last good option just saying. @
Asked42
, @
Gryllida
BigKrow
talk
20:55, 26 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Also, everyone, the WMF board has
not yet
made a final decision, and the current community opinion is mostly in our favor, so please don't give up participating in various discussions on metawiki. ~
Sheminghui.WU
talk
01:02, 1 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
They will close WikiNews tomorrow. All pages will be read-only. I can register the wiki at
, if you would like.
SeaDragon1
talk
19:24, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
To reiterate NotAracham’s comment in this thread, while Miraheze is very willing to provide hosting to Wikinews, we ask that the actual wiki request be submitted by a bureaucrat (or representative of WikiNYC if the WN community choses to pursue an arrangement with them). With all due respect, for the sake of clarify and not making things more confusing for the Wikinews community, we won’t be accepting one-off requests by users that don’t have the backing of the community’s consensus.
PixDeVl
talk
21:26, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
I personally oppose the usage of Miraheze because it contains trackers that are hard for users to disable.
GrinningIodize
talk
16:04, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Hi @
GrinningIodize
, what are they tracking and how does this work?
Gryllida
talk
09:52, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
I forget the exact details because I wrote that message nearly 5 months ago, but I think that it's some sort of analytics ping that you need to block at the browser or DNS level.
GrinningIodize
talk
12:11, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
We collect minimal aggregate tracking data through cookies for cloudflare + matomo analytics as well as session persistence, @
RhinosF1
would be better positioned to answer this. Our
also covers our 'when and how' for usage of this data. --
NotAracham
talk
18:40, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Now I wonder whether the whole Wikinews community will be able to migrate safely as a whole, or whether a ‘big split’ might happen due to differences like this.
Niryhpr
talk
13:39, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
If all other measures fail... we might have to try
Fandom
SeaDragon1
talk
19:59, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Gryllida
, Wikimedia is hosted in the US due to favorable freedom of speech and copyright laws. A
w:Content delivery network
can improve performance around the world, though that doesn't accelerate dynamic content served to users who are logged in. See
m:Wikimedia servers
for example.
Alexis Jazz
talk
18:25, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Hi folks, this is NotAracham, Director of Trust & Safety at Miraheze. We've reviewed internally and are confident that we will be able to offer hosting (from both a policy and technical standpoint) should you choose to select us once things are worked out with the WMF. I and my colleagues are happy to answer any questions the WikiNews community might have towards reaching a decision. --
NotAracham
talk
19:14, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
You are a life saver thank you @
NotAracham
BigKrow
talk
19:16, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
I think we should wait until the final decision of the Board, and if it ultimately is about closing, then I have no objection to migrate. This would be the best second possibility after Wikinews is not getting closed. Thank you for your help. --
Asked42
talk
19:24, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Agreed, Miraheze can save us for backup plan @
Asked42
BigKrow
talk
19:26, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
I'm an Infrastructure engineer for Miraheze and am also watching this page. You can also find me on Libera.Chat (in both #wikinews and #miraheze) or Discord if you have questions.
RhinosF1
talk
19:34, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
NotAracham
, it would probably be a good idea to clarify whether you are talking about English Wikinews or all Wikinews language variants. Also note that ruwikinews has on the order of 1000x more articles than most other language editions. Can Miraheze deal with
w:en:Russian web brigades
Alexis Jazz
talk
19:47, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Agreed, we need to focus on English Wikinews.
BigKrow
talk
19:59, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Technically, I don't think any of them would be an issue. From a counter vandalism perspective, we would look to how we could support any wiki and make sure you have the tools available that you need.
