User:Dcljr/Article counts

Original information

On May 10, 2012, a bug report requesting that the "updateArticleCount.php" maintenance script be run on all Wiktionaries and Wikisources was acted upon, resulting in 60 of those wikis surpassing or falling below one or more of the article-count milestones tracked at Wikimedia News. Some of the changes were quite large and therefore questionable.

The tables below show a great many statistics for the Wiktionaries and Wikisources that showed the largest percent changes in article counts (up or down) on May 10.

Wiktionaries

Note: This information needs to be completely rewritten to reflect my latest understanding of how article counting is done.

The table below can be sorted by any column (initial order of the rows is by "stats articles pct Δ"). You can also "hover" over any of the column headings in the table to get an explanation of that column (these mostly match the explanations in the key below, but the percents are explained in more detail). The wiki names are linked to the wikis themselves, while the dates are linked to subpages of this one containing the "raw statistics" upon which these numbers are based.

Table key:

• wiki – Wiki name
• date before / date after – Dates dumps were made before / after the May 10th running of the "updateArticleCount.php" script (all other "before" and "after" cells are colored using the same scheme); note that dumps that happened on May 10th [e.g., Pashto] are included in the table as "before" or "after" only if their "stats articles" count [see next two items] was very close to a dump made on one side of May 10th and very different from the dump made on the other side of May 10th)
• stats pages – Total page count given in "site_stats.sql" dump, which matches the on-wiki count of "Pages" in Special:Statistics and the one given by {{NUMBEROFPAGES}} on the wiki itself
• stats articles – Article count given in "site_stats.sql" dump, which matches the on-wiki count of "Content pages" in Special:Statistics and the one given by {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} on the wiki itself
• (%) – Unless otherwise explained below, the percents are based on the numbers in the previous two columns (e.g., the first one is the percent of "stats pages" that were "stats articles")
• stats articles Δ – Change in "stats articles" count from before to after May 10th
• stats articles pct Δ – Percent change in "stats articles" count from before to after May 10th.
• dumped pages – Total number of pages seen in "page.sql" dump
• ns0 pages – Number of pages in "page.sql" marked as being in the main namespace (which, BTW, matches the number of titles seen in the "all-titles-in-ns0" dump)
• ns0 non-redirs – Number of main-namespace pages in "page.sql" marked as not being redirects (in either that dump or "redirect.sql")
• std. article count – Article (i.e., entry) count based on currently used criteria: "non-redirect with at least one [[wikilink]] of any type"¹ (this and the other "article count" percents are all out of the "ns0 non-redirs" [since all the wikis listed here consider only the main namespace as "content"])
• % stats off – Percent difference between "stats articles" count and "std. article count" (as percent of "std. article count")
• conserv. article count – Article count based on more conservative criteria: "non-redirect linked to another page on the same wiki or placed in a category" (percent is out of "ns0 non-redirs")
• liberal article count – Article count based on more liberal criteria: "non-redirect containing at least one of the following: link to another page on the same wiki, image/file link, category link, interlanguage link, interwiki link, or template call" [see note below for further explanation/context] (percent is out of "ns0 non-redirs")
• altern. article count – Article count based on Yet Another set of criteria: "non-redirect linked to another page on same wiki, placed in a category, or containing an image/file or a template call" (percent is out of "ns0 non-redirs")

Note 1: Note that the "wikilink" in the current method of counting articles can apparently be anything starting with the string "[[", including a regular [[link]] to another page on the same wiki, a [[Category:]] link, an [[Image:]] (or [[File:]]) link, an interlanguage link (e.g., [[de:]]), an interwiki link (e.g., [[species:]]), or even a "hidden" link inside of an <!-- HTML comment --> or (perhaps?) one "deactivated" by <nowiki> tags. This analysis counts only "real" wikilinks (i.e., not "hidden" or "deactivated" links). To accomplish this, the dumps "pagelinks.sql", "categorylinks.sql", "imagelinks.sql", "langlinks.sql", "iwlinks.sql", and (only for the "liberal" and "alternate" counting methods) "templatelinks.sql" were also examined.

Wiktionary statistics before and after May 10

wiki	date before	date after	stats pages before	stats articles before	(%)	stats pages after	stats articles after	(%)	stats articles Δ	stats articles pct Δ	dumped pages before	ns0 pages before	ns0 non-redirs before	(%)	dumped pages after	ns0 pages after	ns0 non-redirs after	(%)	std. article count before	(%)	% stats off before	std. article count after	(%)	% stats off after	conserv. article count before	(%)	conserv. article count after	(%)	liberal article count before	(%)	liberal article count after	(%)	alternate article count before	(%)	alternate article count after	(%)
Nepali Wiktionary	2012-05-02	2012-05-11	5,675	4,821	85%	5,680	73	1%	−4,748	−98%	5,675	4,955	4,937	99.6%	5,680	4,955	4,937	99.6%	4,833	98%	−0.00%	4,833	98%	−98%	4,800	97%	4,800	97%	4,840	98%	4,840	98%	4,808	97%	4,808	97%
Pashto Wiktionary	2012-05-10	2012-05-20	9,040	4,082	45%	9,045	200	2%	−3,882	−95%	9,040	8,175	7,640	93%	9,045	8,179	7,644	93%	6,074	80%	−33%	6,076	79%	−97%	1,347	18%	1,347	18%	6,398	84%	6,400	84%	4,049	53%	4,049	53%
Tsonga Wiktionary	2012-05-07	2012-05-16	796	363	46%	798	19	2%	−344	−95%	796	347	345	99.4%	798	347	345	99.4%	88	26%	+313%	88	26%	−78%	19	6%	19	6%	88	26%	88	26%	19	6%	19	6%
Hindi Wiktionary	2012-05-08	2012-05-17	120,707	105,353	87%	120,711	6,182	5%	−99,171	−94%	119,877	112,386	112,199	99.8%	119,881	112,389	112,202	99.8%	105,380	94%	−0.00%	105,384	94%	−94%	105,302	94%	105,304	94%	105,380	94%	105,384	94%	105,306	94%	105,308	94%
Tigrinya Wiktionary	2012-05-09	2012-05-18	1,039	784	75%	1,040	111	11%	−673	−86%	1,039	564	561	99.5%	1,040	564	561	99.5%	388	69%	+102%	388	69%	+45%	198	35%	198	35%	388	69%	388	69%	198	35%	198	35%
Kyrgyz Wiktionary	2012-05-03	2012-05-11	3,909	3,374	86%	3,929	859	22%	−2,515	−75%	3,909	3,271	3,250	99.4%	3,929	3,276	3,255	99.4%	3,207	99%	+5%	3,209	99%	−73%	3,186	98%	3,188	98%	3,208	99%	3,210	99%	3,191	98%	3,193	98%
Bengali Wiktionary	2012-05-03	2012-05-11	2,248	713	32%	2,256	236	10%	−477	−67%	2,253	838	800	95%	2,261	840	802	95%	721	90%	−1%	721	90%	−67%	699	87%	699	87%	722	90%	722	90%	700	88%	700	87%
Telugu Wiktionary	2012-05-06	2012-05-15	58,877	49,773	85%	59,075	23,162	39%	−26,611	−54%	58,128	54,469	47,959	88%	58,326	54,527	47,999	88%	47,670	99.4%	+4%	47,715	99.4%	−51%	47,642	99.3%	47,688	99.4%	47,672	99.4%	47,717	99.4%	47,660	99.4%	47,704	99.4%
Amharic Wiktionary	2012-05-01	2012-05-10	1,955	373	19%	1,962	173	9%	−200	−54%	1,147	446	398	89%	1,154	446	398	89%	390	98%	−4%	390	98%	−56%	301	76%	301	76%	390	98%	390	98%	301	76%	301	76%
Cherokee Wiktionary	2012-05-01	2012-05-10	988	376	38%	995	178	18%	−198	−53%	989	354	302	85%	996	354	302	85%	301	99.7%	+25%	301	99.7%	−41%	225	75%	225	75%	301	99.7%	301	99.7%	227	75%	227	75%
Divehi Wiktionary	2012-05-10	2012-05-20	672	138	21%	673	79	12%	−59	−43%	672	185	172	93%	673	185	172	93%	102	59%	+35%	102	59%	−23%	81	47%	81	47%	102	59%	102	59%	87	51%	87	51%
Lao Wiktionary	2012-05-06	2012-05-15	61,933	60,674	98%	61,936	37,602	61%	−23,072	−38%	61,933	61,100	60,689	99.3%	61,936	61,100	60,689	99.3%	60,672	99.97%	+0.00%	60,673	99.97%	−38%	60,663	99.96%	60,663	99.96%	60,672	99.97%	60,673	99.97%	60,663	99.96%	60,663	99.96%

