Disable interactions with Flow content for users if temp accounts are used
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	kostajh
	Jul 1 2024, 1:05 PM

Description

Flow currently has no support for Temporary accounts and adding such support was declined in T342831: Temporary Accounts: Update StructuredDiscussions (Flow) because we intend to undeploy Flow.

As undeploying Flow is a large project, in the meantime, it would be nice if we disabled interactions with Flow boards for not-logged-in users. This should be possible via the onGetUserPermissionErrors hook by checking if temp account creations are enabled, and if the user is anon.

This task proposes that anonymous users and temporary account users are not able to modify Flow boards--they will be in read-only mode for these users.

References

See offline discussion in Slack

Details

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	[temp accounts] Set read-only mode for non-named users when temp accounts known	mediawiki/extensions/Flow	master	+40 -6

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Related Objects
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Status	Assigned	Task
Open	None	T335670 Disable Flow/Structured Discussions from all namespaces, except for user talk pages, on Catalan Wikipedia
Open	None	T106123 Extensions needing to be removed from Wikimedia wikis
Open	None	T332022 [Epic] Undeploying StructuredDiscussions (Flow)
Resolved	Mimurawil	T368910 Disable interactions with Flow content for users if temp accounts are used

Event Timeline

kostajh created this task.Jul 1 2024, 1:05 PM

Restricted Application added a project: Growth-Team. · View Herald TranscriptJul 1 2024, 1:05 PM

Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald Transcript

Change #1051136 had a related patch set uploaded (by Kosta Harlan; author: Kosta Harlan):

[mediawiki/extensions/Flow@master] [temp accounts] Make Flow read-only for anon users

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1051136

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Jul 1 2024, 1:07 PM

Test wiki created on Patch demo by KHarlan (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/fb5a57311f/w

The patch seems to work:

... although you can see that Flow has no recognition for temp account signatures, so the temp account appears like a regular account here:

To further simplify, I think we could update the patch to make Flow boards read-only for temp accounts as well, in addition to anonymous users.

Urbanecm_WMF moved this task from Inbox to Triaged on the Growth-Team board.Jul 2 2024, 9:33 PM

kostajh updated the task description. (Show Details)Jul 11 2024, 4:08 PM

Michael subscribed.Jul 11 2024, 4:14 PM

The community run https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:Support_desk system is current Flow based. It seems important that community administered tech support for MediaWiki continue to be accessible to unregistered users. The work at T365846: Assist communities in archiving Flow/StructuredDiscussions boards should maybe prioritize discussions with the mediawiki.org community to ensure that technical support for MediaWiki continue to function well with Temporary accounts.

In T368910#9974427, @bd808 wrote:

The community run https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:Support_desk system is current Flow based. It seems important that community administered tech support for MediaWiki continue to be accessible to unregistered users. The work at T365846: Assist communities in archiving Flow/StructuredDiscussions boards should maybe prioritize discussions with the mediawiki.org community to ensure that technical support for MediaWiki continue to function well with Temporary accounts.

ack. Yes, we would not deploy temp accounts to wikis that have Flow boards as part of active, ongoing discussions. The patch proposed in this task is about enabling deployment to wikis like testwiki, and later pilot wikis without active Flow boards.

The work at T365846: Assist communities in archiving Flow/StructuredDiscussions boards should maybe prioritize discussions with the mediawiki.org community to ensure that technical support for MediaWiki continue to function well with Temporary accounts.

Sounds like a good idea, cc @ppelberg @Trizek-WMF

kostajh edited projects, added Temporary accounts (Blockers to minor pilot wiki deployment); removed Temporary accounts.Jul 12 2024, 6:51 PM

ppelberg updated the task description. (Show Details)Jul 15 2024, 8:16 PM

ppelberg added a parent task: T332022: [Epic] Undeploying StructuredDiscussions (Flow).

Novem_Linguae subscribed.Jul 15 2024, 11:04 PM

Mimurawil changed the task status from Open to In Progress.Jul 17 2024, 1:01 AM

Mimurawil claimed this task.

Tchanders mentioned this in T370322: Set Flow to read only for testwiki.Jul 17 2024, 5:16 PM

Change #1051136 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/Flow@master] [temp accounts] Set read-only mode for non-named users when temp accounts known

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1051136

ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.43-notes (1.43.0-wmf.15; 2024-07-23).Jul 17 2024, 6:00 PM

Tchanders added a project: Trust and Safety Product Sprint (Sprint Koto (July 15 - July 26)).Jul 17 2024, 6:15 PM

Tchanders moved this task from Priority Backlog to Needs QA on the Trust and Safety Product Sprint (Sprint Koto (July 15 - July 26)) board.

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Jul 17 2024, 6:30 PM

Per the ticket Description, I have verified the new code has been implemented and is functioning and displaying as expected.

In T368910#9974674, @kostajh wrote:

The work at T365846: Assist communities in archiving Flow/StructuredDiscussions boards should maybe prioritize discussions with the mediawiki.org community to ensure that technical support for MediaWiki continue to function well with Temporary accounts.

Sounds like a good idea, cc @ppelberg @Trizek-WMF

@Quiddity is working on this part. :)

Mimurawil closed this task as Resolved.Jul 18 2024, 7:07 PM

Pppery renamed this task from Disable interactions with Flow content for anonymous users to Disable interactions with Flow content for users if temp accounts are used.Jul 19 2024, 2:09 AM

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Disable interactions with Flow content for users if temp accounts are usedClosed, ResolvedPublicActions