API:Move does not unwatch page you are moving to if "unwatch" selected
Open, LowestPublicBUG REPORT
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Authored By

	dom_walden
	Jul 16 2020, 3:24 PM

Description

What is the problem?

If I am watching Page_A and I use the API to move it to Page_B and I select the watchlist parameter unwatch:

Page_A is unwatched
Page_B is watched

It seems more consistent with the unwatch option that both should be unwatched.

Steps to reproduce problem

Go to any page and watch it (does not matter if permanently or temporarily)
Use the API to move the page, selecting for the "watchlist" parameter "unwatch" (e.g. on beta you could use the sandbox: https://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:ApiSandbox#action=move&format=json&from=TemplateUsageArticle820&to=TemplateUsageArticle820_moved&watchlist=unwatch)

Expected behavior: Both the old and new pages are unwatched
Observed behavior: The old page is unwatched, the new page is watched

Environment

Wiki(s): Beta: MediaWiki 1.36.0-alpha (fbfa8f1) 12:47, 16 July 2020

Related Objects

Mentioned In: T257259: Watchlist Expiry: Add support to maintain behavior when moving pages [Medium]
T248512: Watchlist Expiry: Add support to Protect, Delete, Undelete, Upload, Rollback, & Move APIs [small]
Mentioned Here: rMWfbfa8f1a61c5: Merge "language: Improve documentation of bool return values and such"

Event Timeline

dom_walden created this task.Jul 16 2020, 3:24 PM

Restricted Application added a project: Platform Engineering. · View Herald TranscriptJul 16 2020, 3:24 PM

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dom_walden mentioned this in T248512: Watchlist Expiry: Add support to Protect, Delete, Undelete, Upload, Rollback, & Move APIs [small].Jul 16 2020, 3:34 PM

dom_walden renamed this task from API:Move does not unwatch page you are moving to even if "unwatch" selected to API:Move does not unwatch page you are moving to if "unwatch" selected.Jul 16 2020, 3:43 PM

ifried moved this task from New & TBD Tickets to Needs Discussion on the Community-Tech board.Jul 16 2020, 6:07 PM

For the record, the same behaviour happens at Special:MovePage as well with the "Watch source page and target page" checkbox. I guess the thought is that if you were watching the old page you surely want to watch the new one, the only question being if you still wanted to watch the old one.

For the API specifically, I agree "unwatch" here is ambiguous, but it does seem to be long-standing behaviour.

We've reviewed this on Platform team and we think that if the API is behaving the same as the Web UI, that's probably for the best. We're accepting for Clinic Duty for review, but we're likely to decline this issue in the end.

@nnikkhoui to review further, possibly.

ifried moved this task from Needs Discussion to New & TBD Tickets on the Community-Tech board.Jul 28 2020, 6:37 PM

As this is longstanding behavior, Community Tech will not be fixing this issue in the scope of the Watchlist Expiry project.

ifried removed projects: Expiring-Watchlist-Items, Community-Tech.Jul 30 2020, 3:39 PM

dom_walden mentioned this in T257259: Watchlist Expiry: Add support to maintain behavior when moving pages [Medium].Aug 12 2020, 9:03 AM

API:Move does not unwatch page you are moving to if "unwatch" selectedOpen, LowestPublicBUG REPORTActions