Runiversalis

Runiversalis (/ruːnɪˈvɜːrsəlɪs/[1] roo-ni-VER-sə-lis; Russian: Руниверсалис, IPA: [rʊnʲɪvʲɪrˈsalʲɪs]), abbreviated as Runi (Russian: Руни, IPA: [ˈrunʲɪ]), is a Russian online encyclopedia forked from the Russian Wikipedia, launched on June 9, 2022. Some sources explain its articles are written with a pronounced pro-Russian-government view of world events.[2][3][4] Its creators claim to be former contributors to the Russian Wikipedia.[1] Nevertheless, the Wikimedia Foundation has distanced itself from Runiversalis and its editors.[5]

Not to be confused with Russian Wikipedia, Ruwiki (website), or Great Russian Encyclopedia.
Runiversalis
Type of site
Online encyclopedia
Available inRussian
Country of originRussia
URLруни.рф
RegistrationRequired
Launched9 June 2022 (2022-06-09)
Content license
CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

This site makes no mention of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, instead referring to it as a "special military operation".[6]

Characteristics

Runiversalis' manifesto states that the project's servers are located in Russia, and the pages are edited "in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation and with respect for traditional values."[2][7][8][9] Runiversalis is based on MediaWiki, the software which also runs Wikipedia.

Runiversalis' administrator team includes two former Russian Wikipedia administrators, arbiters and mediators in articles about Ukrainian conflict, who were engaged in pro-Kremlin propaganda while they had positions on Wikipedia.[10]

Since the end of August 2022, to make any edits in the encyclopedia, registration is required and must be confirmed by sysops.[11] According to the Runiversalis project website, as of April 2023 it can be done by writing a message to their Telegram bot, to their VK page or sending them an e-mail.[12]

Statistics

In August 2022, two months after the project has been created, it had only 9000 articles, a tiny subset of the 1.85 million articles on the Russian Wikipedia.[13] Nevertheless, as of April 2023, Runiversalis has around 2 million articles, many of them being taken unmodified by bots from the Russian Wikipedia.[14]

According to their own page, its milestones are as follows:[15]

  • August 23, 2022: 9000 articles
  • September 11, 2022: 100,000 articles
  • October 23, 2022: 500,000 articles
  • November 26, 2022: 1,000,000 articles
  • February 3, 2023: 1,500,000 articles

Reception

On August 23, 2022, the media drew attention to the project when some Telegram channels, including those of State Duma deputy Anton Gorelkin, reported on the Russian Internet encyclopedia.[2][16]

Cyber attacks

On 23 August 2022, the website stopped working due to a suspected DDoS attack, with readers getting a 403 error when they tried to navigate to a page on the site.[17] The site returned a few days later.[11]

As of 2023, Runiversalis remains in operation. As of 13 July 2023, it claimed to have over 2 million articles.[14]

References
  1. Khatsenkova, Sophia (2022-09-15). "Russia's answer to Wikipedia: Propaganda or common sense encyclopedia?". euronews. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  2. "В России запустили аналог "Википедии" — "Руниверсалис". И там нет статьи о войне в Украине (только о "спецоперации")". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  3. "В России запустилась электронная энциклопедия "Руниверсалис"". www.sostav.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  4. "В России запустили отечественный аналог "Википедии"". Российская газета. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  5. "The Russian Equivalent of Wikipedia Collapsed hours after it Appeared - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". www.novinite.com. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  6. "Russia launches 'Wikipedia equivalent' Runiversalis, website currently unavailable". Novaya gazeta. Europe. 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  7. "Россиянам предложили "Руни" на замену "Вики"". AdIndex (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  8. Цепелева, Маша (2022-08-23). "В России запустили энциклопедию "Руниверсалис" — аналог "Википедии", где "уважают традиционные ценности" — Сервисы на vc.ru". vc.ru. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  9. "Анонсирована российская "Википедия" — "Руниверсалис"". Rozetked.me (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  10. Russian Wikipedia's ArbCom decisions on cases 1256 and 1281.
  11. "Russian clone of Wikipedia off to a bumpy start". Cybernews. 2022-08-30. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  12. "Как стать редактором Руниверсалис" [How to be a Runiversalis editor]. Runiversalis (in Russian). {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  13. Fasseur, Barbara. "Runiversalis, un Wikipédia russe, approuvé par l'État". ActuaLitté.com (in French). Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  14. "Заглавная страница". Runiversalis (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2023-07-13. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
  15. "Руниверсалис — Энциклопедия Руниверсалис" [Runiversalis - Runiversalis encyclopedia]. Runiversalis (in Russian).
  16. "В России запустился отечественный аналог "Википедии"". Код Дурова (in Russian). 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  17. Дмитрова, Дарья (23 August 2022). "Отечественный аналог "Википедии" "Руниверсалис" перестал работать в день запуска". Gazeta.ru. Retrieved 23 August 2022.

See also
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