RhinosF1
talk
20:03, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
I'll defer to my tech colleagues on our technical capacity to host, though the general opinion seems that it would be well within possibility to host the full spectrum of languages if they choose to move to our service. Regarding the counter-vandalism aspect, our service uses Cloudflare (for both default and custom domains) to mitigate DDoS attempts, which has proven unfortunately necessary with some past antagonists. While we have an existing global CVT team to handle the more routine on-wiki trouble, we only have so many members with limited time to offer. It sounds like the Russian wikinews is one of the rare scenarios where it'd be prudent to assign some members of their moderation team
delegated local CheckUser
. --
NotAracham
talk
20:24, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
NotAracham
, first let me declare that I don't know for sure how ruwikinews is doing currently. But you should be very careful before assigning CheckUser to anyone involved with Russian projects. The paper bear is certainly interested:
Moscow court fines Wikipedia for refusing to remove a Russian-language article about the invasion of Ukraine
Russia threatens to fine Wikipedia if it doesn't delete 'false information'
Russian Court Fines Wikipedia Operator Nearly $40K Over ‘P***philia Propaganda’
Just don't give CheckUser to the paper bear, as they could use it to prosecute dissenters. As for the current state of ruwikinews, some of the most recent articles:
n:ru:Необычный урок патриотизма провёл русский путешественник-экстремал, вернувшийся из Африки
author
writing about himself)
n:ru:В Крыму, расположенном недалеко от района боевых действий, прошла «Ночь искусств»
: a Chinese Wikimedian, Sheminghui.WU, interviewing that user. Perhaps something is getting lost in translation, because this is the end of the last answer according to Google translate:
From my personal observations, the majority of Crimean residents (myself included) are ethnic Russians. Therefore, there has generally always been a negative attitude toward the imposed "Ukrainianism" here.
I'm not familiar with cultural life in eastern Ukraine or in the towns located along the front lines, but here in Crimea, everything is peaceful. Enemy drones are being shot down by professionally trained specialists.
We will win!
Hakuna matata!
No pasaran!
—Виктор Пинчук,
[1]
derp I have to stop looking at this rabbit hole
Alexis Jazz
talk
22:57, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Ha, absolutely an area one could spend way too much time digging into, and a very fair point to bring up. Local checkuser has not been given out in the history of Miraheze, and would absolutely be a last resort. While it's a thing we'd
consider
if proven necessary, any grants here would have a much higher degree of scrutiny than standard cases given the well-documented hostility of the national actor in question.
--
NotAracham
talk
23:32, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
As Russian Wikinews will also be closed, it will also need a new home. I will wait for their contributors to comment whether they want to do migration together and to the same host.
Gryllida
05:04, 28 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Correction: *may also be closed
Gryllida
05:05, 28 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
"Also note that ruwikinews has on the order of 1000x more articles than most other language editions. Can Miraheze deal with w:en:Russian web brigades?" How do you link those two things?
BilboBeggins
talk
23:04, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Ruwikinews has 3x the number of content pages compared with the
largest Miraheze wikis
. If they don't prune any pages, the wiki will consume lots of storage space in the database, though I don't expect too much impact on server load since server load is dominated by web traffic after the initial CPU spike in import.
PetraMagna
talk
01:25, 13 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Thanks @
NotAracham
] and @
RhinosF1
for following this page
Gryllida
05:05, 28 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
NotAracham
Dear friend, will other language versions of Wikinews, especially ruwn and zhwn which have more views than enwn, can also be hosted? Thank you. ~
Sheminghui.WU
talk
02:48, 29 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Yes, we are willing to provide hosting for all language flavors of wikinews should their communities choose to move to our service. --
NotAracham
talk
18:43, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Hi @
NotAracham
, thank you for your notes.
1. Do you have a comment on @
GrinningIodize
's concern about trackers?
2. Could you confirm that you do not require content obligations in return, such as, censorship of content or necessitating to include your news on our site?
3. What features do you provide for multilingual content? Currently there are different sysops in each language edition of Wikinews, as they are separate wikis.
Apparently, move needs to happen before May 4 and
after that date content will be left read-only, here
. I asked whether Wikinews trademark can be used.
Thanks.
Gryllida
talk
09:56, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
4. In Miraheze can users insert Wikimedia Commons images into new pages? In Wikinews it is possible with same syntax as if it was a local image.
Gryllida
talk
10:02, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Gryllida
: Yes, it is possible to both upload local images and use files from Wikimedia Commons. --
Asked42
talk
10:07, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
This is cool.
Gryllida
talk
10:08, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Cc @
Pppery
thanks
Gryllida
talk
10:02, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
I've asked Rhinos to weigh in on trackers, but generally we collect the minimum data required to operate our service. Information collected in this way is used as described in
our privacy policy
and is not sent/resold to outside parties. If there are more specific concerns to be discussed, I defer to my tech colleague.
We do have some limits on what may be hosted on our service, outlined in
our content policy
. We also (as a non-profit) cannot host content specifically designed to achieve a political outcome, e.g. supporting a specific candidate or specific legislative action. Beyond these two items, we do not impose any further restrictions on your speech nor will we mandate that specific stories be written. However, it should be made clear, we cannot offer any form of legal cover should authored content result in legal action against the authors by a third party.