(20 more Wiktionaries to add to table)

Wikisources

Note: This information needs to be completely rewritten to reflect my latest understanding of how article counting is done.

As with the Wiktionaries table above, this table is initially sorted by the "stats articles pct Δ" column, and the dates are linked to the full statistics collected for each wiki. The explanation of the columns is mostly the same as for the table above, with certain additions noted below. Note that some stats included in the other table have been omitted here to limit the size of the table.

Table key: (differences from above)

• dumped articles – Article count across all content namespaces (main [ns0] and, if appropriate, "author", "page" and "index" — see other items below) using current "non-redirect in content namespace with at least one wikilink"¹ criteria, based on several relevant dumps (percent is out of "dumped pages" count)
• author ns – Number of the namespace containing "Author:" pages, but only if that namespace exists and counts as content
• author ns pages – Number of pages in "page.sql" dump marked as being in the author namespace (this and similar stats that follow are coded as "0" if the namespace is missing or not counted as content, so table sorting is not broken)
• author ns non-redirs – Number of author-namespace pages in "page.sql" marked as not being redirects (in either that dump or "redirect.sql")
• author ns articles – Number of author-namespace pages in "page.sql" that qualify as articles based on current criteria (percent is out of "author ns non-redirs")
• page ns – Number of the namespace containing "Page:" pages, but only if that namespace exists and counts as content
• page ns pages – Number of pages in "page.sql" dump marked as being in the page namespace
• page ns non-redirs – Number of page-namespace pages in "page.sql" marked as not being redirects (in either that dump or "redirect.sql")
• page ns articles – Number of page-namespace pages in "page.sql" that qualify as articles based on current criteria (percent is out of "page ns non-redirs")
• index ns – Number of the namespace containing "Index:" pages (in some languages translated as "book"), but only if that namespace exists and counts as content
• index ns pages – Number of pages in "page.sql" dump marked as being in the index namespace
• index ns non-redirs – Number of index-namespace pages in "page.sql" marked as not being redirects (in either that dump or "redirect.sql")
• index ns articles – Number of index-namespace pages in "page.sql" that qualify as articles based on current criteria (percent is out of "index ns non-redirs")

