Talk:Wikipedia 25/Easter egg experiments

Are there ideas or elements that you would love to see implemented on your language Wikipedia?

Thank you for sharing your insights with us! CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:41, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

Vietnamese Wikipedia

1. I'm thinking of adding audio files of Vi Wikipedia members saying "Xin chào. Mình là [tên]. Chào mừng bạn đến với Wikipedia tiếng Việt" (meaning: Hi. I'm [name]. Welcome to Vietnamese Wikipedia). Every time someone enters the homepage, it randomly plays one of these files. Should be fun to hear Wikipedia name in different accents, even pronounced wrong. - ABAL1412 (talk) 11:39, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

   • Note: Like English, Vietnamese also has accents. For instance, you have AE, BE, e.t.c. Some is super hard to understand, like West Country accent. Vietnamese also has some super hard accents to hear, even for Vietnamese (like me). For examples: Thanh Hóa, Quảng Nam, Huế,... That's why I think it would be fun.

   ABAL1412 (talk) 14:47, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

   Thank you so much for sharing this fun + funny idea, @ABAL1412! It seems like it might be a bit complex to make this happen, but we are exploring it as a team to see what is possible and will get back to you in the next week or so.

   I also want to make sure we understand what this kind of idea would require: do you already have these recordings of Vi Wikipedia members? Or is it something that you can and want to collect?

   Thanks again for being here and sharing your ideas! CDekock-WMF (talk) 17:35, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

   @CDekock-WMF No. I don't have yet. We should collect. There's a Vi Wikipedia group on Facebook. I can tell them to join there. But I'm not sure how many people will join. ABAL1412 (talk) 18:48, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

   Thank you @ABAL1412, this is helpful information :) For now, please wait before contacting them. I want to first confirm that it is possible for us to build this within the current constraints. Chat soon! CDekock-WMF (talk) 11:27, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

   Ok. Thanks for your respond. - ABAL1412 (talk) 13:31, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

   Hello @ABAL1412 :) I've got feedback and a suggestion for you on this idea. Also looping in @Song Ngư since they've followed up on this idea too.

   We really love this idea, but it is not possible for us to build this kind of customisation into the system. The more content-customisable configuration we build to provide especially content variants across languages, the greater maintenance and quality assurance will be needed.

   The way we are building the special feature will enable communities who opt in to choose which versions of the mascot to show as "easter eggs". But to keep the workload manageable, the different versions of the mascot will have to be the same across wikis that have it enabled. So we can't use a viwiki-specific "Welcome to Vietnamese wiki" sound file. 

   One idea we had building on your initial idea, is to collect different language versions of "Welcome to Wikipedia". These different sound files can then play in a random order, giving readers an extra little surprise depending on which language they get! If you are keen on this idea then I will reach out to the other Wikimedians from Thai, French and Czech Wikipedia that have shown interest and we can work together to gather these sound clips. We are working on a version of Baby Globe (the birthday mascot you've seen) where they're playing with a synthesiser that we think could really work well for this idea!

   Thanks again for sharing this idea. Please do let me know if you have any questions :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 13:41, 27 November 2025 (UTC)

   @CDekock-WMF Thank you for replying. The new idea sounds cool! - ABAL1412 (talk) 15:51, 28 November 2025 (UTC)

   @CDekock-WMF Hey so sorry for the late reply, @ABAL1412 too, this is rather interesting to me, looks way better than the original idea :0 Song Ngư • 🗨️ • 🌐 16:04, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

   Great to hear, @Song Ngưand @ABAL1412! I've discussed the details with the team, so sharing the below information as a "brief" for what kind of recordings we need to make this work:

   1. Recordings should be shorter than 10 seconds, and be only of the phrase: "Welcome to Wikipedia" in different languages.
   2. Upload the file to Wikimedia Commons and request that an admin protects the file so that it does not get vandalised or moved by anyone else.
   3. Share the link to the Commons file with us here in this thread.
   4. Deadline for sharing the Commons link: End of your day on Wednesday 21 January 2026.

   I'm also tagging in the other Wikimedians from the other language communities that are taking part in this experiment to add their recordings here. @Trizek, @Wutkh, @MarwanMHD, @NikolasKHF, @Affandy Murad, @Alfiyah Rizzy Afdiquni, @SCP-2000, perhaps you are keen to also collect a few recordings of folks in your communities saying "Welcome to Wikipedia"? Read a more detailed explanation of the idea earlier in this thread. I know Italian Wikipedia is still discussing things, but tagging you too so you know this is happening, @Una tantum :) As alwasy, let me know if you've got questions! CDekock-WMF (talk) 15:57, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

   For French Wikipedia, the agreement was on having the mascot being around. I'm quite confident that the idea of playing a sound without the user's consent wouldn't be really welcomed. If the sound is to be played by the user, how do you plan to invite readers to play this sound? If you play a random language sound, how the player would understand that it is a greeting? :) Trizek ^{from FR} 20:55, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

