Reading/Web/Projects/Related pages/Draft RFC

RFC: Related Pages extension
This is an RFC relating to the Related Pages extension. It is currently enabled on mobile version of Wikipedia. Editors may test it on desktop by activating it in the Beta section of Special:Preferences. The Wikimedia Foundation Reading team wants to know whether we consider this a valuable addition to enable on desktop, whether we would like it removed from mobile, as well as any concerns or improvements regarding the feature.

Background
The Related Pages extension (also known as the Read more feature) is an experiment carried out by the Reading team in order to further engage readers and increase their browsing time. A user reaching the bottom of an article is shown the title and lead image for three articles that relate to the article they just finished. The related articles are selected by software based on textual similarity to the current article, with a preference for articles with many inbound links, and a preference for articles carrying the templates for Featured article, Featured picture, Featured sound, Featured list, or Good article. (More details at Related_pages#FAQ.) Editors may override these software selections by adding up to three to the page.

Read more aims to drive page views by engaging users by directing them to related content. If a reader has reached to the bottom of the article, they might be looking to read more about the topic and surfacing articles that are similar might be exactly what they are looking for. This has been released on apps and saw a 16% click-through (for users who saw it). The desktop numbers are much lower at 3.4%.

Rationale: If readers are offered suggestions that are similar to the topic they are reading about, this will further engage their reading session time, it will further educate them about the topic they are looking for, and supports a richer reading experience for those who are just randomly browsing topics.


 * A brief summary of some of the initial feedback at the project talk page
 * The community was not consulted first and we would have helped you avoid major pitfalls.
 * Reading Team Response: Unfortunately, yes. We thought since this worked on apps it was a no-brainer, but we clearly misjudged. Given that we obviously made a mistake here, and are making an attempt to improve moving forward both with this feature and others, we hope that you can help us move forward together.


 * Some language Wikipedias, notably German and Russian, have policies prohibiting collections of related links unless it is an objective and complete set.
 * The Reading Team does not want to push the feature on wikis that don't want it.


 * English Wikipedia policy on non-free images does not allow their reuse for decorative or navigational purposes.
 * Non-free images will be excluded.


 * This is the same as see-also and does not add additional value.
 * The Reading Team believes the sustained high click through rate on mobile suggests that users are finding it valuable enough to justify the feature.


 * Wikipedia, unlike many commercial websites, is not about generating as many clicks as possible.
 * Many Read more suggestions are redundant to links in the article, and other suggestions can range from suboptimal to bizarre or even damaging. Generic products tend to be given links to arbitrary brands, for example Read more at the Hard disk drive article suggests Seagate Technology and at Car it suggests Mercedes-Benz. Potentially offensive articles and images can show up unexpectedly, such as images of penises and maggot infested wounds. At Korur language it suggests Anus, Anal and Poop. At List of serial killers before 1900 it suggests Peru national football team. At Murder of Kelly Anne Bates it suggests Batman.
 * Reading Team Response: For 'damaging' results, which are rare, editors can over-ride results. For 'suboptimal results', for now I think we should live with it because the readers seem to be deriving value.


 * The software returns particularly poor results for Disambiguation pages, for example at Holocaust (disambiguation) it suggests Batman.
 * The Reading Team sees little utility for the feature on Disambiguation pages. The feature is being disabled on those pages.