Wikisource statistics before and after May 10

wiki	date before	date after	stats pages before	stats articles before	(%)	stats pages after	stats articles after	(%)	stats articles Δ	stats articles pct Δ	dumped pages before	dumped articles before	(%)	% stats off before	dumped pages after	dumped articles after	(%)	% stats off after	ns0 pages before	ns0 non-redirs before	(%)	ns0 pages after	ns0 non-redirs after	(%)	ns0 articles before	(%)	ns0 articles after	(%)	author ns	author ns pages before	author ns non-redirs before	(%)	author ns pages after	author ns non-redirs after	(%)	author ns articles before	(%)	author ns articles after	(%)	page ns	page ns pages before	page ns non-redirs before	(%)	page ns pages after	page ns non-redirs after	(%)	page ns articles before	(%)	page ns articles after	(%)	index ns	index ns pages before	index ns non-redirs before	(%)	index ns pages after	index ns non-redirs after	(%)	index ns articles before	(%)	index ns articles after	(%)
Slovak Wikisource	2012-05-03	2012-05-12	880	229	26%	883	35	4%	−194	−85%	880	213	24%	+8%	883	213	24%	−84%	248	230	93%	248	230	93%	213	93%	213	93%	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Azerbaijani Wikisource	2012-05-06	2012-05-15	7,207	2,381	33%	7,213	383	5%	−1,998	−84%	7,229	2,570	36%	−7%	7,235	2,572	36%	−85%	2,717	2,577	95%	2,719	2,579	95%	2,570	99.7%	2,572	99.7%	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bosnian Wikisource	2012-05-03	2012-05-11	2,486	1,640	66%	2,493	429	17%	−1,211	−74%	2,486	1,627	65%	+1%	2,493	1,630	65%	−74%	1,700	1,681	99%	1,703	1,684	99%	1,627	97%	1,630	97%	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Thai Wikisource	2012-05-05	2012-05-14	16,365	13,601	83%	16,394	5,051	31%	−8,550	−63%	16,366	5,833	36%	+133%	16,395	5,832	36%	−13%	13,510	12,980	96%	13,511	12,979	96%	5,833	45%	5,832	45%	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ukrainian Wikisource	2012-05-08	2012-05-17	6,792	4,562	67%	6,809	1,947	29%	−2,615	−57%	6,796	4,641	68%	−1%	6,813	4,643	68%	−58%	5,277	4,754	90%	5,288	4,757	90%	4,641	98%	4,643	98%	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Breton Wikisource	2012-05-06	2012-05-15	14,216	3,535	25%	14,230	1,885	13%	−1,650	−47%	14,216	13,055	92%	−73%	14,230	13,065	92%	−86%	2,005	1,734	86%	2,010	1,738	86%	1,734	100%	1,738	100%	104	84	78	93%	84	78	93%	78	100%	78	100%	102	11,172	11,172	100%	11,178	11,178	100%	11,172	100%	11,178	100%	100	72	71	99%	72	71	99%	71	100%	71	100%
Turkish Wikisource	2012-05-01	2012-05-10	10,302	5,156	50%	10,309	2,990	29%	−2,166	−42%	10,312	5,326	52%	−3%	10,319	5,326	52%	−44%	6,081	5,380	88%	6,083	5,381	88%	5,207	97%	5,207	97%	100	124	119	96%	124	119	96%	119	100%	119	100%	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
English Wikisource	2012-05-02	2012-05-11	1,238,088	367,086	30%	1,241,182	768,020	62%	+400,934	+109%	1,239,936	1,018,086	82%	−64%	1,243,030	1,020,925	82%	−25%	350,789	258,493	74%	351,486	259,070	74%	258,382	99.96%	258,966	99.96%	102	17,480	12,916	74%	17,519	12,941	74%	12,912	99.97%	12,937	99.97%	104	741,844	741,826	100.00%	744,055	744,037	100.00%	741,817	100.00%	744,028	100.00%	106	5,058	4,998	99%	5,077	5,016	99%	4,975	99.5%	4,994	99.6%
Polish Wikisource	2012-05-08	2012-05-17	93,452	35,622	38%	94,063	83,977	89%	+48,355	+136%	93,503	83,539	89%	−57%	94,114	84,106	89%	−0.2%	26,690	24,353	91%	26,776	24,423	91%	24,353	100%	24,423	100%	104	509	497	98%	511	499	98%	497	100%	499	100%	100	58,238	58,232	99.99%	58,729	58,723	99.99%	58,229	99.99%	58,720	99.99%	102	464	460	99.1%	468	464	99.1%	460	100%	464	100%
Norwegian (Bokmål) Wikisource	2012-05-09	2012-05-18	44,177	1,667	4%	44,383	4,157	9%	+2,490	+149%	44,182	41,545	94%	−96%	44,388	41,749	94%	−90%	2,660	2,442	92%	2,674	2,456	92%	2,440	99.92%	2,454	99.92%	102	245	223	91%	245	223	91%	223	100%	223	100%	104	38,638	38,554	99.8%	38,826	38,742	99.8%	38,273	99.3%	38,461	99.3%	106	613	610	99.5%	615	612	99.5%	609	99.8%	611	99.8%
Swedish Wikisource	2012-05-06	2012-05-15	59,321	17,638	30%	59,569	46,841	79%	+29,203	+166%	59,330	46,761	79%	−62%	59,578	46,956	79%	−0.2%	7,367	6,497	88%	7,408	6,531	88%	6,497	100%	6,531	100%	106	505	476	94%	506	477	94%	476	100%	477	100%	104	39,461	39,390	99.8%	39,620	39,549	99.8%	39,390	100%	39,549	100%	108	398	398	100%	399	399	100%	398	100%	399	100%
Hebrew Wikisource	2012-05-08	2012-05-17	242,575	34,142	14%	242,717	91,267	38%	+57,125	+167%	244,818	93,014	38%	−63%	244,960	93,031	38%	−2%	140,030	94,505	67%	140,109	94,550	67%	92,693	98%	92,710	98%	108	153	142	93%	153	142	93%	142	100%	142	100%	104	172	172	100%	172	172	100%	172	100%	172	100%	112	10	7	70%	10	7	70%	7	100%	7	100%
Catalan Wikisource	2012-05-02	2012-05-11	20,055	5,647	28%	20,120	16,462	82%	+10,815	+192%	20,094	16,437	82%	−66%	20,159	16,498	82%	−0.2%	3,854	2,770	72%	3,860	2,775	72%	2,769	99.96%	2,774	99.96%	106	386	385	99.7%	386	385	99.7%	385	100%	385	100%	102	12,933	12,933	100%	12,989	12,989	100%	12,933	100%	12,989	100%	104	350	350	100%	350	350	100%	350	100%	350	100%
German Wikisource	2012-05-08	2012-05-17	274,085	86,242	31%	274,537	253,536	92%	+167,294	+194%	277,908	253,365	91%	−66%	278,360	253,755	91%	−0.1%	85,360	81,135	95%	85,563	81,327	95%	81,122	99.98%	81,314	99.98%	none	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	102	171,089	171,085	100.00%	171,283	171,279	100.00%	171,085	100%	171,279	100%	104	1,162	1,158	99.7%	1,166	1,162	99.7%	1,158	100%	1,162	100%
French Wikisource	2012-05-02	2012-05-11	1,198,420	278,718	23%	1,203,351	1,100,473	91%	+821,755	+295%	1,201,311	1,096,952	91%	−75%	1,206,242	1,101,679	91%	−0.1%	107,921	90,966	84%	110,166	93,147	85%	89371	98%	91,548	98%	102	5,262	5,008	95%	5,274	5,018	95%	5,006	99.96%	5,016	99.96%	104	1,033,791	1,033,790	100.00%	1,036,287	1,036,286	100.00%	994,153	96%	996,668	96%	112	8,636	214	2%	8,661	8,447	98%	8,422	100%	8,447	100%

(11 more Wikisources to add to table)

Verifying the counts

How do I know that my script is giving correct article counts? Well, anyone who can program sufficiently well can redo the calculations themselves, based on the descriptions below of how I did it. For everyone else, I provide some "really raw" output showing the final, processed results of the "page hash" constructed by my script for the 2012-05-16 dump of the Tsonga Wiktionary:

/tswiktionary-20120516-raw

Some spot checks of this output didn't reveal any problems, as far as I could tell.

Note: Except there was a problem... I wasn't using the right definition of a "good" article. This "raw" output page will soon be updated to reflect the correct article count.

---

---

Complete rewrite...

On May 10, 2012, a bug report requesting that the "updateArticleCount.php" maintenance script be run on all Wiktionaries and Wikisources was acted upon, resulting in 60 of those wikis surpassing or falling below one or more of the article-count milestones tracked at Wikimedia News. Some of the changes were quite large and therefore questionable.

A preliminary investigation revealed only one obvious pattern in the count changes: most Wiktionaries lost articles while most Wikisources gained. The gains can be explained by the fact that most Wikisources now count more namespaces as "content" than they used to; in addition to articles in the main namespace ("ns0"), many Wikisources now count qualifying pages in 1, 2, or 3 additional namespaces (more about this later). The losses were harder to explain.

Neither the gains nor losses seemed to be related to the writing system the wiki was using (e.g., Latin script vs. Brahmic scripts, etc.), whether it was an older wiki or newer one, bigger or smaller, and so forth. Most worryingly, it wasn't at all clear whether the new or old counts were "more correct". I (User:Dcljr) tried to estimate the "true" article counts based on random samples of pages at each wiki (or as close to random as could be reasonably achieved). Sometimes the resulting count was closer to the new one, sometimes closer to the old, and sometimes it was right in the middle between them. This (incomplete) preliminary information is collected at Talk:Wikimedia News#May 10 article count updates.