While we do have the Translate extension, the current structure is likely the cleanest way to continue operating. We do support interwiki/interlanguage linking as well, which can ease connection between versions.
Regarding licensing and/or permission for continued use of brand/trademark, that's something the WikiNews community will have to work out with the WMF, we do not negotiate in this way on behalf of our hosted projects.
I think I've answered everything, but let me know if a question was missed.
--
NotAracham
talk
19:26, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Miraheze Tech here. To add to what NotAracham has said, we have
a multi-language guide
which covers some of the options that are possible on Miraheze:
Separate wikis connected via interwiki language links.
Use the same wiki for all languages. Pages are connected via interwiki language links by pointing interwiki links to the same wiki.
Use the same wiki for all languages. Pages are synced with the translate extension.
Separate wikis connected via wikibase. I am not aware of any wiki that uses this option, but we do have wikibase available with a few hundred wikis that enabled the extension (whether they use it extensively is another story). I believe this option is what Wikinews uses right now. If there is enough interest, I can see if it is possible to replicate the wikinews setup on Miraheze's wikibase install.
PetraMagna
talk
22:36, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
As for trackers, wiki bureaucrats can grant the
noanalytics
right to everyone (
) with ManageWiki, which will exempt all users from our tracking software (Matomo). I tested it on
Miraheze's extension testing wiki
and am no longer seeing Matomo-related requests for both logged-in and anonymous users.
With that said, this will only happen on the local wiki. If the user clicks on a link to, for example, the Privacy Policy page which is hosted on Miraheze Meta, they will be subject to the tracker again since it is on a different wiki.
PetraMagna
talk
23:17, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Question; would it be possible to mirrow this wiki, so when i make an edit here, it is also automatically made at Miraheze from my account; is it possible to allow users to login using OAuth so that they do not need to register a new account; what testing is required for a custom extension to be installed on site; where is it located geographically. Does it remain free of charge. how does this organization generate income. Thanks
Gryllida
05:10, 28 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Going to consider this question moot as the WMF-hosted service will go read-only in near future. As mentioned elsewhere, we can assist with attributing edits to the MH-equivalent users following migration where there's interest in doing so.
We utilize CentralAuth as our account infrastructure, users need only one account for any wiki hosted on our platform. Services can verify the MH account through OAuth as well. We do not, however, support OAuth for Wikimedia project accounts on our platform, a Miraheze account will need to be created.
Custom extensions will need to go through our security review process, and will generally need to demonstrate some form of global usefulness to be considered for approval.
We are based out of the United States of America and incorporated in the state of Idaho, the majority of our hardware infrastructure is located in the Salt lake City, Utah area.
We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization, we do not and will not charge for our service, the majority of our funds come from individual user donations. Our
finances are public information
, as are our
annual budgets
--
NotAracham
talk
19:44, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
In my opinion, miraheze is the most viable path forwards for wikinews.
Bawolff
16:35, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
IMO moving Wikinews to Miraheze is just swapping one centralized authority for another. You're not fixing the problem, you're relocating it. Instead of the Wikimedia Foundation, you end up under Miraheze's policies, infrastructure, and admins. Different host, same dependency. If Wikinews is supposed to be a truly independent, community-driven news platform, then it needs its own infrastructure and governance - not another host that can pull the plug or change the rules whenever it wants. We don't even know if Miraheze can reliably handle a project of this scale (enwikinews only? all active language versions?). What infrastructure do they actually have? What guarantees are there for long-term stability, performance, and uptime? Calling this a solution is just self-deception.
BZPN
talk
06:33, 31 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
The existing Wikinews community lacks the capability to do better than Miraheze or even come close.
Bawolff
22:16, 31 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Loyal opposition here. Sorry your project is closing, I hope you perhaps consider my suggestion to transition to a more news-magazine inspired format on whatever your new host is. But I agree with Bawolff. To quote the former administrator of Earth: May I remind you that the alternative, if it can be called that, is total extinction?
Dronebogus
talk
13:12, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
I predict there will be a big split. The anti-Miraheze faction simply won’t migrate there and may propose another path forward.