   Thank you for sharing these concerns, @Trizek:) Any sounds will only play when the user triggers the sound by clicking on the mascot. Not every version of the mascot will react or do something when a user clicks on it, but quite a few of them will work this way. Our thinking is that users will experiment with clicking on it and so learn that some of the mascots have special surprises that are revealed when you click on them. There will not be a button to tell them to click, but we think that discovering this extra surprise is part of the fun :)

   In terms of the second part of your question, you are abolutely right, users might not realise that it is a greeting playing. We will also mix in other more musical sounds from Commons along with the greetings, so our hope is that users will explore the different sounds coming from the synthesiser and click more than once. So, they may end up hearing it in a language they understand. They will likely also be able to pick up the word "Wikipedia" even if it is said in a different language. We also think that it is okay to have a little bit of mystery :) If we are lucky, it will encourage users to talk to their friends about it and send more people to Wikipedia to find the mascot, click the synthesiser and solve the mystery together!

   As a last resort, please remember that French Wikipedia can still decide not to "turn on" this specific version of the birthday mascot. We hope you will like it, but the Community Configurations make it possible for you to pick and choose which versions to add. CDekock-WMF (talk) 05:01, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

   Vietnamese (Northern accent)

   
   

   Vietnamese (Central accent)

   
   

   Vietnamese (Southern accent)

   
   

   Russian

   
   

   English

   Here comes my take! - ABAL1412 (talk) 08:28, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

   Amazing! So cool and helpful for this idea that you can speak Russian too! :D Thank you @ABAL1412 🎉 CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:38, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

   Thanks for the compliment! - ABAL1412 (talk) 15:05, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

   @CDekock-WMF On the Talk page on ViWikipedia, in case someone starts spamming their voice, I added a rule saying that users can only upload 1 file per language/accent (if they can speak a language with different accents). To make it easier for Wiki programmers to find the file, I also suggest that users should name the file as the following:
   
   WikiWelcome-[username]-[language] (accent)
   
   Is that OK? Should we add a spam-preventing rule for all Wikipedia?
   - ABAL1412 (talk) 12:10, 25 December 2025 (UTC)

   Thanks for the note, @ABAL1412! This sounds like a good rule. So far we have not had any issues around people recording too many messages. We will also be using a manual process to add the voices to the "easter egg" so I think we can also just choose one or two recordings if we see it's the same person over and over.

   We are asking everyone to share the links to the files on Commons (the way you did), so hopefully we will not have to search for them. But your suggestion of file name format is a good one and I will pass it on to our team. CDekock-WMF (talk) 13:33, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

   Hello @ABAL1412 :) Happy Wikipedia Day to you! Another Wikipedian has helpfully made a Commons category to gather all the recordings in. Your "Northern accent" recording is the only one I can't add, could you please add it to the category? Thank you! c:Category:Wikipedia 25 greetings recorded for Birthday mode CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:26, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

   @CDekock-WMF I asked the admin to protect it, as you required. This file is protected, and I can't edit it too! I'm so confused. lmao. Maybe we should ask users that have autopatrol rights to edit it. I don't have this right on WikiCommons yet. - ABAL1412 (talk) 17:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

   Ah! Sorry about that @ABAL1412, this is my mistake, I thought as the person who uploaded it, you would still be able to edit it. We have it saved on another list, so no problem and sorry for causing confusion! CDekock-WMF (talk) 18:46, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

   It's OK. I'm happy that the problem is solved. - ABAL1412 (talk) 09:44, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

   Hello, this is my audio for the experiment. The language is Vietnamese and the accent is of Northern Vietnam.

   Caryll Runesmith (talk) 10:55, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

   Thank you for contributing. Your voice is really nice! - ABAL1412 (talk) 19:42, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

   Hi, sorry I did not get the notification, for some reason. I checked Wikimedia Commons that the "Welcome to Wikipedia" for Indonesian is already there. So, I asked my friend, a Sasak-native speaker, to say the word in Sasaknese, if that's okay. Here is his voice:

   Also, I think it would be better to group the greetings in a new categoru, perhaps c:Category:Wikipedia 25 greetings? —NikolasKHF (talk) 13:09, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

   Ah that's great, thank you @NikolasKHF! Cool to have many different languages and voices take part! Good idea to start a category, I think it would be good to be even more specific, so something like: Wikipedia 25 greetings recorded for Birthday mode? CDekock-WMF (talk) 13:33, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

   Yes, I think that's great. Is it okay if I make it? —NikolasKHF (talk) 13:56, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

   Yes please, that would be really great! Thank you <3 CDekock-WMF (talk) 14:33, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

   Sure! —NikolasKHF (talk) 14:53, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

