Include appropriate suffixes and honorifics after usernames when pinging people
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Description

In Japanese, it is appropriate, when replying to a person, to include an honorific suffix.

@Atmark-chan suggested in https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Vvzrgsaz3p0y1pcg (← read that thread) that the Reply tool's pinging/mentioning feature should automagically insert this honorific.

"Ideally, It'll be nicer to insert the honorific (e.g., "さん" ("-san") in Japanese) and ":" after the username defaultly, just like "Atmark-chanさん:". I think It'll be good to make a message (e.g., $1さん:) and replace $1 with the username."

The message string for localizing the @ symbol could be used if a prefix were wanted. Could we have a localizable suffix as well? It might need to be gender-sensitive, and it should be possible to remove or edit it.

References

Existing ping template at ja.wiki via @matmarex: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Reply_to/ja
Context about ja.wiki via @Omotecho:

Details

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	Add an optional suffix message to mentions	mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools	master	+12 -3

Customize query in gerrit

Related Objects
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Status	Assigned	Task
Open	None	T276497 Scale DiscussionTools to all projects
Open	None	T251207 [Epic] Scale DiscussionTools to all Wikipedias
Resolved	None	T278588 Mobile talk page improvements
Resolved	ppelberg	T282638 [RELEASE TICKET] Offer Mobile Reply and New Discussion Tools at Partner Wikis
Resolved	• Whatamidoing-WMF	T268588 Include appropriate suffixes and honorifics after usernames when pinging people

Event Timeline

• Whatamidoing-WMF created this task.Nov 24 2020, 2:13 AM

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• Whatamidoing-WMF updated the task description. (Show Details)Dec 10 2020, 9:11 PM

ppelberg edited projects, added Editing-team; removed Editing-team (Tracking).Dec 22 2021, 4:26 PM

ppelberg moved this task from Untriaged to Next Quarter on the Editing-team board.

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ppelberg updated the task description. (Show Details)Dec 22 2021, 4:29 PM

ppelberg added a subscriber: matmarex.

ppelberg added a parent task: T282638: [RELEASE TICKET] Offer Mobile Reply and New Discussion Tools at Partner Wikis.Jan 13 2022, 6:34 PM

We do already have discussiontools-replywidget-mention-prefix (which is what gives us the @) -- adding an equivalent suffix would be pretty easy. Might need to jump through some hoops to make sure it can't interfere with the actual function of the mention, but...

ppelberg updated the task description. (Show Details)Jan 19 2022, 1:10 AM

ppelberg added a subscriber: Omotecho.

Change 755438 had a related patch set uploaded (by DLynch; author: DLynch):

[mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools@master] Add an optional suffix message to mentions

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/755438

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Jan 19 2022, 4:29 PM

Patch creates an equivalent to the prefix message. Wikis would be able to edit MediaWiki:Discussiontools-replywidget-mention-suffix to be whatever they think is appropriate.

Test wiki created on Patch demo by DLynch (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/f358039262/w/

I've set up that patchdemo with the さん suffix. If you use the mention tool, it should appear: https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/f358039262/wiki/Talk:Main_Page

The suffix can be customized by editing this message: https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/f358039262/wiki/MediaWiki:Discussiontools-replywidget-mention-suffix

matmarex edited projects, added Editing-team (Kanban Board); removed Editing-team.Jan 21 2022, 12:19 AM

Change 755438 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools@master] Add an optional suffix message to mentions

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/755438

ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.38-notes (1.38.0-wmf.19; 2022-01-24).Jan 21 2022, 1:00 AM

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Jan 21 2022, 1:11 AM

matmarex moved this task from Incoming to Ready for Sign Off on the Editing-team (Kanban Board) board.Jan 21 2022, 1:14 AM

In T268588#7633095, @DLynch wrote:

Patch creates an equivalent to the prefix message. Wikis would be able to edit MediaWiki:Discussiontools-replywidget-mention-suffix to be whatever they think is appropriate.

@DLynch: would it be accurate for me to think that while this patch creates the potential for wikis to add a suffix to all mentions made within the Reply and New Discussion Tools, this patch does NOT go so far as to specify that さん be appended to mentions made within DiscussionTools at ja.wiki?

ppelberg moved this task from Ready for Sign Off to Blocked / Needs More Work on the Editing-team (Kanban Board) board.Jan 29 2022, 1:44 AM

@ppelberg yes! Someone with the appropriate permissions on that wiki will need to actually set the message.

Next steps

@Whatamidoing-WMF to inform volunteers at ja.wiki that this suffix customization now exists

We can monitor who's using this with global-search: https://global-search.toolforge.org/?q=.&regex=1&namespaces=8&title=Discussiontools-replywidget-mention-suffix (this will catch on-wiki usage, not anything done via updating the bundled translations)

You can find all of the customizations in one of the two places:

Currently there are none, hopefully we'll soon see one for the Japanese language, or for the Japanese Wikipedia (not sure if this is also desired for other projects).

not sure if this is also desired for other projects

I figure the main case where this might be used outside of Japanese-style honorifics is wiki-communities who have an opinion about whether the mention should be followed by a :.

Test wiki on Patch demo by DLynch (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

~~https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/f358039262/w/~~

ppelberg closed this task as Resolved.Feb 14 2022, 5:47 PM

I've noticed that the Japanese override hasn't actually been created, so I added it: https://translatewiki.net/wiki/MediaWiki:Discussiontools-replywidget-mention-suffix/ja

This seems to be the correct thing based on the comments we've seen, so I'm not sure why it wasn't done. I'm guessing that maybe the folks who proposed it have been busy, or don't have translator access, or couldn't find this message on Translatewiki (it's optional so it won't show up in the usual lists of messages to translate).

DLynch mentioned this in T255838: Add space between cursor and ping.Sep 8 2022, 5:01 PM

Include appropriate suffixes and honorifics after usernames when pinging peopleClosed, ResolvedPublicActions