Wikipedia CentralNotice: What It Is and How It Shapes Wikipedia Alerts

When you see a banner across Wikipedia—asking for donations, announcing a vote, or warning about an outage—that’s powered by Wikipedia CentralNotice, a system that lets the Wikimedia Foundation and community groups display targeted messages across all language editions of Wikipedia. It’s not a feature you edit, but one that shapes what you see every time you open the site. Unlike regular wiki pages, CentralNotice doesn’t live in the encyclopedia. It runs behind the scenes, controlled by a small group of trusted volunteers and staff who decide what messages get shown, to whom, and when.

It’s a tool that connects Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that supports Wikipedia and its sister projects with millions of readers and editors. These notices aren’t random ads—they’re carefully timed communications. For example, during fundraising season, CentralNotice shows donation banners to users in countries where Wikipedia relies on public support. During major policy votes, it reminds editors to participate. And when there’s a server issue, it delivers real-time updates so the community stays informed. It also lets local groups, like Wikipedia chapters in Germany or India, run region-specific campaigns without needing to edit every language version manually.

Behind CentralNotice is a technical layer built on MediaWiki extensions and targeted delivery rules. It can show messages based on language, location, device type, or even how often someone edits. That means a student in Nigeria might see a different banner than a professor in Canada—both relevant to their context. This precision helps avoid clutter and keeps the site usable. But it’s not without controversy. Some editors worry about overuse, or about messages that feel too corporate. Others argue that without CentralNotice, vital updates would get lost in the noise of talk pages and newsletters.

It’s also tied to how Wikipedia handles transparency. Every notice is logged, and the code behind it is open. Anyone can see what’s scheduled, who approved it, and how long it will run. That openness is part of Wikipedia’s DNA—even the tools that push messages are built to be watched and questioned.

What you’ll find in this collection are real examples of how CentralNotice works in practice: how it supports fundraising, how it’s used during emergencies, how it helps smaller language editions stay connected, and how editors push back when messages go too far. These aren’t theoretical discussions—they’re snapshots of decisions that affect how knowledge is shared, funded, and protected every single day.