To collect more in-depth and "reliable" information, I wrote a Perl script to download and parse relevant database dumps needed to count the articles for a given wiki. Initially it seemed that the "updateArticleCount.php" script was consistently undercounting articles, but it turns out I was using the wrong (or, more accurately, using an out-of-date) definition of what counts as an article. Once I used the right definition, I started to get the same counts as those given by "updateArticleCount.php". (For more context, see bug 37291.)

But more about all that later. First, a summary of how article counts have been determined in the past, how they are determined now, and how the article counts actually changed when the "updateArticleCount.php" script was run on May 10, 2012.

How article counting used to be done

When wiki article counting first began, it was based on whether a page contained a comma or not. This worked fine for the English Wikipedia, but once other projects in other languages started up, people realized that this method would not work for all wikis. A very quick (one week!) discussion and vote was held here at Meta in March 2003, the details of which can be found at:

• Article count reform
• Talk:Article count reform
• Article count reform vote
• mailarchive:wikipedia-l/2003-March/009736.html

Based on the results of the vote, it was decided that a page would be counted as an article if it was:

a non-redirect in the main namespace (ns0), containing at least one [[wikilink]]

Unfortunately, the implementation of this definition left a little to be desired, and it ended up counting not only 5 different types of legitimate wikilinks (1–5 below), but two types of "false" wikilinks (6 and 7), and one type of non-wikilink (8):

1. page links: e.g., [[Babel]] or [[Talk:Babel]], etc.
2. category links: [[Category:Software]]
3. image/file links: [[File:Yes.png]]
4. interlanguage links: [[de:Wikipedia:Hauptseite]] or [[:de:Wikipedia:Hauptseite]]
5. interwiki links: [[species:]]
6. hidden links: <!-- [[don't look at me]] -->
7. deactivated links: <nowiki>[[look at me]]</nowiki>
8. any text containing the string "[[": wikilinks start with "[["...

(Note that links like [[:Category:Software]] and [[:File:Yes.png]], which start with an initial colon, are regular page links of type 1.)

In fact, number 8 describes exactly what was checked for to count a page as an article (assuming it wasn't a redirect and was in the main namespace)!

Eventually, this shortcoming led some wikis to routinely place "hidden" links (of type 6) on their main-namespace pages, just to get them counted as articles.

In June 2006, the $wgContentNamespaces configuration variable was introduced (in revision 14738) to enable namespaces other than the main one (ns0) to count as "content".

At this point, the de facto definition of an article was:

a non-redirect in a content namespace, containing the string "[["

In November 2007, bug 11868 was submitted requesting that links provided by templates be counted, too. In the course of the ensuing discussion, it was pointed out that links other than page links (types 2, 3, etc.) were being counted, and that in fact three different counting methods (all of which started with "non-redirect in a content namespace") were being employed at different places in the code:

• every time a page was saved, the "[["-string criterion was used to see whether the page would count as an article
• when the "initStats.php" maintenance script was run, it just checked to see whether the pages were non-empty
• when the "updateArticleCount.php" maintenance script was run, it checked whether the "page.sql" table actually contained page links originating from each page in question (type 1 only, but also type 1 links provided by templates)

In addition, when pages were imported into a wiki, the article count was not updated correctly (see bugs 2483, 5703, and 6600).

These inconsistencies allowed the on-wiki article counts (e.g., {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}) to diverge from the "correct" count (however that was defined!) over time.

At some point, the "meat" of the "updateArticleCount.php" script was moved elsewhere.

How article counting is done now

In May 2011, a developer finally acted to "rationalize" the way articles were counted, and in revision 88113 introduced the $wgArticleCountMethod configuration variable to specify which type of (non-empty) content-namespace non-redirect would count as articles: all such pages ("any"), only those containing a true page link ("link"), or only those containing a comma ("comma"). Article.php and SiteStats.php were modified to reflect this change.

So now, assuming $wgArticleCountMethod is set to "link" for a wiki (which it is for all but the English and Portuguese Wikibooks), a page counts as an article (presumably at all places in the MediaWiki code) if it is:

a non-redirect in a content namespace, containing (after parsing) at least one true [[wikilink]] to another page on the same wiki

Note how different this definition is from the one actually in effect before the change was made! Unfortunately, the extreme nature of the change wasn't apparent to most people until the article counts were recalculated on May 10, 2012.

Because of the "after parsing" part of the new definition, one can no longer tell whether a page will count as an article simply by examining its page source; if the page contains templates, it must be fully parsed first in order for any links created by those templates to be accounted for. Fortunately, this is done when pages are saved, so as long as the "page.sql" database is maintained correctly, the article count should no longer get "out of sync" as it did in the past.

Changes to article counts on May 10, 2012

Apart from isolated requests here and there (for example, bug 34184), the article counts of the various Wikimedia content wikis have not been updated to reflect all of these changes in how articles have been counted over time. The May 10 running of "updateArticleCount.php" on all the Wiktionaries and Wikisources was the first concerted effort to "fix" the article counts across an entire project. On that day, the changes seen in article counts for these two projects are shown in the tables below.

Key for both tables:

• wiki name – linked to the Main Page of the wiki
• articles before / articles after – on-wiki article count at c. 00:30 UTC on 2012-05-10 and c. 00:30 UTC on 2012-05-11, respectively (collected via API request, equivalent to {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} and the count seen at Special:Statistics on the given wiki)
• change – after minus before
• pct change – relative change in article count, as a percentage of the "before" count
• level before / level after – which milestone level (tracked at Wikimedia News) the wiki would be at based on the article count
• level change – whether there was a change in milestone level

Note that the tables are initially shown "collapsed" (to expand one, select the "[show]" link) and are sorted by the "level after" column, then "level before", then (unfortunately) alphabetically by language code. To sort by a different column, click on the "up-down" arrows next to the column heading. For help with sorting on a "secondary sort key", see Help:Sorting#Secondary sortkey.

