News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by tyingq on Tuesday September 02, 2025 @08:45PM (#45111010)
I won't call it dead, but it is declining. Their various sources of traffic are now regurgitating Wikipedia Content (and other 3rd party sources) via uncited/unlinked AI "blurbs"...instead of presenting snippets of Wikipedia contents with links to Wikipedia to read more.

It's not the only reason their traffic is declining, but it seems like a big one.

Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by WD-42 on Tuesday September 02, 2025 @09:09PM (#45111171)
Who cares if the traffic is declining? I don’t find Wikipedia useful because it gets lots of visits, I find it useful for the information it contains.
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by jowea on Tuesday September 02, 2025 @09:52PM (#45111447)
The problem has more to do with editors. The theory is that less visits leads to less editors in the long run.
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by WD-42 on Tuesday September 02, 2025 @09:59PM (#45111497)
I may be wrong, but I don’t think the people that edit Wikipedia are the same people that are content with half truths from LLMs and thus no longer visiting the site. So I kinda doubt it matters much.
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by baq on Wednesday September 03, 2025 @01:22AM (#45112471)
That’s certainly true for stack overflow, but in their case the moderators were very active in getting the negative feedback loop going.
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by reddalo on Wednesday September 03, 2025 @04:56AM (#45113619)
Also, Stack Overflow is a commercial website, while Wikipedia is a free (as in freedom) project. Editing Wikipedia feels like you're contributing towards "an ideal", that you're giving back something to humanity, instead of just helping somebody else getting richer.
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by tyingq on Wednesday September 03, 2025 @08:46AM (#45115067)
Visits drive revenue. Declining traffic is declining revenue. Not an issue yet, but eventually...
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by Ray20 on Wednesday September 03, 2025 @11:42AM (#45117096)
I saw statistics somewhere that Wikipedia ALREADY has enough money for centuries of work (if it stops spending them on promoting wokeism).
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by bawolff on Wednesday September 03, 2025 @12:00AM (#45112148)
People have been talking about wikipedia's decline since like 2008. It seems fine.
Re:Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred fro... by falcor84 on Tuesday September 02, 2025 @09:23PM (#45111236)
That's just plain old citogenesis[0][1], and has been in play for at least two decades, so I don't think it's any evidence of decline.

[0] https://xkcd.com/978/

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_citogenesis_...