Help talk:Notifications

Is this crosswiki?

For example, if someone edits my user talk page on Commons or Wikitionary or Farsi Wikipedia, will I still be able to see the notification if I happen to be on English Wikipedia? If not, is this a planned feature? Sven Manguard Wha? 22:12, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

Short answer: not yet, but it's definitely planned. Steven Walling (WMF) • talk 22:15, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

That would be awesome for people who work on multiple sites (like me). ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WP Japan! 15:39, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, I came here to look for this very thing. Awesome. EVula // talk // ☯ // 20:09, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

That was in the initial scope, and hopefully it'll be something we can fit in - even if it's something as simple as "something's changed on your watchlist on [wiki]" or such. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 20:09, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

I can't speak for everyone, but it's more of the "you've got a message on [some other site]" notification that I'd want/need; I don't necessarily need watchlist notifications from, say, ptwiki or ko.wikisource. EVula // talk // ☯ // 20:18, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Gotcha :). Worst-case scenario, I guess, would be to have Echo locally on each project and then have a global message that is triggered whenever any local echo message goes off on a non-"home" wiki, I guess. Does that make sense? Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 20:23, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Incoming wrath

Misunderstanding

Aside from the regular amount of wrath that comes with any major change on Wikipedia, I think you guys are (IMO rightfully) going to get hammered by the notification settings defaulting to sending emails as opposed to not sending them. A lot of people turn talk page notification emails off, and are not going to be pleased when they get talk page notifications and other notifications by email. Just a heads up. Sven Manguard Wha? 22:42, 24 April 2013 (UTC) headscratches* Sorry? For existing users, it's going to match whatever their talk page notification email setting is. Can you point me to something that claims different? Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 23:19, 24 April 2013 (UTC) Thanks for clearing that up on IRC. Sven Manguard Wha? 00:06, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia only?

Page says Wikipedia only. Does this mean only English Wikipedia? All language Wikipedias? Are sister projects left out? --LauraHale (talk) 01:27, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

English Wikipedia first, but it will go to all Wikipedias. I expect that the sister projects will get it as well in due course; mediawiki.org was actually the first production wiki to get it.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 01:59, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Quite. Launching on every project simultaneously seems the height of folly. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 03:16, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

 Fixed the watchlist notice. —Tom Morris (talk) 15:39, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Talk page mentions, ANI and interaction bans

Wikipedia:Notifications says it will notify you of mentions on other talk pages. How is it decided which namespaces it scans for mentions? Is it just Talk: and User talk: or would this be customisable?

Currently, WP:ANI requires that users be notified about threads created about them. If they were notified automatically if they were linked, this would reduce the need to leave them a "Hey, you're at ANI" post. Which is particularly useful as there are users with interaction bans, and telling someone that there's an ANI thread about them is technically interacting.

(Also, we should probably work out whether the new notification system affects how interaction bans are handled.) —Tom Morris (talk) 15:50, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Customisable, I believe :). And, yeah, ANI is actually the first use case I thought of! Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 17:22, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

• Would we be able to add alternate names it can check too? For example, people are likely to refer to me as simply "Crisco" — Crisco 1492 (talk) 03:23, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

• Probably not, I'm afraid - but it requires formal linking to your userpage anyway, so it probably won't work out as "every time someone mentions Crisco" (which is good!). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 10:18, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

• That would be a... small price to pay. Especially since I could probably turn that page off. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 11:07, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

• Indeed. On the other hand Many people refer to me as "Worm", but I'd be a little worried if ever instance of someone typing "Worm" came up. One thing I'd be curious about is the criteria which would be used for notification, would the words "Worm That Turned" cause a notification or would it require a link to User:Worm That Turned? Worm^TT(talk) 10:17, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

• The latter :). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 10:18, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

• Yes, I edit conflicted... I was going to say "Never mind, my questions are answered at the place where I should have looked" Worm^TT(talk) 10:21, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

• So this means I can't get all the hot gossip about me? I doubt those who are into throwing stones in glass houses will link names all the time. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 11:07, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

• Would it still notify Crisco if I linked his userpage like this? Mohamed CJ (talk) 19:48, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Most probably; you can go to MediaWiki.org and check! It's live there now :). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 20:24, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

• Kinda technical question, It works with links to a user page, does it also parse templates that generate user page links (IE {{user}} et al )? Werieth (talk) 20:48, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

