Making near-term and long-term decisions (see ===Decisions) about the topic subscription's user experience depends on us clarifying how – if at all – the new topic subscription feature and page watching relate.
This ticket is intended to help us reach the "clarification" mentioned above by way of answering the === Open questions below.
Open questions
- 1. In the near-term, how will "Subscribing"/"Unsubscribing" to a conversation on a talk page relate to "Watching"/"Unwatching" a page, and subsequently, the Watchlist?
In the near-term, subscribing/unsubscribing to a conversation on a talk page will have no impact on your watchlist.
- Thinking
- By conflating "Watching" and "Subscribing," we risk Junior Contributors growing confused by "Watching" / "Unwatching" meaning different things, in different contexts...contexts they are, initially, likely to have a difficult time drawing distinctions between.
- Treating these two features as distinct/different will lower the likelihood that Senior Contributors will become confused/frustrated. We think Senior Contributors will be less likely to become confused because the verb and action to "Watch" will mean the same thing in all contexts.
- While "Subscribing"/"Unsubscribing" to a topic and "Watching"/"Unwatching" a page are similar actions is so far as both are expressions of interest [or lack thereof] in changes to a particular page, we think the implications of these two actions vary enough (the former causes notifications to be sent via Echo, the latter does not) to be considered different, for now.
- We assume that treating these two features as distinct/different in the near-term, will create the space for Junior and Senior Contributors to arrive naturally at how they see Watchlists and Notifications as being related.
- We assume that treating these two features as distinct/different will cause Senior Contributors to be more likely to engage with topic subscriptions because the stakes for doing so will be lower. Said another way: when deciding whether to Subscribe/Unsubscribe from a conversation, Senior Contributors will need to keep one key consideration in mind: "Do I want to be notified about new comments posted in this topic?"
- 2. In the longer-term, how will "Subscribing"/"Unsubscribing" to a conversation on a talk page relate to "Watching"/"Unwatching" a page, and subsequently, the Watchlist?
We are not sure yet. We will revisit this question in this TICKET.
Decisions
These decisions will likely end up being represented as individual tickets. For now, this is a gathering place.
Near-term
| ID | Decision | Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| NT1. | What should the affordance for Subscribing/Unsubscribing to topics be? | T279149 |
| NT2. | What language should be used throughout the topic subscription experience? | T279150, T279151 |
| NT3. | What should the UX be for unsubscribing from within the Echo dropdown? | T279150 |
Longer-term
| ID | Decision | Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| LT1. | What – if anything – happens to the list of pages you are watching when you subscribe from a conversation on a talk page? | T281015 |
| LT2. | What – if anything – happens to the list of pages you are watching when you unsubscribe from a conversation on a talk page? | T281015 |
| LT3. | How – if at all – should automatic topic subscriptions (T263819) impact/realte to the existing edit-related Watchlist events in Special:Preferences [i]? | T281016 |
| LT4. | What should happen to the Watch this page checkbox within DiscussionTools' Advanced shelf? | T281017 |
| LT5. | How and where will people be able to manage topics they are subscribed to en masse? | T273342 |
Done
- Tickets are filed for all ===Decisions requiring them
- All ===Open questions are answered
i. E.g. Add pages and files I edit to my watchlist and Add pages I create and files I upload to my watchlist.