View source for French Wikipedia

{{short description|French-language edition of Wikipedia}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Self-reference cleanup}}
{{Circular|date=June 2025}}
{{Primary sources|date=September 2024}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}{{Infobox website
|name             = French Wikipedia
|logo             = Wikipedia-logo-v2-fr.svg
|screenshot       = [[File:French Wikipedia screenshot.png|280px|Main page of the French Wikipedia]]
|caption          = Main Page of the French Wikipedia in March 2021
|collapsible      = yes
|url              = {{URL|http://fr.wikipedia.org/}}
|commercial       = No
|type             = [[Online encyclopedia]]
|language         = [[French Language|French]]
|registration     = Optional
|owner            = [[Wikimedia Foundation]]
|author           =
|launch_date      = {{start date and age|df=yes|2001|3|23}}
|current_status   =
|revenue          =
|content_license = {{nobr|[[Creative Commons licenses|Creative Commons Attribution/<br/>Share-Alike]] 4.0}} (most text also dual-licensed under [[GFDL]])<br/>Media licensing varies
}}

The '''French Wikipedia''' ({{langx|fr|Wikipédia en français}}) is the French-language edition of [[Wikipedia]], the free [[online encyclopedia]]. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia.<ref name="ZD Net">{{cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.fr/blogs/l-esprit-libre/wikipedia-en-francais-depasse-le-million-d-articles-39754828.htm|title=Wikipédia en français dépasse le million d'articles|work=ZDNet France|date=23 September 2010 }}</ref> It has [[:fr:Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROF|ARTICLES|fr |N}}]] [[encyclopedia article|articles]] as of {{Currentdaymonth}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}, making it the {{Ordinal to word|{{Wikipedia rank by size|fr}}}}-largest Wikipedia language version, after the [[English Wikipedia|English]]-, [[Cebuano Wikipedia|Cebuano]]-, and [[German Wikipedia|German]]-language editions, and the largest Wikipedia edition in a [[Romance language]]. It has the third-most edits, and ranks [[m:Wikipedia article depth|6th in terms of depth]] among Wikipedia editions, in addition to being the third-largest Wikipedia edition by number of active users as of January 2025.<ref name="List1">[[meta:List of Wikipedias|Wikimedia list of Wikipedias and their statistics.]] Retrieved 5 January 2025.</ref> It was the third edition, after the English Wikipedia and German Wikipedia, to exceed 1 million articles: this occurred on 23 September 2010.<ref name="ZD Net" /> In April 2016, the project had 4,657 active editors who made at least five edits in that month.

In 2008, the French encyclopaedia ''[[Quid (encyclopedia)|Quid]]'' cancelled its 2008 edition, citing falling sales on competition from the French edition of Wikipedia.<ref>Litchfield, John. "[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/frances-favourite-encyclopaedia-falls-victim-to-wikipedia-784420.html France's favourite encyclopaedia falls victim to Wikipedia]." ''[[The Independent]]''. Wednesday 20 February 2008. Retrieved on 26 June 2013.</ref>

As of {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}, there are {{formatnum:{{#expr:{{NUMBEROF|USERS|fr}}round -3}}}} users, {{NUMBEROF|ADMINS|fr}} admins and {{NUMBEROF|FILES|fr|N}} files on the French Wikipedia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaFR.htm|title=Wikipedia Statistics - Tables - French|work=wikimedia.org}}</ref>

On 2 December 2014, the French-language Wikipedia became the third-largest language edition by number of registered users,<ref>{{cite web |title=List of Wikipedias by edits per article |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias_by_edits_per_article |work=wikimedia.org}}</ref> overtaking for the first time the German edition, with {{formatnum:2022504}} registered users,<ref>[[:fr:Spécial:Statistiques]]</ref><ref>[[:de:Spezial:Statistik]]</ref> behind the English ({{formatnum:23300456}})<ref>[[Special:Statistics]]</ref> and [[Spanish Wikipedia|Spanish]] ({{formatnum:3401493}})<ref>{{cite web|url=https://es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Especial:Estad%C3%ADsticas&action=raw|title=Estadísticas|work=es.wikipedia.org}}</ref> language editions.