Wiktionary article count changes on May 10, 2012

wiki name	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change
Afar Wiktionary	2	1	−1	−50%	0	0
Abkhazian Wiktionary	2	0	−2	−100%	0	0
Akan Wiktionary	4	0	−4	−100%	0	0
Alemannic Wiktionary	0	0	0	0	0	0
Assamese Wiktionary	21	16	−5	−24%	0	0
Avar Wiktionary	3	0	−3	−100%	0	0
Aymara Wiktionary	61	27	−34	−56%	0	0
Bihari Wiktionary	4	0	−4	−100%	0	0
Bislama Wiktionary	3	0	−3	−100%	0	0
Bambara Wiktionary	3	0	−3	−100%	0	0
Tibetan Wiktionary	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chamorro Wiktionary	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cree Wiktionary	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dzongkha Wiktionary	1	0	−1	−100%	0	0
Hausa Wiktionary	64	54	−10	−16%	0	0
Lojban Wiktionary	98	86	−12	−12%	0	0
Kashmiri Wiktionary	56	48	−8	−14%	0	0
Marshallese Wiktionary	5	0	−5	−100%	0	0
Moldovan Wiktionary	11	5	−6	−55%	0	0
Pali Wiktionary	6	1	−5	−83%	0	0
Romansh Wiktionary	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kirundi Wiktionary	3	0	−3	−100%	0	0
Sardinian Wiktionary	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shona Wiktionary	4	0	−4	−100%	0	0
Tongan Wiktionary	2	0	−2	−100%	0	0
Twi Wiktionary	1	0	−1	−100%	0	0
Xhosa Wiktionary	5	0	−5	−100%	0	0
Yoruba Wiktionary	3	0	−3	−100%	0	0
Divehi Wiktionary	138	79	−59	−43%	100	0	down to 0
Oriya Wiktionary	103	93	−10	−10%	100	0	down to 0
Samoan Wiktionary	102	99	−3	−3%	100	0	down to 0
Tswana Wiktionary	100	94	−6	−6%	100	0	down to 0
Tsonga Wiktionary	363	19	−344	−95%	200	0	down to 0
Nepali Wiktionary	4,821	73	−4,748	−98%	2,000	0	down to 0
Scottish Gaelic Wiktionary	179	173	−6	−3%	100	100
Inupiak Wiktionary	132	134	+2	+2%	100	100
Javanese Wiktionary	112	105	−7	−6%	100	100
Lingala Wiktionary	124	117	−7	−6%	100	100
Maori Wiktionary	156	144	−12	−8%	100	100
Maltese Wiktionary	160	150	−10	−6%	100	100
Nauruan Wiktionary	110	106	−4	−4%	100	100
Punjabi Wiktionary	184	105	−79	−43%	100	100
Sango Wiktionary	130	107	−23	−18%	100	100
Tok Pisin Wiktionary	146	145	−1	−1%	100	100
Uzbek Wiktionary	119	115	−4	−3%	100	100
Yiddish Wiktionary	184	128	−56	−30%	100	100
Zhuang Wiktionary	180	179	−1	−1%	100	100
Amharic Wiktionary	373	173	−200	−54%	200	100	down to 100
Cherokee Wiktionary	376	178	−198	−53%	200	100	down to 100
Sanskrit Wiktionary	219	188	−31	−14%	200	100	down to 100
Somali Wiktionary	203	199	−4	−2%	200	100	down to 100
Sundanese Wiktionary	238	182	−56	−24%	200	100	down to 100
Tigrinya Wiktionary	784	111	−673	−86%	500	100	down to 100
Interlingue Wiktionary	184	283	+99	+54%	100	200	up to 200
Faroese Wiktionary	336	333	−3	−1%	200	200
Manx Wiktionary	270	268	−2	−1%	200	200
Inuktitut Wiktionary	248	249	+1	+0%	200	200
Cornish Wiktionary	296	289	−7	−2%	200	200
Mongolian Wiktionary	204	205	+1	+0%	200	200
Oromo Wiktionary	269	268	−1	−0%	200	200
Quechua Wiktionary	376	281	−95	−25%	200	200
Aromanian Wiktionary	232	252	+20	+9%	200	200
Kinyarwanda Wiktionary	306	294	−12	−4%	200	200
Swati Wiktionary	377	290	−87	−23%	200	200
Bengali Wiktionary	713	236	−477	−67%	500	200	down to 200
Gujarati Wiktionary	518	411	−107	−21%	500	200	down to 200
Pashto Wiktionary	4,082	200	−3,882	−95%	2,000	200	down to 200
Aragonese Wiktionary	577	691	+114	+20%	500	500
Tajik Wiktionary	859	851	−8	−1%	500	500
Uyghur Wiktionary	843	834	−9	−1%	500	500
Zulu Wiktionary	719	579	−140	−19%	500	500
Greenlandic Wiktionary	1,067	837	−230	−22%	1,000	500	down to 500
Sindhi Wiktionary	1,073	953	−120	−11%	1,000	500	down to 500
Kyrgyz Wiktionary	3,375	859	−2516	−75%	2,000	500	down to 500
Sinhalese Wiktionary	935	1,066	+131	+14%	500	1,000	up to 1,000
Kashubian Wiktionary	1,495	1,496	+1	+0%	1,000	1,000
Guarani Wiktionary	1,695	1,700	+5	+0%	1,000	1,000
Interlingua Wiktionary	1,768	1,378	−390	−22%	1,000	1,000
Marathi Wiktionary	1,843	1,664	−179	−10%	1,000	1,000
Low Saxon Wiktionary	1,247	1,256	+9	+1%	1,000	1,000
Serbo-Croatian Wiktionary	1,022	1,019	−3	−0%	1,000	1,000
Slovak Wiktionary	1,513	1,460	−53	−4%	1,000	1,000
Sesotho Wiktionary	1,400	1,343	−57	−4%	1,000	1,000
Macedonian Wiktionary	2,304	1,971	−333	−14%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Malay Wiktionary	1,465	2,095	+630	+43%	1,000	2,000	up to 2,000
Anglo-Saxon Wiktionary	2,199	2,166	−33	−2%	2,000	2,000
Belarusian Wiktionary	2,282	2,257	−25	−1%	2,000	2,000
Bosnian Wiktionary	3,196	3,216	+20	+1%	2,000	2,000
Corsican Wiktionary	2,028	2,094	+66	+3%	2,000	2,000
Irish Wiktionary	2,117	2,245	+128	+6%	2,000	2,000
Upper Sorbian Wiktionary	3,896	4,038	+142	+4%	2,000	2,000
Kazakh Wiktionary	3,813	3,737	−76	−2%	2,000	2,000
Khmer Wiktionary	2,616	2,395	−221	−8%	2,000	2,000
Nahuatl Wiktionary	2,919	2,927	+8	+0%	2,000	2,000
Nynorsk Wiktionary	4,549	4,538	−11	−0%	2,000	2,000
