This task represents the work involved with increasing peoples' awareness of things others say in conversations they are interested in.
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=== Objective and theory of change
**Objective**
This work is intended to increase the likelihood Junior and Senior Contributors receive timely and relevant responses to the things they say.
**Theory of change**
We think that:
- //If// people are able to be more specific in deciding the new comments they are and are not notified about...
- //...then// they will be able to more easily and quickly identify comments requiring a response...
- //...and// be more likely to respond to those comments in a timely manner.
=== Background
**Challenges**
- On pages that have many active threads[i], people have a difficult time staying up-to-date about the specific conversations they are interested in.
-- //"...pertinent changes to sections that interest me get superseded by subsequent changes to other sections."// | [Source: meta.wiki](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey_2015/Watchlists#Section_watchlists)
- On pages that have a few active threads [i], people can miss out on comments posted in other, less active, sections.
-- //" Sometimes the movement of the terrace is very large, and times when only one or two topics account for almost all editions on the terrace. When this happens editions in other topics may go unnoticed among others, then we don't even see that there are new comments, sometimes we don't even see that there is a new topic"// | [Source: pt.wiki](https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Esplanada/geral/English_Wikipedia_and_Portuguese_Wikipedia_discussion_forums_(1set2012))
**Implications**
- People risk missing important information about their wiki work
- People risk not responding to others who would value their input
The risks above are especially important for they threaten a core promise people depend on talk pages to fulfill: to facilitate interactions with other people. //Said another way: if people understand talk pages as places to talk with other people and those "other people" don't respond in a timely manner, the people seeking contact with others will lose faith in and stop using talk pages.//
=== Rquirements
**Meta**
- Platforms: **mobile** and **desktop**
- Editing interfaces: should be able to be notified about "qualifying comments" //regardless// of the editing interface used to publish them. //Said another way: whether someone posted a comment using the Reply Tool or full-page wikitext editing should *not* affect the notification said comment triggers.//
|Use case| Key question | Related events | //Potential// implementation**Initiating subscriptions**
|---| --- | --- | -- |People should be able to elect to be notified about "qualifying comments" in a "qualifying section" by doing any of the following:
**Qualifying sections**
|**2.**| //"Did someone say something new in this conversation I am interested in?"// | **Event 1:** Someone adds a comment in a conversation (read: section) you are "following." | Enable people to opt-in/out of receiving notifications, delivered via Echo, for comments posted in sections/conversations they are interested in "following" **regardless** of how those "comments" were posted (e.g. via #discussiontools or full page editing). |People should be able to elect to be notified about qualifying comments in sections that meet the following conditions:
**Qualifying comments**
Comments that meet the conditions below should cause people who have subscribed to
**Notification delivery/receipt**
**Notification contents**
**Notification calls to actions**
**Notification management**
**Subscription management**
=== Open questions
- [ ] How should section subscription notifications be delivered?– if at all – should topic subscriptions consider/relate to temporary watchlisting?
- [ ] What happens if a topic you are subscribed to gets renamed?
- [ ] What should happen to the watch this page checkbox within the Reply and New Discussion Tools?
=== Done
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=== References
//The above is built on valuable thinking and talking that has happened in the past. WatchLinks to *some* of this research and conversations are list?ed below. Alerts?If you can think of more, Notices?please boldly add it here and post a comment alerting us that you've done so.//
- https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey_2016/Categories/Watchlists#CW2016-R043
- [ ] What level of heading(s) should be "watchable"?https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey_2015/Watchlists#Section_watchlists
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive_93#Support_or_oppose_a_test_Village_Pump_based_on_Portuguese_VP
- https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Esplanada/geral/English_Wikipedia_and_Portuguese_Wikipedia_discussion_forums_(1set2012)
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- [ ] What are the range of events that could lead someone to become subscribed to a section?
i. E.g.: AfD (en.wiki), Tearoom (en.wikitionary), Village pump (ru.wiki), user pages (e.g. User:WhatamIdoing), wp:ANI (en.wiki), wp:Reference desk (en.wiki), WP:ERRORS, Wikipedia:AN, Wikipedia:Village pump (technical), Teahouse