Comments:Wikimedia Foundation closes Wikinews after 21 years

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So, Wikinews is done for now? Nononsense101 (talk) 01:02, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

There are forks or resume hosting being discussed. Check the meta page for updates.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Migration_of_Wikinews_and_future_hosts

@Nononsense101

Thanks Gryllida (talk) 01:21, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Surprisingly, I can still comment Mitchsavl (talk) 02:18, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

We might still hve a bit of time, maybe for days, we dont know. but with in this week. this is waht a zhen reporter how familiar with techniques told me.~ Sheminghui.WU (talk) 02:37, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

For the language edition of Wikipedia, there is the possibility of creating Wikinews as a separate namespace (see m:Wikinews#Languages that use Wikipedia to serve their Wikinews). Don Stroud (talk) 06:28, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Goodbye to our old website

Bear in mind this regrettable decision: its, now proven by time, a performance from beginning to end, and the violation of the Wikimedia spirit and of the principle of respecting the community, itself. and still unanswered data; maybe someone will prove it to be true, but we don't know now... That said, we still do not know the exact moment of the real shutdown; it could happen at any time with in this week, and the news site will be fixed in the past moment. However, the community is still there, and we will continue to cooperate and create a new continuation. This is by no means Wikinews, but it's our workplace for 25 years, an incredible record of every bit of work we've done and every word we've said. Although that continuation may be much weaker honestly, or may even eventually disappear, this says nothing, just as she represents nothing; free news will naturally have our spiritual continuation. In any case, I will not say goodbye at now, see you on a new platform! ~ Sheminghui.WU (talk) 02:36, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

It may be a good idea to go to Meta and compile a list of all the new platforms which were created thus far, unless you preferred to wait for the Wikinews Pulse solution to launch. Gryllida (talk) 07:15, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

We, our entire Wikinews community need a place where everyone can reach to continue communicate and discuss (we don't expect emaling everyone one-by-one right). We don't have much time on this website now, maybe let's just all go to Meta for further communicate (any, can even discuss things in the now-defunct old Wikinews Usergroup discussion forums, since all we have left is the community now...) btw zhwn community will go to m:Wikinewsies of Sinitic Languages User Group (Provisional) just for not lost contact next step. ~ Sheminghui.WU (talk) 08:47, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Where will specific reports go - to the WP discussion pages, or separate namespaces?

The m:Proposal for Closing Wikinews#Channelling the Community’s Efforts, "by Wikimedia staff", states: "People interested in curating newsworthy content might enjoy working with the curation of the Main Page on the various Wikipedias.", and continues: "The English Wikipedia news portal offers a feed that is categorized topic-wise and refers to articles on Wikipedia that have massive contributions.". At first glance, this "channeling the community’s efforts" proposal seems to be in direct conflict with this policy: "Wikipedia is not a newspaper.". Where will specific reports (not the topics to which the WP articles are devoted), and their discussions, go - to the WP discussion pages? Don Stroud (talk) 06:11, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

For the language edition of Wikipedia, there is the possibility of creating Wikinews as a separate namespace (see m:Wikinews#Languages that use Wikipedia to serve their Wikinews) - is this what is meant? Don Stroud (talk) 06:13, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

You would have to check with Wikipedia what they are willing or unwilling to accept. Historically the NOTNEWS policy at Wikipedia was written in effort to send away all newcomers who wanted to write non-notable events. That is still the case. They only write about major events with significant impact on the world. (Note also they keep expanding the event report page, it is not frozen in time, which Wikinews does not do.) Gryllida (talk) 07:14, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

In general, everything you said is correct, except that this refers to the namespace (Main/Article), but I was talking about a possible separate namespace, as is done in the small language editions of Wikipedia, listed in m:Wikinews. Don Stroud (talk) 07:34, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

It's shame

It is a shame, what the WMF did to the free press. Yesterday was the international day of the freedom of the press. Today they stab this freedom into the back. Shame on the board. Matthiasb (talk) 11:56, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Poor explanation

While Wikinews has been quite a silent platform for news in comparison to other news outlets, I believe much of the explanation has been lacking the sense on why exactly Wikinews is the Wikimedia project to shut down. Many of Wikimedia's projects are not sustainable; I have never heard anybody refer to Wikiversity at all in my personal life, but nevertheless, it is still information valuable to the public. Also, journalism and news reporting are not always under reliability, especially privately owned media. Of course Wikinews was never to be as popular as most news outlets people read regularly, however, this was never the point, was it? Wikinews offered something other news outlets simply did not have, and yet its potential has never been fulfilled due to the lack of advertising on say Wikipedia. Overall, I think this decision overlooked Wikinews as a whole, which is not a great look. What will be next to be "unsustainable"? Sprinklednights (talk) 15:48, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

I completely agree, that's exactly how it is. Don Stroud (talk) 05:00, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

End of an era

It's been a while since I've been on Wikinews. I had long suspected Wikinews would eventually close, but this was still a surprise. I'm definitely a little sad. Ixfd64 (talk) 21:56, 4 May 2026 (UTC)