Talk:Notifications/Feature requirements

Flyout thoughts

 * 1) New versus unread - why the distinction here? If it's a distinction in how we handle things ("new" versus "unread" versus "new and unread"), I'm not sure if new is worth distinguishing at all: If I have a dozen unread messages and two dozen read ones, some of which are new, I don't particularly need the system to (for example) prioritise the read-but-new ones. I've got unread stuff to deal with: that's my priority.
 * 2) Re mentions, it seems to make more sense to link "this page" rather than explicitly mention a page. Wikipedia and talk pages (which are, realistically, where these messages will be used - people tend not to mention editors in article text) can get incredibly long. This also applies to things like deletion tags - if someone posts a copyvio note and you paste the entire, potential URL into the notifications window, it's going to get to be a very long window, particularly on mobile or tablet devices.
 * 3) On mentions: what are we doing to compensate for the "someone who has a user name that matches an article/real world person" problem? An example would be en:User:John lilburne. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 08:51, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

Positive Notifications for Echo
Hi guys,

We would be grateful for your advice on how to give more positive notifications to new users after their first edits.

We're looking for notification ideas that could lead new editors towards a "happy path" to encourage further contributions. Many studies have shown that positive reinforcement plays an important role in increasing a user's productivity, and we would like to provide at least one or two good solutions to support that goal in the first release of Echo at the end of March.

Here are some of the ideas which we have brainstormed to date, on our Echo feature requirements page:


 * Useful edit notification
 * Huggle/Cluebot Notifications
 * Contributions since your last edit
 * Positive notifications for active new users

What do you think of these first ideas? None of them may be perfect in their current formulation, but with your help, we could be improve them to provide a practical solution that helps engage new users to participate more productively. With everyone's guidance, we can do better than only send them negative notifications when their edits are reverted (which is like a slap in the face) -- or sending them no notifications whatsoever after their first edits (which is what we are doing now).

Do you have other ideas for positive notifications we could be sending to new users? Thanks in advance for your guidance! Fabrice Florin (WMF) (talk) 20:10, 1 February 2013 (UTC)