Western Panjabi Wiktionary	2,006	4,974	2,968	148%	2,000	2,000
Turkmen Wiktionary	4,385	4,396	+11	+0%	2,000	2,000
Wolof Wiktionary	2,693	2,309	−384	−14%	2,000	2,000
Luxembourgish Wiktionary	4,971	5,121	+150	+3%	2,000	5,000	up to 5,000
Azerbaijani Wiktionary	5,721	6,136	+415	+7%	5,000	5,000
Danish Wiktionary	7,288	7,235	−53	−1%	5,000	5,000
Armenian Wiktionary	7,229	7,230	+1	+0%	5,000	5,000
Georgian Wiktionary	5,319	5,452	+133	+3%	5,000	5,000
Latin Wiktionary	8,244	8,275	+31	+0%	5,000	5,000
Latvian Wiktionary	5,244	5,451	+207	+4%	5,000	5,000
Slovenian Wiktionary	7,131	6,981	−150	−2%	5,000	5,000
Albanian Wiktionary	7,508	7,313	−195	−3%	5,000	5,000
Tatar Wiktionary	7,045	6,262	−783	−11%	5,000	5,000
Walloon Wiktionary	7,368	6,888	−480	−7%	5,000	5,000
Min Nan Wiktionary	6,378	6,384	+6	+0%	5,000	5,000
Hindi Wiktionary	105,353	6,180	−99,173	−94%	100,000	5,000	down to 5,000
Asturian Wiktionary	11,394	11,401	+7	+0%	10,000	10,000
Welsh Wiktionary	13,149	13,105	−44	−0%	10,000	10,000
Fijian Wiktionary	10,887	10,884	−3	−0%	10,000	10,000
West Frisian Wiktionary	13,160	13,322	+162	+1%	10,000	10,000
Hebrew Wiktionary	11,423	10,056	−1,367	−12%	10,000	10,000
Swahili Wiktionary	13,084	13,143	+59	+0%	10,000	10,000
Tagalog Wiktionary	13,002	12,662	−340	−3%	10,000	10,000
Urdu Wiktionary	13,085	10,180	−2,905	−22%	10,000	10,000
Afrikaans Wiktionary	14,993	15,331	+338	+2%	10,000	15,000	up to 15,000
Sicilian Wiktionary	16,671	16,800	+129	+1%	15,000	15,000
Simple English Wiktionary	18,300	18,373	+73	+0%	15,000	15,000
Serbian Wiktionary	15,327	15,949	+622	+4%	15,000	15,000
Bulgarian Wiktionary	26,997	26,773	−224	−1%	20,000	20,000
Breton Wiktionary	21,762	22,369	+607	+3%	20,000	20,000
Esperanto Wiktionary	25,841	26,029	+188	+1%	20,000	20,000
Basque Wiktionary	29,580	29,529	−51	−0%	20,000	20,000
Croatian Wiktionary	20,881	20,830	−51	−0%	20,000	20,000
Icelandic Wiktionary	21,093	20,987	−106	−1%	20,000	20,000
Occitan Wiktionary	22,128	22,266	+138	+1%	20,000	20,000
Thai Wiktionary	20,913	20,020	−893	−4%	20,000	20,000
Volapük Wiktionary	23,551	22,480	−1,071	−5%	20,000	20,000
Telugu Wiktionary	49,812	23,073	−26,739	−54%	40,000	20,000	down to 20,000
Catalan Wiktionary	31,997	34,491	+2,494	+8%	30,000	30,000
Czech Wiktionary	33,653	33,620	−33	−0%	30,000	30,000
Galician Wiktionary	32,403	35,297	+2,894	+9%	30,000	30,000
Ukrainian Wiktionary	30,780	32,404	+1,624	+5%	30,000	30,000
Lao Wiktionary	60,674	37,602	−23,072	−38%	60,000	30,000	down to 30,000
Arabic Wiktionary	48,446	47,233	−1,213	−3%	40,000	40,000
Romanian Wiktionary	45,758	46,259	+501	+1%	40,000	40,000
Kurdish Wiktionary	54,159	53,744	−415	−1%	50,000	50,000
Persian Wiktionary	78,864	58,120	−20,744	−26%	70,000	50,000	down to 50,000
Spanish Wiktionary	69,254	69,846	+592	+1%	60,000	60,000
Japanese Wiktionary	78,121	77,861	−260	−0%	70,000	70,000
Estonian Wiktionary	94,189	93,489	−700	−1%	90,000	90,000
Limburgish Wiktionary	96,400	96,769	+369	+0%	90,000	90,000
Indonesian Wiktionary	116,644	117,413	+769	+1%	100,000	100,000
Italian Wiktionary	116,361	118,011	+1,650	+1%	100,000	100,000
Malayalam Wiktionary	102,032	102,298	+266	+0%	100,000	100,000
Burmese Wiktionary	114,891	122,788	+7,897	+7%	100,000	100,000
Norwegian (Bokmål) Wiktionary	127,624	127,633	+9	+0%	100,000	100,000
Finnish Wiktionary	192,481	193,883	+1,402	+1%	150,000	150,000
Hungarian Wiktionary	180,895	182,750	+1,855	+1%	150,000	150,000
Ido Wiktionary	195,289	195,440	+151	+0%	150,000	150,000
Dutch Wiktionary	174,492	177,972	+3,480	+2%	150,000	150,000
Portuguese Wiktionary	179,560	179,451	−109	−0%	150,000	150,000
Swedish Wiktionary	176,248	176,417	+169	+0%	150,000	150,000
Greek Wiktionary	191,251	290,691	+99,440	+52%	150,000	200,000	up to 200,000
German Wiktionary	204,586	215,178	+10,592	+5%	200,000	200,000
Kannada Wiktionary	207,226	205,740	−1,486	−1%	200,000	200,000
Polish Wiktionary	282,631	283,572	+941	+0%	200,000	200,000
Tamil Wiktionary	244,140	243,541	−599	−0%	200,000	200,000
Vietnamese Wiktionary	229,571	229,055	−516	−0%	200,000	200,000
Turkish Wiktionary	283,030	301,670	+18,640	+7%	200,000	300,000	up to 300,000
Korean Wiktionary	340,537	341,084	+547	+0%	300,000	300,000
Russian Wiktionary	327,449	437,287	+109,838	+34%	300,000	400,000	up to 400,000
Lithuanian Wiktionary	604,846	608,048	+3,202	+1%	600,000	600,000
Chinese Wiktionary	1,202,474	825,964	−376,510	−31%	1,000,000	800,000	down to 800,000
Malagasy Wiktionary	1,430,731	1,495,456	+64,725	+5%	1,000,000	1,000,000
English Wiktionary	2,978,660	2,988,459	+9,799	+0%	2,000,000	2,000,000
French Wiktionary	2,190,676	2,195,030	+4,354	+0%	2,000,000	2,000,000
wiki name	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change