  Good question! I'll try and find out :). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 21:01, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Other talk page mentions

Could a feature that allows a user to add other users to a list so they could be notified if mention is made of a user on their list be developed and incorporated? Would this be desirable to anyone other than me? My76Strat (talk) 20:13, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Seems like the potential for wikihounding is a bit too great. —Theopolisme (talk) 22:36, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

My thinking precisely! Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 21:01, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Newsletter

Can the newsletter be named "Notifications"? Then you could have "Notifications notifications", which would fit nicely with the name "Echo". ;-) --MZMcBride (talk) 21:36, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

+1.--ragesoss (talk) 16:05, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Notice for reverts

I recently got the following notification:

Your edit on Talk:VisualEditor has been reverted by Jdforrester (WMF) (Show changes)

"Undo revision 676542 by Ypnypn (talk) - will reply there."

2 days ago

The words "Undo revision 676542 by Ypnypn (talk)" are totally unnecessary. There are probably similar problems with other notices. A link was provided if I really wanted to know the revision #. – Ypnypn (talk) 23:40, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Where did you get this notice? Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 10:17, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

mediawiki.org --MZMcBride (talk) 15:13, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Well, "Undo revision" is part of the edit summary - it's not a feature of Echo, and probably not something we can easily remove, I'm afraid. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 20:10, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Requesting ability to turn off all notifications

Can it be made possible to turn off all notifications? I'm already notified three times about edits to my talk page and, as an admin, I'm unlikely to have my user rights change without a great deal of notification. Espresso Addict (talk) 05:41, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised about the level of control you have over different notification types and how they're delivered. There isn't an "all off" switch, but you're going to have a lot of ability to have notifications delivered when and how you want them (or don't want them). Steven Walling (WMF) • talk 08:24, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the prompt response, Steven. The FAQ seems to state that talk page & user rights notifications cannot be turned off: "Some notifications cannot be disabled, such as changes to your user rights or new talk page messages: these notifications are too important to be dismissed." -- is this inaccurate? Espresso Addict (talk) 08:34, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

No, that's accurate - but I'm confused as to how you're notified three times! I'm only aware of two mechanisms (email and The Orange Bar of Doom (tm)). So, Echo will replace the big orange bar, and email notifications if you already get those - it's not adding anything new. And, you can completely nix notifications by email for that kind of thing, too :). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 10:17, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Ah, I hadn't realised it was replacing the Orange Bar of Doom & e-mail notifications, rather than augmenting them. (Three ways = watchlist, e-mail & OBoD.) Espresso Addict (talk) 00:51, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Aha, gotcha :). Yep, it'll replace the both of them, but replacements will be like-for-like for each user. So, if you've got 'don't send me talkpage emails' as a setting, Echo will remember not to do the same. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 03:05, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

I'm going to miss the OBOD, so more obvious than a little red box :-( NtheP (talk) 22:04, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

If this is replacing the watchlist...

...will I have a handy place to view changes to specific pages that don't revert my edits? I'm still interested in the progress of a bunch of pages, not just in my own work there... –Roscelese (talk ⋅ contribs) 18:55, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

It's not replacing the watchlist :). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 19:18, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Oh wow, I read "designed to augment (rather than replace) the watchlist" too fast. Thanks! *facepalm* –Roscelese (talk ⋅ contribs) 19:23, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

That's okay! :). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 03:04, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Great!

Just saying it sounds like a great improvement. Thank you! Lova Falk talk 10:06, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, Lova Falk, we're glad you find this tool useful. We hope the rest of you like it too. To learn more about how Notifications work, check out this FAQ and testing page. Enjoy ... Fabrice Florin (WMF) (talk) 17:57, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Links to edits/contributions should also be noted

If an editor links to another editor's edits or contributions, this should also create a notification. This is a far more likely occurrence than linking to an editor's userpage in an actual wikilink. Many times on talk pages it will just be "Editor is inserting a POV into this article; look at this terrible edit." ▫ JohnnyMrNinja 22:48, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Hmm—I like this a lot, although I suppose the technical implementation would be a bit more painful. —Theopolisme (talk) 22:50, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

That would be very painful, yep :/. I think it's improbable, I'm afraid! Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 03:04, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Watchlist notices