   Done c:Category:Wikipedia 25 greetings recorded for Birthday mode —NikolasKHF (talk) 14:58, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

   Thank you for also adding all the recordings to the category!! <3 CDekock-WMF (talk) 11:35, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

   Love this idea but it would have to happen when you click the globe or something of the liking since most modern browsers don't allow autoplay without any user interaction

   Paidlowered (talk) 02:07, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

   Yes, this is not what we wanted it to do anyway since it might confuse other users with random sound come from no where, as we discussed with CDekock-WMF and ABAL1412 in a Google Meet call. Song Ngư • 🗨️ • ✏️ 04:37, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

   Exactly right, thanks @Song Ngư :) Thank for raising the concern @Paidlowered! Sound will only play when the reader clicks on Baby Globe. 👍🏼 CDekock-WMF (talk) 08:54, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Madurese Wikipedia (Indonesia)

Hello, my friend (Alfiyah Rizzy Afdiquni just asked me to record welcome to Wikipedia in Madurese. Here is the recording: Seeharee (talk) 09:28, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Wow, I love how the word for "welcome" sounds in Madruse! Thank you for the recording @Seeharee and thank you for being the messenger @Alfiyah Rizzy Afdiquni! CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:18, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Italian Wikipedia

Hello @CDekock-WMF:, the Italian Wikipedia community is discussing about having the Welcome message on itwiki too (like viwiki), and for now there is consensus! The discussion is here. We have already a first version:

Welcome to Wikipedia in Italian

I have a question: for the Vietnamese Wikipedia it was answered for having it "every time someone enters the homepage" but you said that "any sounds will only play when the user triggers the sound by clicking on the mascot", can you confirm me the second one is the right one?

As Italian community, we are also suggesting to have the Welcome to "Wikipedia" audios in regional languages, for example when entering articles of regional food on the Italian Wikipedia (example: audio of "Bimminuti ntâ Wikipedia!", in Sicilian language appearing in the article w:it:cannoli siciliani). Can you think it should be possible?--Una tantum (talk) 10:34, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @Una tantum :) This is great news, thanks for letting us know! And great to have a first version already uploaded to Commons!

To answer your first question, yes it will only play when a user triggers the sound by clicking on the mascot. The sounds and welcome message will be part of a specific version of the mascot. In this version the mascot is playing with a synthesiser. There will be a collection of sounds that include all the "Welcome to Wikipedia" recordings and some other sounds from Commons. When a user clicks, a random sound from this collection will play. So it cannot be guaranteed that the Italian greeting will play every time, but it will play some of the times. This means unfortunately the idea to have a specific greeting playing on regional food pages will not be possible. I am sorry to say this, because it is a lovely idea! CDekock-WMF (talk) 11:54, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

adding here, can we have something also on the regional wikis? i'm personally talking about scn :) GiovanniPen (talk) 09:53, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Absolutely, @GiovanniPen, any Wikipedia can opt in to have Birthday mode available! But, the different versions of Baby Globe (the birthday mascot) will be the same for everyone. Each community can decide where (on which article pages) each version should show up. CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:30, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

great! ofc it's ok even if it will be the same for everyone, maybe even better. @Sciking are you interested for lombard aswell? GiovanniPen (talk) 14:59, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello, @CDekock-WMF: I tried to make the word Wikipedia in music; if you think it's a good job, can you put in the beautiful project? Thank you,

The word Wikipedia in music

--Il cappuccione (talk) 09:03, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for this creative idea! I will share it with the team. CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:33, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

@CDekock-WMF Thank you!!! Il cappuccione (talk) 09:42, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Slovenian Wikipedia

Hello @CDekock-WMF:, here is a little contribution from Slovenian Wikipedia.

Welcome to Wikipedia in Slovenian

-- Pinky sl (talk) 18:58, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @Pinky sl :) Thank you for sharing this recording! We will add it to the collection for this fun Synthesiser Baby Globe! I also wanted to check with you if Slovenian Wikipedia has discussed adding Birthday mode to slWP? The steps are outlined here. In short: you have to agree as a community to turn it on :) Hope to hear from you soon! CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:01, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Piedmontese Wikipedia

Hello @CDekock-WMF:, here is a little contribution from Piedmontese Wikipedia.

Bin ëvnù dzor Wikipedia an piemontèis

-- Dragonòt (talk) 14:40, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks so much! We'll add it to the mix :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 15:39, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello again @Dragonòt :) I am following up to check if Piedmontese Wikipedia has discussed adding Birthday mode to pmsWP? The steps are outlined here. In short: you have to agree as a community to turn it on :) Hope to hear from you soon! CDekock-WMF (talk) 08:59, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Indonesian Wikipedia

Hello, this is my record welcome to Wikipedia in Indonesian:
Affandy Murad (talk) 20:35, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Betawi Wikipedia

Hello, this is my record welcome to Wikipedia in Betawi:
Affandy Murad (talk) 20:35, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Sorry for my late response, thanks CDekock-WMF

Lombard Wikipedia

Here you have the Lombard version: --Sciking (talk) 20:47, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Do you have ideas for other fun Easter eggs that work within the concept brief?

