Extension:Gather/FAQ

What is Gather?
 * Gather is a feature for logged in users who access Wikipedia on mobile. It enables these user to make and share lists of articles.  If the feature is expanded to other projects, it could be used to create collections of images or other wiki elements.

Can you elaborate more?
 * Here is an example: through Gather, you will be able to make a list of your favorite 70s rock bands, give it a name, and share it with others. Another example might be a professor sharing a list of important historical figures that their students should read about.

'''What is the point? Whom is this for?'''
 * The point is to be able to share content differently to help others find interesting articles and to help a user revisit articles. This is intended to be a useful feature for users who spend a lot of time on the mobile site, browsing from one article to the other. It is good for bookmarking, browsing, and sharing.

Will you be using the watchlist star for Gather lists as well?
 * For beta, yes. We understand that this might be confusing. However, we want to make sure we create an elegant alternative.  It will be easier to iterate and build upon users' reactions to the feature in beta.

How are lists moderated?
 * The community is responsible for creating moderation rules for the created lists moving forward. For beta, which is expected to be 2K lists per month, all created lists will be logged publicly. If something needs action, a member of the community can flag the issue and wmf legal can help with it, until the community defines moderation rules. If you are interested in taking an active role in this, please contact User:Melamrawy_(WMF).

Can anon users use Gather?
 * Gather lists can be read by anyone without logging in, but users must be logged in to create a list.

Can anon users watch created lists?
 * A log of created lists will be made available to those interested, with links to each list.

'''Why is Gather not part of Extension:MobileFrontend? And why build a new extension if Extension:Collections exists?'''
 * Extension:Collections (books) was designed for Pediapress, with a focus on postscripts and pdf generation. Deciding to build on Extension:Collections means overloading it with what it is not intended for; furthermore, it complicates scaling of Gather afterwards. Regarding scaling, this is one reason why Gather only links to Extension:MobileFrontend and isn't part of it.

What is the roadmap?
 * We are expecting to launch beta by the end of March, it will run for ~3 months, then we apply the lessons learned to a full release afterwards.

Gather seems to be tangent to watchlists and functionalities that desktop users have been asking for in watchlists for over a decade, why is this mobile exclusive?
 * Good question! Though user needs on mobile do not identically meet user needs on desktop, through Gather, we hope to extract lessons and maybe even code that can help with adding more features to watchlists on desktop.