Right now we get "notices" on Watchlist page. Will it be transferred to Notifications by echo? --Nizil (talk) 19:50, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi Nizil, thanks for your question. Right now, watchlist notifications will continue to be delivered in the same way as they are today. This new product focuses on a smaller set of important notifications that are more closely related to you as a user, such as page reviews, mentions of your name, or user right changes. We plan to integrate the watchlist in future products, to support this high volume feed separately from the more selective notification system we're releasing this week. Fabrice Florin (WMF) (talk) 20:15, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for reply. I know that watchlist will keep functioning as it is but my question is regarding Notices which flash at the top of Watchlist page like "Election of arbitation committee is going on! Vote and discuss here.. [dismiss]" or "New program system is being discussed here..[dismiss]". --Nizil (talk) 06:49, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Hey Nizil :). So, at the moment, the first release will not contain this - but I think the idea of system messages is very powerful, and it's something I'm personally strongly in favour of. We've discussed it within the team, and I'm hoping for a positive outcome :). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 12:48, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

OK.. So it will be a future feature.. Anyway it will help a lot by seeking attention of users in matters related to policies and increase participation.. I strongly agree with you.. Thanks for Echo.. now waiting for Flow.. Both will help a lot and will save a lot of time and energy.. Cheers to you guys--Nizil (talk) 18:28, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

A hopeful future feature - obviously we can't promise it concretely. But I'm gonna push on it, certainly :). Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 19:27, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks.. :) and yes I got Notification.. :D --Nizil (talk) 21:29, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

"Page link"

I noticed in my notifications preferences that there is a page link notification that is disabled by default. What is the page link notification? It might also be a good idea to create tooltips in the preferences to explain them. Ryan Vesey 20:49, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

I found it in the FAQ. Is there any reason it only notifies me if a page is linked in an article? I feel like it would be a great benefit if I was notified if someone was discussing a page I created. Ryan Vesey 20:52, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

That'd be pretty hard to define, though. Links to pages in the talk-related namespaces? Which would invariably include a lot of automated wikiproject listing, and such. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 20:53, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello Ryan Vesey, thanks for asking about the page link notification. This optional notification is sent when an article you created is linked from another article. Because this has the potential to be high volume, we disabled this notification by default for current users (but it is enabled for new users). If you decide to try it out, let us know how it works for you. In the meantime, here is the current requirement for this feature. Cheers :) Fabrice Florin (WMF) (talk) 20:56, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

I agree with Ryan -- some kind of information about what these options do (all of them) -- is important to have on the Preferences screen. As a quick fix, a simple link to the FAQ would probably be sufficient. Most users wouldn't have any idea how to learn more about this screen -- wouldn't know the name "Echo" to search on, for instance. -Pete (talk) 22:49, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Testing by making a second account

As recommended on mw:Echo (Notifications)/Testing... surely this is OK for beta-testers, but not general advice we want everyone to follow?? Rd232 ^talk 21:31, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

For context: engineering often creates test accounts when launching new features, but we always try to tag them in the user name with something obvious like "WMFUserTest" or at least use of the "testing" keyword. In theory we have test.wikipedia.org, but it's practically of very limited use, and we always have to test what we're showing to new users in production. I'd recommend anyone who wants to make a test sock simply follow the rules for legitimate sockpuppets. An account like "rd232NotificationsTesting" which is appropriately tagged on the userpage can hardly be doing any harm. Steven Walling (WMF) • talk 21:49, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Grey line in the way of the tabs

Hello.

I have a grey line in the way of the tabs (article, talk, edit, and so on), and it partially obscures them. Doesn't the notifications function work properly with monobook appearance?

HandsomeFella (talk) 22:10, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Talk page changes

This seems to have got rid of the old "Your talk page has changed" message - is that correct? If so, is there any way to restore it? It was far more noticeable than a little (1) next to my user name. An optimist on the run!   22:36, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Mention notification

My reading of the mention notification is that users will only be notified if their userpage is linked in the form [[User:Ryan Vesey]]. Is that correct or will I also be notified if someone mentions [[User talk:Ryan Vesey]] or uses {{u|Ryan Vesey}} (or another shorthand user template)? Ryan Vesey 22:38, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

See bottom of #Talk page mentions, ANI and interaction bans. Theopolisme (talk) 22:52, 30 April 2013 (UTC)