Thank you for sharing your ideas! CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:43, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

Hello CDekock-WMF, i appreciate your effort on Wikipedia 25 birthday!

1. Perhaps not the new appearance setting, but instead, we can give all users the opportunity to use the earliest skin: Nostalgia, which emphasizes the history of Wikipedia and has been available since 2001. I believe most readers (especially Gen Z) and millennials) have never seen or read Wikipedia on this interface. In case there are any technical difficulties in reproducing this interface, MonoBook can be the alternative. To prevent disruption to the reading experience, the skin can automatically revert to the default skin after a few seconds (e.g., 10 seconds).
2. Listen to Wikipedia: The user can click to a button (or an interactive element) hear and watch "the sound of Wikipedia." It shows that Wikipedia is contributed to by several volunteers every second. Users may also be invited to start contributing if they have never edited Wikipedia before.
3. BTW there are a lot of interesting data visualization [1] you may interested. Also, WikiRun can be a part of the Easter Egg?

Just my two cents. Thank you! SCP-2000 04:24, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

Thank you @SCP-2000! Really love these ideas, I'll share them with the team and get back to you with any questions. CDekock-WMF (talk) 13:24, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

Can we also add old logos of Wikipedia as easter eggs? - ABAL1412 (talk) 11:43, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Or also the many variations linked to a specific holiday, in the diverse Wiki! Just an Idea? Il cappuccione (talk) 12:12, 3 December 2025 (UTC)

How about this: when you open up the pages for w:Wikipedia w:Silver jubilee, and w:Jigsaw puzzle, there’s a puzzle piece-shaped icon that pops up next to the article title. When you click it, there’s a box that opens to create a miniature screenshot of the page in question, but in shuffled jigsaw puzzle-shaped pieces (say, 25 of them). Completing the puzzle unlocks an achievement of some kind. (Alternatively, you can implement this with a 5x5 w:Sliding puzzle, with one square left grey.) Jarrod Baniqued (talk) 18:22, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

On second thought, never mind, I overlooked that the brief reads “does not obscure Wikipedia content.” However, I’d like to request that the Confetti Globe Easter Egg be added to w:Silver jubilee Jarrod Baniqued (talk) 18:38, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @Jarrod Baniqued :) This is such a cool idea! Really love it...but it is a bit late to add to the feature, and yes, this does not fit our brief unfortunately. I will share it with the team anyway, hopefully it inspires some other fun future ideas!

I don't think we currently have Silver jubilee as a default for the any version of Baby Globe, but will look into adding it if it's not too late yet. The defaults are there to make things easier, but actually each language Wikipedia community can decide for themselves where the different versions of Baby Globe should show up. enWP is having a discussion about it here. If they decide to opt in, then you can also suggest that Silver jubilee is added for Confetti BG. Or, there is also Balloon Baby Globe that holds a two balloons that make up a "25" -- very cute and appropriate a the Silver jubilee! CDekock-WMF (talk) 12:27, 27 January 2026 (UTC)

Do you think your community would be interested in participating? Add your username and we'll be in touch

CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:44, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

I am willing to help:) SCP-2000 04:24, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

Wonderful, thank you @SCP-2000! We'll be in touch soon :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 13:25, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

We are from Madurese Wikipedia (Indonesia) and are interested in joining this. Alfiyah Rizzy Afdiquni (talk) 11:58, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

Great to hear this, thanks for getting in touch @Alfiyah Rizzy Afdiquni! We will be posting an update with more specific ways for you to get involved in the next week. Please share any questions you may have in the meantime :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 12:36, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

Hi, I'm Affandy from Wikimedia Jakarta. We all contribute in Wikipedia Betawi. What could we do to take part? Is it depend with certain language (our is bew) or globally? Thanks. Affandy Murad (talk) 11:22, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

Hello @Affandy Murad :) Thanks so much for your message! I'll answer your last question first: This gadget will be available to any Wikipedia that wants to take part and chooses to turn on the gadget on their Wikipedia. So it is not automatic. We would love to have the gadget be live on Betawi Wikipedia! We think that this could be a very valuable tool for Wikipedia language communities to reach a new reader audience and get press coverage.

We will share details on exactly how to turn it on closer to the time as we are still figuring out a lot of the details and building the gadget.

