Wikimedians of United Arab Emirates User Group/Report/2026/Community Building & Outreach/Harir Competition

REPORT OF ACTIVITIES FOR 2026 - COMMUNITY BUILDING AND OUTREACH | Report ID - WMAE-2602

Harir Competition

Competition Details

• Duration: Dec 2025 - Mar 2026
• Total Participants: 58

• Outcomes: 3129 Wikipedia articles
• Organizers: Wikiemedia UAE & Wikimedia Kuwait

Key Metrics

Organizers

• روتانا
• فيصل
• Serine (WMUAE)

Judges

• فيصل
• أحمد ناجي
• روتانا
• Alaa
• Nehaoua

About Participants

• Community Growth: 75% of Participants are not members of Wikimedia UAE.
• New Commers: 66% are first-time participants in Harir.
• Experience Level: A very experienced group—over 50% have been contributing for 5+ years.
• Satisfaction: Generally "Good" to "Excellent".
• Retention: 91% want to stay in touch or participate again.

Activity Highlight

Harir Competition 2025: is an initiative aimed at enriching content on Arabic Wikipedia across all fields of knowledge. It is organized by the Wikimedia UAE User Group. Participants compete over a period of 40 days to create new articles only.

The fourth edition of the Harrer Competition was launched on December 15, 2025, and concluded on January 23, 2026, and was dedicated exclusively to new article creation.

Over the course of 40 days, participants contributed a total of 3,129 articles, and 10 winners were selected based on the evaluation of the jury committee and in accordance with the competition’s rules and scoring system.

Harir Competition over the years:

Harir Edition	Participants	Outcomes
2022	57	935
2023	17	869
2024	38	1194
2025	58	3129

Participants Feedback

There are differing opinions regarding the activities and events organized by our user group. Each time, we strive to measure participants’ feedback, given its importance in understanding our approach and whether it aligns with participants’ expectations and interests, or requires further development and consideration of community members’ needs.

Survey Analysis:

the competition’s approach of preparing article lists while allowing participants the freedom to choose what to write about:

• Evaluation of the approach: Most participants praised the competition’s method of providing article lists while allowing freedom of choice. They described it as “excellent,” “great,” “effective,” and “enjoyable and flexible.” One participant expressed hope that the “balance between freedom of choice and prepared lists” would continue.

• Criticism and reservations: One participant considered the approach “poor,” preferring instead to define priority articles that Wikipedia truly needs, rather than allowing freedom that may lead to writing longer articles for the sake of size. Another participant suggested the need for “greater monitoring of observed violations by some participants.

Ideas about the competition or its structure, and what they would like us to change in future editions:

• Suggestions to improve the evaluation system and point distribution: Some participants noted that the current points system relies heavily on article length (quantity) rather than importance or quality. This may encourage the creation of long list-based articles or poorly translated tables. Suggestions included awarding points for article importance, making it a requirement, and prioritizing quality over quantity. One participant also suggested excluding list-style articles from the competition.

• Improving the article reservation system: There were concerns about article reservation policies, particularly exceeding the allowed limit. A suggestion was made to develop an automated system to log reservations in the abuse filter, preventing users from exceeding limits and allowing the jury to focus on reviewing submitted articles.

• New prize system: A new prize distribution model was suggested, such as a “prize pool” system with a minimum guaranteed share per participant. A participant’s share would increase based on their points, with flexibility in redeeming rewards (cash or vouchers).

• Additional procedural and positive feedback: Some participants recommended extending the competition duration and further developing it. Others suggested including article improvement contributions. Two participants expressed overall satisfaction, describing the competition as enriching and enjoyable.

Topics would like to see more focus on in future competitions:

• Content areas: Some participants prefer focusing on specific themes rather than keeping the competition fully open. Suggested topics include science, geography, history, Arabic language, medicine, mixed martial arts and combat sports, and increasing content related to the Arab world.

• Focus on social and educational issues: There is interest in addressing topics such as education, the decline of educational systems, and highlighting women’s issues and experiences of violence.

• Improving existing content: Participants suggested focusing on maintaining and improving existing Wikipedia content, including fixing unreviewed or machine translations, stubs, and articles lacking reliable sources.

• Other suggestions: These included topics such as cinema and television, as well as organizing a competition for the best photograph.