Niryhpr
talk
13:46, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
No opinion on whether English (and others, except for ru) Wikinews should go to Miraheze, but certainly
oppose migration of
ru.WN
to Miraheze
. Not exactly sure about conditions as of 2026, but the farm was long known to be dominated by English speakers and had zero representation of the Slavs in its establishment. Their staffers botched and failed import of Absurdopedia (the Russian Uncyclopedia), which eventually became self-hosted.
had some ugly interactions with Mirahezeans, myself. Meanwhile it generally is a respectable farm and
hold specifically
John F. Lewis
, who made a good job, in respect. --
Incnis Mrsi
talk
17:31, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Ironic, given the controversies surrounding John (He has a history of abusing positions of trust and got himself office banned from all Wikimedia projects). Regardless, is there another serious offer on the table? Otherwise Miraheze wins by default. Like you've made some comments that imply you might be willing to offer hosting or at least work on this. Are you actually offering to host Wikinews? Does this offer come with strings or financial requirements? Unless other offers materialize with details, it kind of seems like the choice is Miraheze or nothing.
Bawolff
05:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
What would the hardware requirements be for hosting WikiNews? Could the administrators WN provide some more specific information?
Charmeleon69
talk
06:53, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Commented
here
because this isn’t a proper thread. --
Incnis Mrsi
talk
17:03, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
2. Volunteers willing to pay for new hosting. This can be from charities, Wikimedia Charters, or personal expenses.
edit
I would volunteer towards hosting costs.
Gryllida
22:22, 25 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
This will not work in my opinion. After all, that's the approach taken for wn-reporters and email, and I think it's safe to say that it hasn't been successful.
Leaderboard
talk
16:32, 30 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
The lowest cost I am aware of would be 25 USD per month, so 300 USD per year. Though it sounds like Miraheze maybe free and I know a few Wikipedians are on their board.
Doc James
talk
23:51, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
If hosting is going to be paid for, I think a new, non-profit organization should be formed, to to handle funding and oversight. If hosting is paid for by one or more individuals who are not organized under a charter or governing structure, it creates obvious risks: lack of accountability, unclear ownership, and potential instability if those individuals step away or disagree.
Forming a new non-profit may be a wise choice even if free hosting is used.
Michael.C.Wright
Talk
Reviewer
10:48, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Based on the
latest developments
, it seems that Wikimedia New York City may take on the future stewardship of Wikinews. That would also mean it is managed by an organization and a non-profit. --
Asked42
talk
18:27, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
NotAracham
noted below
Miraheze would not impose a charge to act as host, but as a donor-driven platform, donations are always welcome to help us keep pace with expanding demand.
That reduces immediate financial pressure on any new organization. It does not address the more fundamental issue. Without the structural oversight and constraints provided by the Wikimedia Foundation, I do not see a viable path forward for en.WN. In its current state, the project has not demonstrated the capacity for consistent and productive self-regulation.
If Wikimedia NYC is to assume “stewardship” of Wikinews, that role needs to be clearly defined before any decision to migrate. Specifically, the scope of its authority, responsibilities, and limits should be made explicit to the community. It is also unclear how this arrangement would differ in practice from the current relationship with the Wikimedia Foundation, given that Wikimedia NYC is an affiliated chapter.
Michael.C.Wright
Talk
Reviewer
07:45, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
3. Volunteers willing to do budgeting and acounting: find out how much this will cost.
edit
I would contribute towards budget efforts .
Gryllida
22:22, 25 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
I might be willing to make a small donation to these efforts, but in terms of time -- I'm not too sure. I intend to take this time to (mostly) step away from most News wiki activities and do a bit of introspection. It's been about 16 years. I want to take a careful look at time/priorities etc.--
Bddpaux
talk
15:45, 26 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Thanks
Gryllida
20:51, 26 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
I suggest opening a donation channel at that time; I can also contribute a spare change. ~
Sheminghui.WU
talk
06:18, 29 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Thanks Sheminghui
Gryllida
06:59, 29 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Do you folks have an NGO yet? If you dont would recommend the USA as the location to be based as fund raising from their is easiest and becoming a 503(c) is not that hard.
Doc James
talk
23:49, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
4. System administration to install software and work around security vulnerabilities
edit
I would contribute towards admin tasks including Linux system administration and MediaWiki
Gryllida
22:22, 25 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Can users use Wikipedia login on an externally hosted wiki?
Gryllida
22:24, 25 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
In principle yes you could use OAuth for something like that. One example is at
, although in that case they only pre-approve accounts you could configure it differently.
* Pppery *
it has begun...
