Last modified: 2014-02-10 19:32:17 UTC
This is the (hopefully) last split from bug 28026. This preference is not true by default in our config, nor in the default MediaWiki config, which doesn't make much sense; I checked inspired by something jdforrester wrote me: «I assumed that when I created an account "e-mail me about pages I watch" was switched on, as per most other instances nowadays». They should indeed! So, the plan is still the same as in bug 28026 comment 60 by Roan, except that $wgEnotifWatchlist is currently true: ---- 1) Add (or hack in) a MW config var that makes it so the enotifwatchlistpages preference is visible, but not functional (i.e. enabling it doesn't actually cause e-mails to be sent). This will stop watchlist e-mail notifs (similar to disabling $wgEnotifWatchlist) but preserve the preference 2) Enable this config var 3) Compile a list of users that have the preference enabled 4) Set $wgDefaultUserOptions['enotifwatchlistpages'] = 1; . The preference is now enabled for all users, but because it's not functional, there is no deluge of e-mail notifications overwhelming our mail system 5) Using a maintenance script, set the preference to 0 for each user individually, excluding users that already had it enabled (from the list made in step 3) and invalidating the user cache for each user that it touches. Running this will probably take a while (a few hours?) on a large wiki like enwiki 6) Undo step 2 (disable the config var). The preference is now functional again and enabled for the same set of users, but it will now also be enabled by default for new users ---- This seemed to be harder than bug 36316 as first step, but unlike bug 36316 it can't possibly give any problem with bots as long as their watchlists are empty, and it won't affect existing users (or whatever subset of them we choose) thanks to the maintenance script. New users will still have to manually enable enotifwatchlist but won't have to understand the watchlist before starting to use it...
(In reply to comment #0) > This is the (hopefully) last split from bug 28026. > This preference is not true by default in our config, nor in the default > MediaWiki config, which doesn't make much sense; I checked inspired by > something jdforrester wrote me: «I assumed that when I created an account > "e-mail me about pages I watch" was switched on, as per most other instances > nowadays». They should indeed! > > So, the plan is still the same as in bug 28026 comment 60 by Roan, except that > $wgEnotifWatchlist is currently true: > > ---- > > 1) Add (or hack in) a MW config var that makes it so the enotifwatchlistpages > preference is visible, but not functional (i.e. enabling it doesn't actually > cause e-mails to be sent). This will stop watchlist e-mail notifs (similar to > disabling $wgEnotifWatchlist) but preserve the preference > 2) Enable this config var > 3) Compile a list of users that have the preference enabled > 4) Set $wgDefaultUserOptions['enotifwatchlistpages'] = 1; . The preference is > now enabled for all users, but because it's not functional, there is no deluge > of e-mail notifications overwhelming our mail system > 5) Using a maintenance script, set the preference to 0 for each user > individually, excluding users that already had it enabled (from the list made > in step 3) and invalidating the user cache for each user that it touches. > Running this will probably take a while (a few hours?) on a large wiki like > enwiki > 6) Undo step 2 (disable the config var). The preference is now functional again > and enabled for the same set of users, but it will now also be enabled by > default for new users > > ---- > > This seemed to be harder than bug 36316 as first step, but unlike bug 36316 it > can't possibly give any problem with bots as long as their watchlists are > empty, and it won't affect existing users (or whatever subset of them we > choose) thanks to the maintenance script. > New users will still have to manually enable enotifwatchlist but won't have to > understand the watchlist before starting to use it... +1 one to all of Nemo's comments. Please fulfill this request. :)
If we do this, we should make it obvious how to turn it off. It could be good for new users, but overwhelming once someone has watched a large number of articles.
(In reply to comment #2) > If we do this, we should make it obvious how to turn it off. It could be > good > for new users, but overwhelming once someone has watched a large number of > articles. In the standard enotif, it is obvious. [[translatewiki:MediaWiki:Enotif_body/en]].
Could someone assign this bug to me?
Aravind: If you can confirm that you have found the configuration files of Wikipedia in Gerrit and the place where to fix this (feel free to post a link here), sure. :)
(In reply to comment #5) > Aravind: If you can confirm that you have found the configuration files of > Wikipedia in Gerrit and the place where to fix this (feel free to post a link > here), sure. :) Note, it requires more than just changing $wgDefaultUserOptions, due to the "for new users" part (changing a default preference/option affects anyone without an override for that preference, not just new users).
The MediaWiki default was just changed per bug 45022.
For anyone wondering, 01b32f67c3d04fa29edc02605abcbae6037297b4 explicitly sets enotifwatchlistpages off for the Wikimedia cluster. That way we can solve this separately (this bug requests to do it just for new users, which is different from the core solution).
