Extension:Thanks

MediaWiki extensions manual

Thanks Release status: stable
Implementation	User interface
Description	Lets users thank other users for individual edits etc.
Author(s)	Ryan Kaldari Benjamin Chen Wctaiwan
Latest version	1.2.0 (Continuous updates)
Compatibility policy	Snapshots releases along with MediaWiki. Master is not backward compatible.
MediaWiki	1.31+
PHP	5.4+
License	MIT License
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review
Parameters $wgThanksAllowedLogTypes $wgThanksConfirmationRequired $wgThanksLogging $wgThanksSendToBots
Hooks used ApiMain::moduleManager BeforeCreateEchoEvent BeforePageDisplay BeforeSpecialMobileDiffDisplay DiffTools DifferenceEngineViewHeader EchoGetBundleRules GetAllBlockActions GetLogTypesOnUser HistoryTools LocalUserCreated LogEventsListLineEnding PageHistoryBeforeList
Quarterly downloads	75 (Ranked 109th)
Public wikis using	2,442 (Ranked 193rd)
Translate the Thanks extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Vagrant role	echo
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

The Thanks extension adds a quick way to give positive feedback for productive contributions to MediaWiki sites. It allows users to send public 'thank you' notifications (via Echo ) to other users for their individual edits and some logged actions.

The specific revision that is being "thanked" for is not stored in the public logging table. Only the timestamp, sender, and recipient, are publicly logged.

A 'thank' link is added in the following places:

• next to the 'undo' link in history and diff views;
• on some log entries on Special:Log (see #Configuration, below); and
• to Flow board comments if Flow is installed.

It also provides an API for sending thanks.

Note that if you do not want to be thanked, you can easily disable this notification in your preferences, as described below.

Once you have had a chance to try it out, we welcome your feedback about this feature on the talk page.

We hope that the Thanks notification will make it easier to show appreciation for each other's work – and it should be particularly helpful for encouraging new users during their first critical steps on a wiki. We have intentionally kept this notification as simple as possible, so we can evaluate it and improve it together. Enjoy…

Download

The extension can be retrieved directly from Git ^[?]:

• Browse code
• Some extensions have tags for stable releases.
  • Browse tags
  • Select the tag
  • Click "snapshot"
• Each branch is associated with a past MediaWiki release. There is also a "master" branch containing the latest alpha version (might require an alpha version of MediaWiki).
  • Browse branches
  • Select a branch name
  • Click "Continue"

Extract the snapshot and place it in the extensions/Thanks/ directory of your MediaWiki installation.

If you are familiar with Git and have shell access to your server, you can also obtain the extension as follows:

cd extensions/ git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/Thanks.git

Installation

Thanks requires the Echo extension be installed as a prerequisite.

• Download and place the file(s) in a directory called Thanks in your extensions/ folder.
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php :

  wfLoadExtension( 'Thanks' );
  

• If necessary configure at your convenience
• Go to the History action of a page to see the new "Thank" interface.
•  Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Configuration

Enable the Thank interface for bot edits (disabled by default)

$wgThanksSendToBots = false;

Log Thank actions to "Special:Log" (enabled by default)

$wgThanksLogging = true;

Whether or not confirmation is required for sending thanks (enabled by default)

$wgThanksConfirmationRequired = true;

Log entry types that can be thanked from Special:Log:

$wgThanksLogTypeWhitelist = [
	"contentmodel",
	"delete",
	"import",
	"merge",
	"move",
	"patrol",
	"protect",
	"tag",
	"managetags",
	"rights"
];

Usage

To thank another user, go to the History tab of any page. Next to each revision will be a 'thank' link. Click the link to send thanks to that user. This link is also available in the diff view, on some entries in Special:Log, and below comments on Flow boards if Flow is installed.

When the thank link is clicked, the recipient will receive a notification with your thanks via the Echo extension (unless they have opted out of receiving thanks notifications). A record of the action is also recorded as a log entry at Special:Log/thanks.

If the wiki is using memcached, a rate limit is imposed of no more than 10 thanks per minute per user. The limit can be configured with $wgRateLimits ['thanks-notification'].

Avoiding thanks

To stop getting thanks notifications, you can opt out from them in your notification preferences. Go to the Notifications tab of your preferences. This only prevents you from getting notified, it does not prevent users from thanking you.

API documentation

thank
This module cannot be used as a generator.
Prefix
Required rights	none
Post only?	Yes
Generated help	Current

The Thanks extension includes an API for sending thanks. In order to call the API, use the parameter action=thank.

Parameters:

• rev - The revision ID you would like to thank someone for (either this or log is required)
• log - The log ID you would like to thank someone for (either this or rev is required)
• source - Source of the thank event. This is a short string that identifies where the thanks was sent from. For example, if the thanks was sent from Huggle, the value could be 'huggle'. (optional)
• token - Edit token (a.k.a. CSRF token). You can get one of these through the tokens API. (required)

Example:

 api.php?action=thank&rev=16543&token=%2B\

To send thanks via OAuth only the "Basic" grant permission is required. A python example can be found here.

Flow Thanks

flowthank
This module cannot be used as a generator.
Prefix
Required rights	none
Post only?	Yes
Generated help	Current

There is a separate API for sending Thanks for comments on Flow boards. To call the API, use action=flowthank.

Parameters:

• postid - The UUID of the comment for which to send thanks (required)
• token - Edit token. You can get one of these through prop=info. (required)

Example:

 api.php?action=flowthank&postid=abc123&token=%2B\

Errors and Warnings

Code	Info
invalidrecipient	No valid recipient found Bots cannot be thanked You cannot thank yourself

SQL Documentation

Understanding who thanked who from the logs requires some understanding of the columns. Within the logging table, the log_title represents the receiver, and the log_user_text represents the sender.

The following SQL which finds all the thanks a receiver received within a time period illustrates this:

select log_timestamp as thank_timestamp,
  replace(log_title, '_', ' ') as receiver,
  log_user_text as sender
from logging_logindex
where log_title = :user_name
  and log_action = 'thank'
  and :start_date <= log_timestamp
  and log_timestamp <= :end_date

Notice also that the logging table is not selected from directly, but on Wikimedia servers we take advantage of the logging_logindex table. In order to quickly search for all the thanks a user sent the logging_userindex provides the correct index.

See also

• w:Wikipedia:Notifications/Thanks - Information about the usage of this extension on English Wikipedia
• Echo (Notifications)/Feature requirements#Thank_you_notification - Initial feature proposal (for the Echo extension)
• Extension:WikiLove - Another extension for sending gratitude
• Extension:Echo - Provides the notification system