03:55, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Anyway can use OAuth to log onto MDWiki with their Wikipedia user name, but you can only edit a couple of pages (your user page and a request for editing page) until you are granted editing privileges.
Doc James
talk
23:46, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
In response to
ru:User talk:Alexis Jazz#Hello
Gryllida
, I have no strong ties to Wikinews. Also no knowledge of ru which seems to be the largest wikinews language. And I've always wondered how a news website in wiki form could realistically work as articles likely go stale before they can get improved through the magic of wiki. From the looks of it, this is still an issue.
Generally I'm happy to answer some questions, but actually coding for and maintaining a Wikinews successor would be a major undertaking which is not really for me.
Alexis Jazz
talk
18:14, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Okay thank you
Alexis Jazz
. What makes improving articles so difficult in wiki? What solution would you suggest?
Gryllida
07:00, 29 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Gryllida
, hire some paid editors to write and publish
stubs
for all major news stories throughout the day. That way the site becomes functional as a news source, and the bar to improve a stub is lower than the bar to create an article from scratch. But I don't know who'd be willing to pay for such a thing. Volunteers tend to only write about subjects they care about, and nobody cares about
everything
. Combined with the presence of a
deadline
, as news needs to be published before it turns into
olds
, it makes a general news wiki very difficult to maintain with just volunteers whose time and interests are limited.
Alexis Jazz
talk
15:02, 29 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Maybe news companies could sponsor these editors, and then copy the finished products for their outlets?
GrinningIodize
talk
15:42, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
i was thinking a tool could at least help with handling the markup if not picking the news events themselves
Gryllida
00:37, 11 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
can do some Unix, SQL, HTTPd and MediaWiki job.
am the technical director of cyclowiki.org for 4 years. IMHO using Wikimedia SULs on a non-Wikimedia site is a poor choice (not only technically, but in other respects too).
Incnis Mrsi
talk
09:08, 30 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Hi @
Incnis Mrsi
, is it possible though? And what issues would it cause?
Gryllida
00:38, 11 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
It is possible. We at MDWiki do it and we are happy with the results. But than our work is fairly integrated into the Wikipedia work.
Doc James
talk
23:48, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
hereby remind of my four-months-old proposal, although am too busy specifically next several days to do anything of value. Give me a Unix shell or an SQL access and
won’t fail you. --
Incnis Mrsi
talk
15:33, 31 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Incnis Mrsi is a highly qualified and helpful contributor who has been supporting cyclowiki.org for many years. He's always ready to help in difficult situations, even when many prefer to sit back or remain silent. He's always willing to engage with a wide range of participants and develop any constructive ideas. I think his proposal is worth supporting.
Serebr
talk
03:17, 1 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
I would be willing to help out with the MediaWiki configuration.
Codename Noreste
talk
19:55, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
5. Name
edit
No idea if same trademark can be used...
Gryllida
22:24, 25 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Asked42
as you asked above, FYI there was fork of Wikinews in past, one was called OpenGlobe. If it is same people working on it then I do not mind, any name. For example
w:freenode
moved to
w:Libera
with a name change and successfully moved over 80% of tens thousands users to new site. It would be good to confirm that. Another aspect is in Question 4 whether users will need to register new account.
Gryllida
20:54, 26 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
I don't think Miraheze would allow IP's actually Miraheze is a
wiki farm host
. Sorry for the excessive pings, @
Gryllida
BigKrow
talk
20:58, 26 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
BigKrow
talk
21:02, 26 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Anonymous editing can be enabled or disabled through ManageWiki on Miraheze which is normally open to all crats. ManageWiki is an easy to use extension we built so you can manage some config from on wiki.
RhinosF1
talk
19:31, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
If we move forward with this migration, we will need a new name and logo.
Any user from here will be able to create an account on the new Wikinews instance on Miraheze. But, there is no automatic way to transfer all existing users with us. --
Asked42
talk
03:33, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
If Miraheze is chosen, we will work with you guys to ensure you can claim imported edits and have them attributed to a future Miraheze accounts. Of course, you'll need to sign up again. We won't be able to transfer any user preferences or anything from Wikimedia.
RhinosF1
talk
19:29, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
What happens with edits made by users who choose not to join the fork? If they are left as-is, are there processes in place to ensure those usernames are unavailable? For example, If I choose not to join the fork, are all of my current edits still attributed to my username and is that username essentially "taken" on Miraheze so that others can't register my name and claim my edits?