Note: 8 Wiktionaries rose up to new milestone levels and 24 fell to lower milestone levels.

Wikisource article count changes on May 10, 2012

wiki name	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change
Anglo-Saxon Wikisource	4	1	−3	−75%	0	0
Faroese Wikisource	60	11	−49	−82%	0	0
Haitian Wikisource	25	12	−13	−52%	0	0
Min Nan Wikisource	56	59	+3	+5%	0	0
Slovak Wikisource	229	35	−194	−85%	200	0	down to 0
Welsh Wikisource	271	174	−97	−36%	200	100	down to 100
Galician Wikisource	401	381	−20	−5%	200	200
Kannada Wikisource	341	308	−33	−10%	200	200
Lithuanian Wikisource	407	327	−80	−20%	200	200
Marathi Wikisource	356	234	−122	−34%	200	200
Estonian Wikisource	717	435	−282	−39%	500	200	down to 200
Bosnian Wikisource	1,643	429	−1,214	−74%	1,000	200	down to 200
Azeri Wikisource	2,381	382	−1,999	−84%	2,000	200	down to 200
Gujarati Wikisource	233	507	+274	+118%	200	500	up to 500
Bulgarian Wikisource	598	580	−18	−3%	500	500
Sakha Wikisource	558	558	0	0%	500	500
Belarusian Wikisource	478	1,507	+1,029	+215%	200	1,000	up to 1,000
Danish Wikisource	1,451	1,677	+226	+16%	1,000	1,000
Esperanto Wikisource	1,603	1,605	+2	+0%	1,000	1,000
Indonesian Wikisource	1,554	1,804	+250	+16%	1,000	1,000
Icelandic Wikisource	1,765	1,756	−9	−1%	1,000	1,000
Tamil Wikisource	1,892	1,722	−170	−9%	1,000	1,000
Breton Wikisource	3,535	1,881	−1,654	−47%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Limburgish Wikisource	2,336	1,525	−811	−35%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Macedonian Wikisource	2,734	1,846	−888	−32%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Ukrainian Wikisource	4,563	1,947	−2,616	−57%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Norwegian (Bokmål) Wikisource	1,667	4,145	+2,478	+149%	1,000	2,000	up to 2,000
Venetian Wikisource	1,974	3,301	+1,327	+67%	1,000	2,000	up to 2,000
Armenian Wikisource	2,426	4,755	+2,329	+96%	2,000	2,000
Japanese Wikisource	4,098	2,844	−1,254	−31%	2,000	2,000
Latin Wikisource	3,021	3,511	+490	+16%	2,000	2,000
Malayalam Wikisource	3,611	3,143	−468	−13%	2,000	2,000
Serbian Wikisource	4,454	3,390	−1,064	−24%	2,000	2,000
Yiddish Wikisource	2,304	2,578	+274	+12%	2,000	2,000
Dutch Wikisource	5,524	4,226	−1,298	−23%	5,000	2,000	down to 2,000
Turkish Wikisource	5,156	2,990	−2,166	−42%	5,000	2,000	down to 2,000
Bengali Wikisource	5,398	5,494	+96	+2%	5,000	5,000
Greek Wikisource	5,978	5,651	−327	−5%	5,000	5,000
Finnish Wikisource	7,138	7,964	+826	+12%	5,000	5,000
Croatian Wikisource	7,914	5,003	−2,911	−37%	5,000	5,000
Korean Wikisource	8,582	8,331	−251	−3%	5,000	5,000
Romanian Wikisource	8,496	8,323	−173	−2%	5,000	5,000
Sanskrit Wikisource	5,784	5,794	+10	+0%	5,000	5,000
Slovenian Wikisource	6,614	9,042	+2,428	+37%	5,000	5,000
Telugu Wikisource	7,278	6,734	−544	−7%	5,000	5,000
Vietnamese Wikisource	7,087	7,205	+118	+2%	5,000	5,000
Thai Wikisource	13,599	5,051	−8,548	−63%	10,000	5,000	down to 5,000
Multiligual (Beta) Wikisource	10,742	10,743	+1	+0%	10,000	10,000
Catalan Wikisource	5,707	16,461	+10,754	+188%	5,000	15,000	up to 15,000
Czech Wikisource	15,051	16,106	+1,055	+7%	15,000	15,000
Arabic Wikisource	20,844	19,658	−1,186	−6%	20,000	15,000	down to 15,000
Hungarian Wikisource	19,293	20,128	+835	+4%	15,000	20,000	up to 20,000
Persian Wikisource	22,057	21,906	−151	−1%	20,000	20,000
Swedish Wikisource	17,732	46,780	+29,048	+164%	15,000	40,000	up to 40,000
Spanish Wikisource	52,159	77,230	+25,071	+48%	50,000	70,000	up to 70,000
Polish Wikisource	35,682	83,510	+47,828	+134%	30,000	80,000	up to 80,000
Hebrew Wikisource	34,144	91,256	+57,112	+167%	30,000	90,000	up to 90,000
Portuguese Wikisource	87,931	95,409	+7,478	+9%	80,000	90,000	up to 90,000
Italian Wikisource	67,136	115,444	+48,308	+72%	60,000	100,000	up to 100,000
Chinese Wikisource	106,648	107,768	+1,120	+1%	100,000	100,000
German Wikisource	86,340	253,283	+166,943	+193%	80,000	200,000	up to 200,000
Russian Wikisource	217,137	222,029	+4,892	+2%	200,000	200,000
English Wikisource	369,323	767,673	+398,350	+108%	300,000	700,000	up to 700,000
French Wikisource	281,166	1,100,463	+819,297	+291%	200,000	1,000,000	up to 1,000,000
wiki name	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change

Note: 15 Wikisources rose up to new milestone levels and 13 fell to lower milestone levels.

Changes to article counts in other projects

Eventually the article counts will need to be updated on the other Wikimedia wikis. The tables below show the changes that would have occurred if the "updateArticleCount.php" script were run on each of the other "content wikis" on the day that wiki's database was most recently dumped (as of the time the tables were filled in). The columns are as in the previous section, except for the "date dumped" column, which should be self-explanatory. Unlike the tables above, initial sorting is by "articles before" in reverse numerical order.

Wikipedias

Note: Information to come...

Changes to Wikipedia article counts if they were updated on the indicated dates

wiki name	date dumped	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change

Note: The English Wikipedia is too large to include in this analysis.

Wikibooks

Note: Information to come...

Changes to Wikibooks article counts if they were updated on the indicated dates

wiki name	date dumped	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change

Note: The English Wikibooks and Portuguese Wikibooks use the "comma" article counting method, and so are not included in this analysis.

Wikiquote

Note: Information to come...

Changes to Wikiquote article counts if they were updated on the indicated dates

wiki name	date dumped	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change