We are busy setting up "office hours", which we will share on this page. That would be a good place to chat more about ideas you may have and to discuss how Betawi Wikipedians can use this gadget to engage press and reades on social media. We can also of course set up a session or join an existing meeting with just Betawi Wikipedians if you would prefer that :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:26, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

From Vietnamese Wikipedia, xin chào! (Hi!) Song Ngư • 🗨️ • 🌐 14:53, 30 October 2025 (UTC)

Xin chào @Song Ngư! Great to have another Wikipedian from Vietnamese Wikipedia join the conversation! CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:28, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Hi! From our discussion on Indonesian Wikipedia village pump so far, there is no objection. They quite welcome, but maybe concern on how distracting the easter egg may be. Some also suggest to turned the tool on by default if the Birthday Mode is not so distracting.

By this, I would like to ask: should I become sysop or interface admin to help with the setting up?

Thanks!—NikolasKHF (talk) 00:31, 2 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello @NikolasKHF :) So great to have you here and thank you for the offer of help! Let me check with the team and I'll get back to you. I'll also respond to the post lower down where some of the concerns have been raised. Looking forward to working with you :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:10, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello @NikolasKHF! Thanks for sharing the discussion on Indonesian wiki. You do not need to be an admin but once your wiki has reached a consensus for turning this on, you could ask the help of an admin from your wiki to activate the Birthday Mode on the Community Configuration.

IKristiani-WMF (talk) 12:09, 5 November 2025 (UTC)

Hi, I'm Marwan from Wikimedia Gorontalo. Gorontalo Wikipedia volunteers would like to joining in this event. Thank you. MarwanMHD (talk) 00:12, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello @MarwanMHD! Thank you for your message and for being interested in this project! Perhaps you can join us at the upcoming office hour we're hosting this week? If not, there will be more opportunities next week, we'll add a note to announce them here :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:17, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello! I'm from Vietnamese Wikipedia. Don't know what I can do, but I'm willing to join. I'm learning composing, so if you need some easter eggs songs, I can help. - ABAL1412 (talk) 14:57, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello. I am from Thai Wikipedia. I am happy to say that our community agree to have easter eggs in our Wikipedia and I am happy to be point of contact in this regards. Let me know what do I need to do or any update I need to know. Best. --Wutkh (talk) 10:46, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

Wow! @Wutkh this is such good news! Thank you for being the point of contact, we are very excited to collaborate with you on this. We will share more information soon :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 18:29, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello, @CDekock-WMF! Based on the discussion here is Czech Wikipedia interested in participating. JBeranek-WMF (talk) 14:52, 25 November 2025 (UTC)

Wonderful news, thank you @JBeranek-WMF! If folks are keen, we would love to hear their thoughts on some of these community configurations. CDekock-WMF (talk) 15:49, 25 November 2025 (UTC)

Can we have it in Malayalam Wikipedia ? 4-RAZOR 01 (talk) 14:10, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @4-RAZOR 01 :) Yes, of course, as long as the Malayalam community agrees to turn on the feature. We posted an update with the exact steps to follow just this afternoon. Let us know if you have other questions :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 15:41, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

i am capisasmallpart and i love if it was added to the Romanian Wikipedia Capisasmallpart (talk) 17:35, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @Capisasmallpart :) Thank you for your message! We would also love it if Baby Globe can be on Romanian Wikipedia. Have your community had a discussion about this yet? The only requirement is to make sure that your wiki community knows and agrees to have the Birthday mode from 16 February 2026 - 16 March 2026. Your community also needs to decide whether to have the feature on or off as default. You can start a discussion on your wiki’s village pump to kick off the conversation. More information here and of course let me know if you have questions! CDekock-WMF (talk) 18:50, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

please put english birthday mode -kmaie ~2026-46601-4 (talk) 06:17, 22 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello! Thank you for your interest! There is an ongoing discussion (Request for Comment/RfC) on English Wikipedia deciding whether to have the Birthday mode or not. To know more about what an RfC, you can read this page. The Birthday Mode will/will not be implemented based on the result of the discussion.

IKristiani-WMF (talk) 07:04, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

It seems that French Wikipedia is interested in participating as well. Trizek ^{from FR} 11:15, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Bonjour @Trizek! This is great news, we are excited to celebrate with you in this way. An update on design and ways to guide what we make coming later today! CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:58, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

@CDekock-WMF, we look forward reading the next updates at Le Bistro. Trizek ^{from FR} 10:31, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello @Trizek, @Wutkh, ABAL1412, @MarwanMHD, @NikolasKHF, @Song Ngư, @Affandy Murad, @Alfiyah Rizzy Afdiquni, @SCP-2000. There is an important new update on the page with more information about the timeline and a request for input as we start setting up Community Configurations. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! CDekock-WMF (talk) & IKristiani-WMF (talk) 12:39, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello @CDekock-WMF, my colleague suggest that easter eggs may also be available on other wikis, including chapter ones. Is it possible? --Wutkh (talk) 10:37, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Hello @CDekock-WMF and IKristiani-WMF:, we are discussing at the Village pump of the Italian Wikipedia here, actually the Italian community seems interested, we are waiting still some days before officially announce it, to allow all users to express themself if they are for or against.--Una tantum (talk) 11:08, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Thank you so much @Una tantum! Looking forward to welcoming the Italian wiki.

