Topic on User talk:Jc86035

Hello

You have volunteered to be a coordinator for the Talk pages consultation 2019. Thank you!

We want to share with you some important information, so as some advice. All of this is based on feedback, observations and some decisions taken around phase 1 of the consultation.

Can you ask for details?

On the already started consultations, we have noticed that some people explain what they wish to have, and they express what they like or dislike about talk pages. However, they don't explain the reasons why.

Explaining why is very important: it allows us to find the common needs between users. Can you please review the feedback already received, and ask for details and "why"?

Reaching at other projects

Most of the consultation pages are hosted on Wikipedia, on several languages. We also need to get the feedback from people who contribute to other projects. Don't forget to invite them to participate (or setup their own consultation page). The more feedback we have, the better.

Reaching at newcomers

Most feedback received so far has come from experienced users. It is unfortunately not representative of all the users who use talk pages. Please consider to send an invite to some active newcomers. Again, the more feedback we have, the better.

To find some newcomers to contact, you can replace the RecentChanges link on your wiki with the following set of filters: Special:RecentChanges?userExpLevel=learner&hidebots=1&translations=filter&hidecategorization=1&hideWikibase=1&namespace=1%3B3%3B5&limit=500&days=30&urlversion=2. It will show the list of users who have made less than 500 edits, and some edits on discussion pages. You can also invite people who left messages on your local Help desk.

Due date is now known!

Community summaries are due by April 6, 2019. We advise communities, especially the ones that would have had collected a lot of replies, to end the conversation by March 31. That way, volunteers will have enough time to wrap up the discussions.

How to close the conversations?

We have seen that some of the coordinators have started the conversations using the usual places to have conversations on their wikis. It is an easy way to reach people. However, since the consultation is based on a different consultation process than the usual ones, those rules regarding how to close conversations may not need to be applied. It is up to you to decide!

And again, thank you for your help!

Trizek (WMF) 17:03, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

@MattLongCT, DannyS712, Cygnis insignis: Since you expressed interest in closing the discussion, what do you think would be the best way to notify users? I don't really know if I would want to do all of this myself. Carrying out the request could fall afoul of the canvassing guideline, although I think it's probably appropriate in this case because the WMF specifically wants feedback from more new users.

The Special:RecentChanges setting results in 1,592 different users (at the maximum setting of 5,000 entries, which goes back to 01:54 on 27 February). This is probably far more than necessary, and I don't know if it would be acceptable to notify all of them.

I can help, but only on certain days and at certain times. Please let me know how I can help!

I am not a mass message sender. I therefore do not know if I would even be able to message all those people for you. I could apply to get it, though. ~~~~

Welp, I signed the message like a chump lol

It could be possible to do it manually using JWB – i.e. by holding down the keys for the "save page" keyboard shortcut. This would probably be faster than requesting mass message rights.

My main concern is whether it would be acceptable for me to notify so many users, particularly such a skewed group (edited an article talk page in the last four days + autoconfirmed but not extended-confirmed). This also has the negative site-effect of filtering out users with more than 500 edits, and it might also be appropriate to notify a similar group of extended confirmed users who edited article talk pages in the same time period, as well as users who commented within certain community processes.

I'm also concerned about whether those editors will find the discussion daunting, given its size. It might be appropriate to ask them to comment on the talk page of the discussion if they don't know where to put their comments.

@Trizek (WMF): Around how many users should be notified? There are probably several thousand English Wikipedia contributors who could be sent this notice, using your criteria.

Don't use AWB/JWB for these ventures. I used AWB in informing about 76 of those who participated at and it was a boring experience. Mass-Message-Right(s) are easily disbursed with, provided you have some solid rationale and the tool's incredibly easy and fast to use.

FWIW, I was thinking of writing a query that generates all users having 20-500 edits who have at-least made 2/3 edits to the t/p in the past 4 months and are currently unblocked. And, then mass-message......

I agree, a query would probably be better than abusing Special:RecentChanges. I think the threshold could be increased to 1,000 edits (or even 10,000), since most of the editors who have commented have several tens of thousands of edits. Maybe the query could also search for Teahouse and AFD participants, or something like that?

This is an important question, yeah..

I already have mass message rights, so I can help send the message.

@Jc86035

Around how many users should be notified? There are probably several thousand English Wikipedia contributors who could be sent this notice, using your criteria.

Good question. From my experience, the reply ratio for experienced users on a wiki like yours is between 1/20 to 1/50. The key element here is to have a good call to action. Insisting on how their experience as newcomers is important. It will give them more confidence on participating.

Ping me if you need any help.