Wikinews

Changes to Wikinews article counts if they were updated on the indicated dates

wiki name	date dumped	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change
Serbian Wikinews	2012-06-22	71,510	71,497	−13	−0.02%	70,000	70,000
English Wikinews	2012-06-20	19,169	19,364	+195	+1%	15,000	15,000
Polish Wikinews	2012-06-26	12,824	10,481	−2,343	−18%	10,000	10,000
French Wikinews	2012-06-17	12,204	11,849	−355	−3%	10,000	10,000
German Wikinews	2012-06-20	11,387	11,874	+487	+4%	10,000	10,000
Italian Wikinews	2012-06-16	8,499	6,956	−1,543	−18%	5,000	5,000
Spanish Wikinews	2012-06-17	7,758	7,788	+30	+0.4%	5,000	5,000
Portuguese Wikinews	2012-06-17	7,409	5,796	−1,613	−22%	5,000	5,000
Chinese Wikinews	2012-06-22	4,187	3,930	−257	−6%	2,000	2,000
Russian Wikinews	2012-06-25	3,801	3,500	−301	−8%	2,000	2,000
Japanese Wikinews	2012-06-17	3,486	1,222	−2,264	−65%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Swedish Wikinews	2012-06-25	3,275	2,065	−1,210	−37%	2,000	2,000
Tamil Wikinews	2012-06-21	2,203	1,928	−275	−12%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Catalan Wikinews	2012-06-21	2,056	1,036	−1,020	−50%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Greek Wikinews	2012-06-23	1,829	1,817	−12	−0.7%	1,000	1,000
Czech Wikinews	2012-06-17	1,655	1,297	−358	−22%	1,000	1,000
Persian Wikinews	2012-06-16	1,447	1,400	−47	−3%	1,000	1,000
Arabic Wikinews	2012-06-16	1,218	1,104	−114	−9%	1,000	1,000
Dutch Wikinews	2012-06-16	1,215	284	−931	−77%	1,000	200	down to 200
Finnish Wikinews	2012-06-22	1,177	368	−809	−69%	1,000	200	down to 200
Romanian Wikinews	2012-06-23	1,120	1,268	+148	+13%	1,000	1,000
Hebrew Wikinews	2012-06-16	1,053	220	−833	−79%	1,000	200	down to 200
Bulgarian Wikinews	2012-06-21	999	98	−901	−90%	500	0	down to 0
Turkish Wikinews	2012-06-21	939	888	−51	−5%	500	500
Hungarian Wikinews	2012-06-17	813	494	−319	−39%	500	200	down to 200
Sindhi Wikinews	2012-06-21	749	13	−736	−98%	500	0	down to 0
Albanian Wikinews	2012-06-26	728	728	0	0%	500	500
Ukrainian Wikinews	2012-06-17	667	260	−407	−61%	500	200	down to 200
Norwegian (Bokmål) Wikinews	2012-06-17	584	574	−10	−2%	500	500
Bosnian Wikinews	2012-06-21	259	279	+20	+8%	200	200
Thai Wikinews	2012-06-21	181	25	−156	−86%	100	0	down to 0
Esperanto Wikinews	2012-06-26	162	164	+2	+1%	100	100
Korean Wikinews	2012-06-16	158	153	−5	−3%	100	100

Note: The Alemannic Wikinews and Low German Wikinews exist as separate namespaces within their respective language Wikipedias and so are not included in this analysis.

Wikiversity

Changes to Wikiversity article counts if they were updated on the indicated dates

wiki name	date dumped	articles before	articles after	change	pct change	level before	level after	level change
English Wikiversity	2012-06-25	18,359	15,513	−2,846	−16%	15,000	15,000
French Wikiversity	2012-06-17	9,221	7,387	−1,834	−20%	5,000	5,000
German Wikiversity	2012-06-20	3,926	12,531	+8,605	+219.18%	2,000	10,000	up to 10,000
Multilingual Wikiversity	2012-06-20	3,000	2,284	−716	−24%	2,000	2,000
Russian Wikiversity	2012-06-16	2,522	2,190	−332	−13%	2,000	2,000
Czech Wikiversity	2012-06-17	2,478	1,679	−799	−32%	2,000	1,000	down to 1,000
Italian Wikiversity	2012-06-20	1,640	1,637	−3	−0.2%	1,000	1,000
Spanish Wikiversity	2012-06-17	1,178	921	−257	−22%	1,000	500	down to 500
Portuguese Wikiversity	2012-06-17	1,078	1,161	+83	+8%	1,000	1,000
Arabic Wikiversity	2012-06-16	536	535	−1	−0.2%	500	500
Greek Wikiversity	2012-06-16	459	317	−142	−31%	200	200
Finnish Wikiversity	2012-06-17	416	302	−114	−27%	200	200
Swedish Wikiversity	2012-06-15	402	315	−87	−22%	200	200
Slovenian Wikiversity	2012-06-21	258	258	0	0%	200	200
Japanese Wikiversity	2012-06-17	146	134	−12	−8%	100	100

Other possible article counting criteria

Clearly there are big differences between the old and new definitions of what constitutes an article. While the new definition may be closer to the original intent of the "Article count reform" voters (although even this is not entirely clear), people have gotten used to the old way of doing things and might be disturbed by large changes in article counts. In particular, some might consider it a "bug" in the new method that, say, category links are no longer considered.

For this reason, it might be time to think about what other criteria could be used to count articles.

Below are some tables containing statistics for the Wiktionaries and Wikisources that showed the largest percent changes in article counts (up or down) on May 10. As alluded to earlier, these statistics were generated by a Perl script I (dcljr) wrote to download and parse relevant database dumps. For convenience, I repeat here the list of different types of links (now including "template links") that have been used, or could be used, to count articles, along with the associated SQL databases that currently track such links (note that "page.sql" contains the page IDs that each of these other databases refer to).

link type	examples	database
page (on same wiki)	[[Babel]], [[Talk:Babel]], [[:Category:Software]], [[:Image:Cat.jpg]], [[:File:Cat.jpg]]	pagelinks.sql
category	[[Category:Software]]	categorylinks.sql
image/file	[[Image:Cat.jpg]], [[File:Cat.jpg]]	imagelinks.sql
interlanguage	[[de:Wikipedia:Hauptseite]], [[:de:Wikipedia:Hauptseite]]	langlinks.sql
interwiki	[[species:]], [[wookieepedia:]]	iwlinks.sql
template	{{fact}}, {{fact|date=June 2012}}	templatelinks.sql
hidden×	<!-- [[don't look at me]] -->	(none)
deactivated×	<nowiki>[[look at me]]</nowiki>	(none)
any text containing "[["×	Wikilinks start with two open-brackets (<tt>[[</tt>).	(none)

Note ×: Not a real wikilink, so not contained in any "links" database.

Note that a "template" link doesn't mean a wikilink provided by a template; it simply refers to any {{template call}}, regardless of whether the template provides any wikilinks (or, indeed, any content at all, since the template may not actually exist).

Now for the various definitions of what might constitute an article (all of which should be understood to begin with the phrase "non-redirect in a content namespace, containing..."):

• "new" definition – "at least one page link"
• "conservative" definition – "at least one page or category link" (note: despite the name, this will count more pages as articles than the "new" definition)
• "standard" definition – "at least one page, category, image/file, interlanguage, or interwiki link" (this is supposed to stand in for the "old" way of counting articles, but as explained above it's still different since (as with all of these dump-based counting methods) it counts wikilinks that are provided via template calls (which the old method couldn't do) and doesn't count hidden or deactivated links, nor text containing "[[" but not forming links)
• "liberal" defintion – "at least one page, category, image/file, interlanguage, or interwiki link, or any template call" (regardless of whether the template provides any links — this counts the most pages as articles)
• "alternate" definition – "at least one page, category, or image/file link, or any template call" (regardless of whether the template provides any links — the idea behind this definition is that all of these could be links to things on the same wiki, although in practice most images are hosted remotely at Commons)

If someone wants to suggest yet another definition, I can modify my Perl script to use it (as long as it uses some combination of the database-tracked link types listed above).