== Statistics ==
[[File:Most popular edition of Wikipedia by country.svg|thumb|right|The countries in which the French Wikipedia is the most popular language version of Wikipedia are shown in dark blue.]]
[[File:Wikipedia fr - Page views by country over time.png|thumb|right|Page views by country over time on the French Wikipedia]]

The audience measurement company [[Médiamétrie]] questioned a [[Sample (statistics)|sample]] of 8,500 users residing in France with access to [[Internet]] at home or at their place of work. Médiamétrie found that in June 2007, French Wikipedia had: 7,910,000 unique visitors that visited the site at least once during the month of June 2007 (compared to 4,355,000 unique visitors in June 2006); 2.7 visits per visitor during the period (2.0 visits in June 2006); had held the 12th position (21st in 2006) in "the Top 30 most visited sites in France, ''excluding'' Internet applications", according to the criterion of the number of unique visitors and 12th position in "the Top 30 most visited sites in France, ''including'' Internet applications", like [[eMule]] or [[RealNetworks|Real Networks]] (22nd position in June 2006).

By August 2011, French Wikipedia was the 7th most visited site in France, with nearly 16 million unique visitors a month (according to Médiamétrie). In April 2012, it had 20 million unique visitors per month, or 2.4 million per day<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/wikipedia-depasse-20-millions-de-visiteurs-mois-en-france-mediametrie-39772318.htm |title=Wikipédia dépasse 20 millions de visiteurs/mois en France (Médiamétrie) |publisher=ZDNet |date=31 May 2012 |access-date=4 September 2014}}</ref> with over 700 million page views.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/SummaryFR.htm|title=French Wikipedia at a glance |website=stats.wikimedia.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530002058/http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/SummaryFR.htm |archive-date=30 May 2012}}</ref>

== Study ==
{{Further|Academic studies about Wikipedia}}
According to a 2013 study by [[Taha Yasseri]] et al., from [[Oxford Internet Institute]], [[Ségolène Royal]] ([[:fr:Ségolène Royal|FR]]) and [[unidentified flying object]] ([[:fr:objet volant non identifié|objet volant non identifié]]) were the most controversial articles on the French Wikipedia.<ref>{{cite arXiv |eprint=1305.5566v2 |class=physics.soc-ph <!--  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103001329/https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-most-controversial-wikipedia-articles-2013-7?IR=T |archive-date=3 January 2019--> |author1=Taha Yasseri |author2=Anselm Spoerri |title=The most controversial topics in Wikipedia: A multilingual and geographical analysis |date=8 July 2013 |author3=Mark Graham |author4=János Kertész <!-- |url = https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-most-controversial-wikipedia-articles-2013-7?IR=T -->}}</ref>

== Differences from other Wikipedias ==
An important difference with the [[English Wikipedia]] is that like the [[Spanish Wikipedia]], or the [[Portuguese Wikipedia]] in the past, following a community vote in 2006 the French Wikipedia does not accept any images posted under [[fair use]], with the only exception being [[logo]]s. As of 2025, this exact ban is still in effect.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wikipédia:Exceptions au droit d'auteur |url=https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikip%C3%A9dia:Exceptions_au_droit_d%27auteur&oldid=184874240 |publisher=French Wikipedia |access-date=19 April 2023}}</ref>

Another important difference is that while [[Wikipedia administrators]] are elected for an indefinite period, anybody can start a formal "[[motion of no confidence]]" contesting their status,<ref>{{cite web |title=Wikipédia:Contestation du statut d'administrateur |url=https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Contestation_du_statut_d%27administrateur |publisher=French Wikipedia |access-date=19 April 2023}}</ref> with the community thereby invited to vote for or against removing their privileges. This also exists on the Spanish<ref>{{cite web |title=Wikipedia:Revalidación de bibliotecarios |url=https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Revalidaci%C3%B3n_de_bibliotecarios |publisher=[[Spanish Wikipedia]]|access-date=19 April 2023}}</ref> and Portuguese Wikipedia,<ref>{{cite web |title=Wikipédia:Administradores/Pedidos de remoção |url=https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Administradores/Pedidos_de_remo%C3%A7%C3%A3o |publisher=[[Portuguese Wikipedia]] |access-date=19 April 2023}}</ref> but not on the [[English Wikipedia]].

== See also ==
* {{Section link|Pierre-sur-Haute military radio station|Censorship on Wikipedia and unwanted attention}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://fr.wikipedia.org/ French Wikipedia website] ([http://fr.m.wikipedia.org mobile version])

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