IKristiani-WMF (talk) 08:44, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

Hello @IKristiani-WMF, great news: the Italian community is interested in participating, with the Easter egg experiments turned on by default, and the easy opt-out option available. Una tantum (talk) 08:10, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

@Una tantum That's amazing! Thanks so much. Wait for more updates from us.

IKristiani-WMF (talk) 12:58, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

Hi @Wutkh! Let me help answer your question. The easter eggs will be available on Wikipedia only. Unfortunately it is not possible to have it on chapter wikis. If your colleague have a suggestion of other language Wikipedia that would like to have easter eggs; they can start having discussions on their wiki and once the community agree, let us know. If they can reach an agreement and let us know by 15 Dec, we will prioritise that they can have the feature live on 16 Feb 2026.

IKristiani-WMF (talk) 10:07, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

Thank you! @IKristiani-WMF --Wutkh (talk) 10:02, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

Here I am :) GiovanniPen (talk) 10:09, 11 December 2025 (UTC)

idk if it's late but (happy birthday wikipedia) i'd like to have something on sicilian wikipedia aswell :) GiovanniPen (talk) 09:54, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @GiovanniPen :) Happy Wikipedia day to you too! <3 Sorry that we did not respond to your earlier message, we thought that you were part of the Italian Wikipedia group, but now we understand that you are part of Sicilian Wikipedia :) It would be great to have you take part! The ideal would be for you to share the idea and start a discussion on Sicilian Wikipedia. Perhaps you have already had this conversation? Once the community agrees, let us know. For now that is all that is needed! CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:13, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

i'm of course part of the italian group but aswell of the sicilian one. we had already a conversation off wiki (so i think we can assume that there's an agreement, but if it's needed "written" i'll open something) and unfortunately not often the community online is really active since it's a really small wiki, but i really would like to have something special there aswell. moreover some of the users i've pinged in the discussion for the welcoming audio are active on scnwiki and they'll do their part aswell :) GiovanniPen (talk) 14:58, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

This is great news, thanks for the update, @GiovanniPen :) It does not have to be a written discussion, this is perfect. We are adding Sicilian Wikipedia to the list of opted-in Wikipedias.🎉 CDekock-WMF (talk) 15:37, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello! My name is Leonfd1992, a member of the Wayuu indigenous community in the border region between Colombia and Venezuela. I am writing on behalf of the Wikimedistas Wayuu user group to express our strong interest in participating in this initiative. What do we need to do? Leonfd1992 (talk) 02:55, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @Leonfd1992 :) So great to hear from you and the Wikimedistas Wayuu, we are very happy to have you take part! Since you already have admin rights, there is nothing to do right now. Before the end of January we will share an update about the Community Configurations that you can use to set up which version of Baby Globe shows up where :) Let us know if you have any questions in the meantime. CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:08, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Potential concerns regarding reading experiences

An user on my community (at vi:Wikipedia:Thảo_luận_cộng_đồng/Thử_nghiệm_tính_năng_"trứng_phục_sinh"_dịp_Wikipedia_25) has stated a few points of consideration that might be helpful for the team:

1. Potential for Distraction: If the feature includes audio elements, unexpected sounds could be distracting for readers who are trying to concentrate, particularly on popular, frequently edited articles.
2. Risk of Confusion: Users who inadvertently trigger an Easter egg without understanding why might become confused or assume the website is malfunctioning.
3. Aligning with Reader Intent: Most visitors come to Wikipedia with the primary goal of reading and researching. It's important to consider how a more vivid or interactive experience might interrupt this core reading flow.

As of right now my community is currently leaning towards having this feature enabled by default. With that in mind, I am interested to learn how the development team is planning to mitigate these potential issues (like distraction or confusion) to ensure a positive experience for all users. Song Ngư • 🗨️ • 🌐 08:41, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello @Song Ngư :) Thank you so much for passing on these concerns, appreciate your help and thoughtfulness! We've really enjoyed seeing the good vibes on that discussion, thanks for sharing the link. We also really appreciate that you are concerned about all of these details. These are absolutely things we have also been thinking about and want to be extra careful about. Below I'm sharing how we're thinking about this at the moment, we would love to hear your response! And perhaps you and others from your community are able to joing us at the upcoming office hour on 6 Nov? No stress if not, there will be more opportunities for next week announced soon :)