Michael.C.Wright
Talk
Reviewer
13:47, 3 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
They would show an interwiki link back to the archived wikinews.
RhinosF1
talk
15:22, 3 December 2025 (UTC)
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This is correct, while edit history can be 'attributed' to Miraheze accounts created following a migration, we don't have a way to reserve usernames/migrate wikimedia logins automatically - it will require individual registration. --
NotAracham
talk
19:31, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Have you tried implementing OAuth for wikimedia accounts?
sj
talk
20:05, 10 December 2025 (UTC)
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We have asked Wikimedia what rules would have to be followed if a migration did take place with regard to trademarks.
RhinosF1
talk
19:32, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Thank you all @
RhinosF1
BigKrow
talk
19:33, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Related: the broader Wikimedia community should weigh in on where to redirect Wikinews traffic. This is one of the strongest reasons to try something new at the current domains. I would hope the domain is put to use supporting an active community news effort, wherever it is hosted; historical pages can redirect. Unfortunately all of the news-related forks or comparables I know of also closed for lack of activity...
sj
talk
20:05, 10 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
There are tools built into mediawiki ie
Special:Import
that allows the entire history from one wiki to be moved to another. Lower on
this page
you can see what it looks like.
Doc James
talk
23:44, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
6. Other
edit
A small comment I'd like to make is that most interwiki-links on Wikinews (as far as I can see) are the same on Miraheze. (See:
Special:Interwiki
) As far as I can tell, this would not affect any of the Wikinews articles, when they are moved to Miraheze.
Rodejong
talk
11:50, 28 November 2025 (UTC)
Reply
7. Wikifarm requirements, classes of hosting
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One of the sticking points in discussions about the future of Wikinews was what level of hosting and customization was supported or expected; WMF having a high minimum bar for supporting production servers [and hosting all servers on shared infrastructure where a change to one site can throttle or take down others]. A number of community projects have indicated that, e.g., WM Cloud Services is not great for hosting an actively edited wikifarm. But if a number of free knowledge projects need a wiki farm with good archival practices, it might make sense for this to change, or to have an official partnership b/t WMF or the WM affiliate network and such a group.
To this end, defining the needed level of service provision (including multilingual support) would be a good step.
sj
talk
20:12, 10 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Would WMCloud be allowed here? WMCloud is supposed to be related to a wikimedia project, if Wikinews gets shutdown its no longer a wikinews project. That said, WM Cloud is probably sufficient to host a wiki the size of Wikinews even with active editing, but it would require sysadmins who know how to manage mediawiki.
Bawolff
22:21, 31 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
This question came up in another thread; even if this is possible it would be good to know exactly what level of service is needed for a neutral wikifarm like Miraheze to host WN, what that costs, &c.
sj
talk
01:13, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Having already done some discussions and sizing, while the larger news wikis would be substantial adds, none would surpass the larger projects already on our service and we have plenty of capacity to take the entire fleet of Wikinews language families should we be selected. The Miraheze of 2026 is running on a much-improved infrastructure stack over what some might be familiar with from a few years back.
Miraheze would not impose a charge to act as host, but as a donor-driven platform, donations are always welcome to help us keep pace with expanding demand. :) Our
finances
and
budgets
are public for those interested.
--
NotAracham
talk
16:56, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
NotAracham
, just throwing it out there but any
start date
or url? Don
Don
21:31, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Requirements depend on the fate of the old news. Minor requirements while Wikimedia keeps the archives, but Wikinews would need to maintain or rent a strong database management system if Wikimedia ejects all WN wikis (including the past content, especially of the Russian Wikinews) completely. --
Incnis Mrsi
talk
17:03, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
MDWiki:Main_Page
edit
We forked health content to MDWiki a few years ago. With respect to cost each Wiki is about 25 to 40 USD/month and this includes updates, sys admin stuff, and security. One gets 10 GB of SDD space and then it is 1$ per GB after that. You get 100 GB of bandwidth after whic it is 0.05$ per GB. Specialied software work is about 100$ per hour but they have limited capacity for this work.
With respect to using the name and logo, if you have consensus here to all go in the same direction, I would be supportive. If folks want to go in different directions than things would be a bit more complicated.
Do you want to move all languages to a single wiki (less expensive) or keep each language in its own wiki? We use SkizNet which is USA based.
