Help:Extension:Echo

Welcome to the help page for the Echo Notifications tool!

Here are some frequently asked questions about this project.

What is this notifications tool?
This new notifications system, code-named Echo, gives MediaWiki and Wikipedia users quick updates about actions that affect them. These notifications can help users become more aware of events that relate to them and take quick action if they want to.

This software is being developed by the Wikimedia Foundation's editor engagement team, to encourage people to participate more actively on our sites. Echo is designed to replace and augment existing notification systems on MediaWiki sites, as well as provide significantly more control to both users and developers as to how their notifications are handled, read, and deleted.

To learn more about Echo, check out this project hub, the user experience page, the feature requirements page and other related documents.

How do notifications work?
When someone takes an action that affects you on a MediaWiki site, a red badge will appear next to your user name, in the top right corner of any page. This badge will show the number of new notifications you've received. Clicking on the badge will display a flyout listing the most recent notifications. You can then click on the notification of your choice to find out more about it. To see more, can click on 'All notifications' to go to the notifications archive.

How can I change my preferences?
You can control what kind of notifications you get (and how often) by updating your notifications preferences. To check your settings, click on 'Preferences' in the flyout or in the 'All notifications' page. You can also click on 'Preferences' in the top right of any page, then select the Notifications tab. If you wish to make any changes, click the 'Save' button at the bottom of the page to update your preferences.

Who is this for?
Notifications are aimed at registered users for Wikipedia and other MediaWiki sites. Over time, this tool will support several different user groups, from new users that have just created an account to very active editors. For our first release, we will focus on new editors, then new members, because these new users need notifications more than power users. In future releases, we will support active or very active editors. Anonymous, unregistered users will not receive notifications at this time.

When will this be released?
Echo is now in early beta, and is only being tested on MediaWiki.org and this prototype site. In coming weeks, we expect to make a first experimental release on the English Wikipedia as well.We expect to make this tool available to other projects once it has been fully tested.

How can I test this software?
If you would like to help test this software, please read the quick testing tips below, and visit the testing page for more detailed instructions.

To test the software, you will need to log in on MediaWiki.org -- or create a new account if you don't have one yet -- using the links at the top right corner of this page. Next, create a second account on MediaWiki.org, using a separate browser, and post a message on your first account's talk page. You should then see a red notifications badge near your name, with your first notification. For more testing tips, check the testing page.

Once you've tested Echo, please share your feedback on this discussion page. You're also welcome to report bugs on Bugzilla -- or email us about urgent issues at e2@lists.wikimedia.org.

How can I meet other testers?
Our next community outreach is scheduled on Tue., January 8th at 11am Pacific, on this IRC channel: #wikimedia-tech. This IRC chat is aimed at a technical audience with an interest in MediaWiki development. We will have another IRC chat later this month, inviting a broader community to test our next beta version, on Wed. Jan. 30 at 11am PT. More info will be provided for both events on this testing page.

Enjoy!