1. Potential for Distraction: Any sounds will only happen when the user triggers the sound. It will be a very explicit trigger, so it will never be unexpected. This is true for most of the animations too. The way we are thinking about it at the moment is that most bigger animation experiences will happen based on clicks or interaction with the user, so if they want to remain focused, the easter eggs and mascot should not get in their way. We also want to make it easy to dismiss the surprises and mascot so that users have control over when they interact.
2. Risk of Confusion: This is a good point, and could definitely happen if the feature is enabled by default as you said. It might happen that a user triggers an easter egg without knowing about the campaign or birthday mode. We are planning to have a landing page available on the Foundation's website that explains the feature. In various places we are linking to this, but we can also look at adding a link to each egg where users can get more information. In the current wireframes (which we'll share here in the next day or so!) you'll also see that we are trying to keep the space allocated to the easter eggs and mascot limited and not intrusive. This is also related to the next point.
3. Aligning with Reader Intent: The placement of the eggs and mascot here is the biggest way we are trying to minimise the impact on reader intent. We are also working on creating lists of articles where the easter eggs and mascot should not show up -- very serious or controversial topics. This is something we would ideally develop with lots of input from each Wikipedia community since you know your Wikipedia and readers best!

I hope this information helps? I look forward to chatting more and making this campaign feature better with your input and ideas! CDekock-WMF (talk) 10:33, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

Community configurations: Confetti mascot easter egg

On what article types (defined via Wikidata items) should this celebratory confetti mascot easter egg appear? Note that confetti will only appear in the small area around the mascot when a reader clicks on the mascot. The deadline for suggestions is end of day Monday, 5 January 2026. CDekock-WMF (talk) 15:58, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

@CDekock-WMF So far, I would put it on any pages that are party-related, like celebration events (birthday, christmas, thanksgiving, wedding, Tet, international celebrating days...), objects that are shown in an party (party hat, cake-related, champaign...) and maybe in-party activities (games [no brands related please], songs...) Song Ngư • 🗨️ • 🌐 01:50, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for sharing, @Song Ngư! For now we are limiting the celebratory items to this confetti example and another version with balloons. We are aligned with the suggestion to have this show up on celebratory event pages, we are looking into what Wikidata items will help to achieve this. CDekock-WMF (talk) 12:20, 25 November 2025 (UTC)

@Song Ngư's suggestion is a great idea! I also think it would be a good fit for articles relating to Wikipedia; it is what we'll be celebrating after all. Rosaece ♡ talk ♡ contribs 11:27, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

It probably shouldn't be on articles like Criticism of Wikipedia or Ideological bias of Wikipedia or other Wikipedia related topics we aren't as proud of or don't want to celebrate. OmegaMantis (talk) 20:22, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

Absolutely, agree @OmegaMantis. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! CDekock-WMF (talk) 04:01, 14 December 2025 (UTC)

Can't agree more with @Song Ngư and @Rosaece's idea. May I suggest all character which appear in Wikipedia glob logo such W, Ω and wo waen --Wutkh (talk) 15:17, 5 December 2025 (UTC)

Community configuration: Dreaming mascot easter egg

This mascot will appear on pages related to dreaming or sleep, and when a reader is idle for a long time. In the dream bubble we will show footage without sound from Wikimedia Commons as the mascot’s dreams. What footage do you think we should play there? Share a link! Please make sure the footage you suggest is high quality and CC0 or in the public domain. The deadline for adding footage is end of day 30 November 2025. CDekock-WMF (talk) 16:01, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

I think that this mascot could appear when the user stays idle without moving the mouse or touching anything, when he stays "AFK".

Also, it could appear in outdated articles, like ones that announce a party, or a celebration, any kind of event that already happened.

In the bubble, when the user stays idle, it could appear a silly phrase like "Hey, wake up!" Or even "You there?"

And for when the article is outdated, it could appear another silly sentence like "Looking for party? Well, you lost this one!" Or "You're late, this party already ended!" Or a bit more formal, "This article is outdated".

Hope you like my idea. Happy birthday Wiki!!

Community configuration: Discover mascot easter egg

Most of the items that the birthday mascot uses will come from the space inside the globe, which we are treating like "hammerspace". This allows for lots of fun with different items! What emojis do you think we should include in hammerspace? We will redraw a selection of these emojis for Wikis to pick from in the community configurations. The deadline for adding emojis is end of day 30 November 2025. CDekock-WMF (talk) 16:03, 20 November 2025 (UTC)

@CDekock-WMF I have a few things in mind, like fruits and food items (should not conflicts with the confetti one), travelling items (map, compass, watches, umbrella...), sports item (sport balls, bat...), and most of the everyday objects (that are not knifes, gun and weapon related) Song Ngư • 🗨️ • 🌐 01:57, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

Thanks, @Song Ngư, this is helpful general feedback! Perhaps you can chat with your fellow Wikimedians and let us know if you have a specific one or two you would like to see a part of the special feature? That would be really valuable feedback for us and a way to prioritise exact items to make. CDekock-WMF (talk) 12:16, 25 November 2025 (UTC)