Doc James
talk
23:38, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
Reply
Do you have a comment how come Miraheze provides hosting for free, @
Doc James
? Thanks.
Gryllida
talk
10:32, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Gryllida
: They are also volunteer-based and rely on donations from users to run their servers. See also:
--
Asked42
talk
10:35, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Like anything else, if you want to do something custom or boss people around you need to pay for it. Miraheze hosting is more similar to WMF hosting where its solid but they aren't going to suddenly bend to your whims if you dont like the existing choices.
Bawolff
16:37, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Everyone please check this out! Thank you.
edit
Latest comment:
24 days ago
5 comments
4 people in discussion
I have requested a new English Wikinews. Don
Don
21:40, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
While I appreciate your interest in Miraheze. I do not think it is wise to make a unilateral move when the community is still weighing on the best hosting option. There is still more than a month of time to decide.
PetraMagna
talk
22:43, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Sorry but im pretty sure they have decided. Don
Don
22:45, 30 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
BigKrow
, While I appreciate the enthusiasm for saving this project, I'll reiterate Petra - users
should not
request a wikinews fork at Miraheze on behalf of the project while discussion is ongoing and we are still waiting for WMF clearance on branding, especially if the person making the request isn't currently an administrator/crat on the wikinews project they're requesting it for.
While your intentions are good, this will be interpreted as hostile forking and will be declined/deleted.
--
NotAracham
talk
04:58, 31 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
I agree with others. Things are still uncertain regarding the migration. When and how it will take place. The community is still discussing it, so please be patient. --
Asked42
talk
07:40, 31 March 2026 (UTC)
Reply
How to get the entire enwn backed up?
edit
Latest comment:
21 days ago
7 comments
4 people in discussion
CC @
Bawolff
Asked42
Koavf
-- Hi, does anyone know how I can get the backup of the entire enwn (along with history, local files, logs -- what have you) so that I can keep a copy of it on my local system, and perhaps run it via, say a docker setup? I'd appreciate it if someone could help me with this.
•–•
09:29, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Justin (
ko
vf
11:18, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Would you be able to guide me how to run it locally, perhaps?
•–•
12:07, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
I don’t think the dumps page contains the data for logs or other non page info (may be wrong, if so I’d be glad for someone to correct me). There is probably a way to get this considering replica’s of the databases containing all information for a wiki are publicly accessible, but that may be more involved. I also don’t believe images are provided as an easy dump, but there are pieces of software that can create backups of all page content and images (
being the main one). I intend to probably run a dump of the wikinewses closer to the read only date and have it uploaded to the Internet Archive, assuming WikiTeam or someone else doesn’t do so first.
PixDeVl
talk
12:47, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
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Dumps server contains multiple files with a variety of data. I think the only thing really missing is user data and anything that has been deleted/oversighted.
Bawolff
17:14, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
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What does user data mean? I won't care about the IP logs, nor should that be publicly available -- but say the scripts that pizero worked on -- lack of that might break the functionality. But does that mean the dumps can recreate the entire wiki? And also, dumps.wm has nothing after 26.01 -- is it not updated monthly? If so, will it be available post May 4.
•–•
17:27, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
It doesn't have your password, email,user preferences, that sort of thing. If its non-public information its not in the dumps. I'm not sure what the update frequency is. I think its slower than monthly. I imagine its documented somewhere.
Bawolff
18:29, 2 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Clarification: WM NYC and Miraheze joint bid and requests on Miraheze
edit
Latest comment:
18 days ago
1 comment
1 person in discussion
Hello all, as mentioned
on Meta-wiki
, WM NYC and Miraheze representatives are in joint discussions with WMF on a potential bid for an approved revival of the Wikinews projects with permission to utilize the same name and branding.
While the community's enthusiasm for saving the project is appreciated and understood (hell, I've saved a project from the Fandom memory-hole myself), Miraheze
will not approve any new project requests from individuals (especially those who are not admins or crats on the language-specific WN projects)
until we have clear and full signoff from the WMF.
Thank you for your patience while discussions are ongoing.
--
NotAracham
talk
16:40, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
Coordination Group
edit
Should we create a Telegram group so everyone interested in continuing this project can gather there, or should we simply refresh this page periodically to stay updated on where we should migrate?
Rtnf
talk
04:34, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
I tried to summarize all the current conversations
here
Niryhpr
talk
14:31, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
Reply
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