Page MenuHomePhabricator

Extend edit-user-talk notification to include edits to subpages of a user's talk page
Open, LowPublicFeature

Description

<dungodung> brion_away: I was wondering... I searched and didn't find this bug,
actually an enhancement
<dungodung> namely, I'd like it if an edit to a subpage of a user's talk page
occurs, the user is notified by the "you have a new message" message
<dungodung> say there's [[User talk:Dungodung/Tasks]]
<dungodung> and someone decides to give me a task
<dungodung> and when he edits the page
<dungodung> I get notified
<dungodung> because it's in my user talk page namespace
<dungodung> but atm, you don't get the notification, because the software can't
recognize the subpages from the raw username
<dungodung> brion_away: do you get what I'm saying?
<brion_away> well, what we could use is a more general message notification system
<brion_away> right now it's a special-case hack
<brion_away> we could use an improved system for, among other things,
system-wide notices (upcoming downtime, etc) as well

So generally, it would be nice to have an enhanced notification system that
would allow users to be notified about almost anything that concerns them.


Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement
URL: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Email_notification_to-do_list

See also:

New Notification Request Form

Filling out this form will help developers and product people understand your idea and will provide the information required to implement it. To see examples of the types of answers required, have a look at this sample form. To understand unfamiliar terms, visit the glossary. 

Basic information

  - Purpose of the notification:  
  - Notification name:  
  - What triggers notification?: 
  - "Notice" or "Alert"?:  
  - Notification type (standard, bundled, expandable bundle):  

Wording

For a single message

  • Header: 
  • Body:  

For Bundled Messages

  • Main, bundling message:
  • Subsidiary, bundled message:

Links

  - Primary link target:
  - Primary link label (for email display only):

  - #1 secondary link target: 
  - #1 secondary link label:

  - #2 secondary link target:
  - #2 secondary link label:

Icon

  - Icon name:  
  - Link to graphic/example: 

Related Objects

StatusSubtypeAssignedTask
OpenNone
OpenFeatureNone
Resolvedkostajh
OpenNone
ResolvedNone
OpenNone
ResolvedShivanshbindal9
ResolvedShivanshbindal9
OpenNone
ResolvedShivanshbindal9
ResolvedShivanshbindal9
ResolvedShivanshbindal9
OpenNone
OpenNone
Resolved JMinor
DuplicateNone
OpenBUG REPORTNone
StalledNone

Event Timeline

bzimport raised the priority of this task from to Low.Nov 21 2014, 8:46 PM
bzimport added a project: Notifications.
bzimport set Reference to bz3234.
bzimport added a subscriber: Unknown Object (MLST).

See http://www.enotifwiki.org . pls. feel free to add your idea onto page
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Email_notification_to-do_list . Perhaps I
implement your idea, because I also thought, it could be useful.

EnotifWiki shows the newmessage marker already for changes on one's user page
(i.e. not only for changes on the user_talk page). An extension of the mechanism
to implement your idea is quite easy.

I just tested and indeed there is no notification sent when editing a User_Talk subpage: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User_talk:Qgil/Test

Change 354937 had a related patch set uploaded (by JoHammer; owner: JoHammer):
[mediawiki/extensions/Echo@master] Notify user if sub-page of user-discussion is modified

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/354937

jmatazzoni subscribed.

Please fill in the New Notification Request form, which I've pasted at the top of the ticket. It will save everyone time and preclude wheel re-invention.

Hi @JoHammer, still working on this (as you are set as assignee)? If so, could you take T5234#3513523 into consideration? Thanks a lot! :)

I don't think a full request form is necessary here, she's just adding a mode with a different message to the existing user talk page edit notification.

The messages in @JoHammer's current patch (proposed by @Mooeypoo) are as follows:

  • If there is no section: Catrope left a message on your user talk page Sandbox
  • If there is a section: Catrope left a message on your user talk page Sandbox in "Is this useful?"

I don't like the "your user talk page Foo" phrasing to mean [[User talk:Myname/Foo]]. @JoHammer's version was "your subpage Foo", which I think is better but also not clear enough. Perhaps we should use something like "your user talk subpage Foo"? @jmatazzoni?

99% of user talk subpages are archives and 90% of the edits to those pages are bot edits (fixing double redirects, removing deleted images, replacing renamed images, fixing links to moved pages, etc.). Notifying people about these edits will just be adding more spam to the notifications, especially for people with dozens of talk page archives.

These kind of maintenance tasks is the reason the nominornewtalk permission was implemented, I think?

@MGChecker: Good point. Maybe this isn't that bad then :)

May I ask what progress has been made since Jo Hammer was assigned this task in 2017 -they appear to have ceased all activity shortly afterwards? The task itself goes back to 2005.

Is it OK for me to expand here why I and others would benefit from the completion of this task? On en.wiki I'm a host at the Teahouse and am keen to 'adopt' committed new editors under the 'Adopt-a-User' scheme. To keep discussions with different adoptees in discrete places - and to avoid them getting watered down with general talk page discussions - I now create a separate sub page of my User page for each person I adopt. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Nick_Moyes/Adoption/Clovermoss this example]. I edit mostly from a mobile and don't receive watchlist notifications, relying only on web alerts. Questions and responses placed on this and other talk pages do not initiate web alert notifications, which risks missed communications if the new adoptee fails to ping me correctly.
Not receiving alerts for edits made to any sub-pages also risks bad faith edits remaining visible and undetected for long periods. Apart from the work to implement this useful task, I can see no downside to having such notifications automatically enabled. In my nine years of editing here, I don't think I've ever had a bot create a sub page for me, apart from the odd archive page.

Aklapper added a subscriber: JoHammer.

@JoHammer: I am resetting the assignee of this task because there has not been progress lately (please correct me if I am wrong!).
Resetting the assignee avoids the impression that somebody is already working on this task. It also allows others to potentially work towards fixing this task.
Please claim this task again when you plan to work on it (via Add Action...Assign / Claim in the dropdown menu) - it would be welcome! Thanks for your understanding!

6 or more years on and there's still seems to be no progress on ensuring that users receive an on-wiki notification if another user edits any of their user sub-pages. This seems such a simple and logical thing to address (as anyone can alter or vandalise any person's sub-page without them realising it) I'm wondering why nobody has picked this one up.

It would be great to see some progress if someone's willing to pick this one up.

@Aklapper If only I had the skills! Sadly I am only a Wikipedia user, not a developer, and must rely on the wonderful corps of technical helpers we have here. (It's all I can manage to actually get on Phabricator and get a vague sense of what's happening!) I appreciate that not everything can be a priority. Best.

Aklapper changed the subtype of this task from "Task" to "Feature Request".Feb 4 2022, 11:02 AM
Aklapper removed a subscriber: wikibugs-l-list.