I know someone who'd be very happy with a badminton racket :)

And I'd personally love to see cookies (because, in this specific instance, yay cookies!) and a Wikilove item :) Balise42 (talk) 12:03, 5 December 2025 (UTC)

my username is capisasmallpart and im romanian

Add the birthday mode to the romanian wikipedia Capisasmallpart (talk) 17:33, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

oops wrong thing that i did Capisasmallpart (talk) 17:34, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Sorry for not seeing these messages at first, @Capisasmallpart :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 08:51, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

I'd like to see Birthday Mode on English Wikipedia

I went to the website about Birthday Mode and would like to add English since it said English wasn't already there. It said for now there will only be a few Wikipedias with this feature. ISSPROW (talk) 22:44, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

Seconding this! I was really excited or the feature and it was really sad to see it wasn't planned for the English wiki. ¿VØ!D? ☄ 00:09, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Thirding! Jaidenstar (talk) 22:29, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

(fourthing) This would be a fun thing to have! ❤HistoryTheorist❤ 01:33, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Fifthed! In my opinion, it doesn't make sense for the "first" language of Wikipedia to not have the birthday mode. If I can help port it over to the English wiki, I would be happy to do so! UnscapeableDeath (talk) 19:44, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Sixted! It's odd it wouldn't be on English first, and I was really excited when it was announced, only for it to not be there. Coltoonz (talk) 01:26, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @ISSPROW, @VastV0idInSpace0, @Jaidenstar, @HistoryTheorist, @UnscapeableDeath and @Coltoonz :) So great to see your enthusiasm for this special feature! We would of course also love to have enWP opt in to have Birthday Mode turned on. We've outlined the steps to get it sorted here, but in short: the each language version community needs to agree to turn it on :) CDekock-WMF (talk) 08:46, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

There is a discussion at English Wikipedia's village pump about it. Xeroctic (talk) 13:33, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

I found this discussion as I discovered that the English-speaking Wikipedia has not enabled the Birthday mode. I'm not editing anymore the English Wikipedia because I've been told by a few "Do not have fun, serious business only." Finger crossed that these few sad and conservative users won't stop that RfC as they usually do. Building and reading an encyclopedia must be fun while focusing on serious contents. Lets have more fun. Then I could return, like many others. Good luck. ~2026-41518-3 (talk) 22:31, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

So would I! Mark Lungo (talk) 02:14, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

count me in! Inpops (talk) 14:28, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @Mark Lungo and @Inpops :) Thrilled that you're excited about Birthday mode! Best would be to join this discussion on English Wikipedia's Village Pump where editors are discussing the pros and cons using a Request for Comment format. CDekock-WMF (talk) 09:56, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

please add it I was kinda sad when it wasnt showing english :( ~2026-57132-4 (talk) 00:52, 27 January 2026 (UTC)

25. Dzimšanas Diena Parsteigums Vikipēdijā Latviešu Valodā. (25th anniversary Latvian Wikipedia easter egg.)

It is currently not planned for the Latvian Wikipedia (Vikipēdija) to contain the 25^th anniversary mascot. Please may I ask someone to consider this? In a separate thread, I saw people giving a translation of "Welcome to Wikipedia", so if that will be needed, I can provide an equivalent for Latvian IOFun2 (talk) 19:30, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello @IOFun2 :) Thank you for your message! It would be great to have Birthday mode available on Latvian Wikipedia! We've outlined the steps to get it turned on here, but in short: the each language version community needs to agree to turn it on :) Please let us know once you've had this a discussion and agreed.

And, there is still time to add a recording of "Welcome to Wikipedia" in Latvian! It is for a one of the Baby Globe versions where the mascot character plays with a synthesiser. Even if Latvian Wikipedia does not end up agreeing to do this, we would love to include your recording! Thank you for your help and enthusiasm! CDekock-WMF (talk) 08:49, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for coming back to me, @CDekock-WMF. However, I do not know many other Latvian users; a mere 2,149 (as in just over two thousand) have made ten edits since registration. We have a rater small community, so it may be hard to get them to gather as a group to decide. IOFun2 (talk) 16:33, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

Spanish Wikipedia

I think that the 25 Wiki year-old easter egg should also be in Spanish, because this is a very big language, with lots of people that talk it.

About 636 million people talk in Spanish, and millions of them don't talk other languages, so if we add this language, it would be more accesible to Wiki users.

Of course, you can add more reasons of adding this language in the easter egg if you want, so be free to edit! Happy Birthday Wiki!! 🎉🎉🥳 MANXTAREK (talk) 09:04, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

Will Spain have the mascot?

im spanish and i would love to see that new mascot on my page, but i dunno ~2026-56519-5 (talk) 12:00, 26 January 2026 (UTC)