Last modified: 2014-08-25 10:11:04 UTC
As a substitute of a bot, MassMessage inherits a subscription model based on entries listed in wiki pages. This is a very fragile process, open to abuse and user mistakes. It is also a process that puzzles most humans out there. Imagine a World in which users could subscribe and unsubscribe from MassMessage notifications through their user preferences. A first step wold be very basic: subscribe to all notifications / unsubscribe from all notifications. A possible next step would be to allow subscriptions per "channels" or "newsletters".
(In reply to comment #0) > As a substitute of a bot, MassMessage inherits a subscription model based on > entries listed in wiki pages. This is a very fragile process, open to abuse > and user mistakes. Open to abuse how? Wiki pages provide full accountability and transparency, unlike user preferences. That said, catching/preventing user mistakes (or more directly: simplifying the subscription process) is the actual underlying bug here, I think. > A first step wold be very basic: subscribe to all notifications / unsubscribe > from all notifications. I can't imagine any use-case for this. As far as I'm concerned, this is a non-starter. > A possible next step would be to allow subscriptions per "channels" or > "newsletters". We already have this, it's just implemented via wiki pages instead of via user preferences. Perhaps something like [[mw:Extension:LogEntry]] or [[mw:Extension:InputBox]] could be adapted to make subscribing easier. Maybe. Unsubscribing would be tricky, though. A small JavaScript gadget could easily be written to make adding and removing users from a list easier, but that wouldn't solve the possible use-case of wanting to see (as a subscriber) every newsletter to which you are subscribed. I don't think this is a MassMessage bug. Perhaps an Echo bug. Perhaps an "Extensions requests" bug. But this seems likely out of scope for MassMessage.
(In reply to comment #1) > (In reply to comment #0) > > As a substitute of a bot, MassMessage inherits a subscription model based on > > entries listed in wiki pages. This is a very fragile process, open to abuse > > and user mistakes. > > Open to abuse how? Wiki pages provide full accountability and transparency, > unlike user preferences. Unlike user preferences, anybody can edit the pages that MassMessage relies on. Sure, if someone deletes 60 entries this will be noticed, but the risk of having users doing small changes adding/removing someone else's entries is high. > That said, catching/preventing user mistakes (or more directly: simplifying > the > subscription process) is the actual underlying bug here, I think. Agreed. > > A first step wold be very basic: subscribe to all notifications / unsubscribe > > from all notifications. > > I can't imagine any use-case for this. As far as I'm concerned, this is a > non-starter. 3rd party MediaWiki with a bunch of users wants to send them notifications from time to time. Maye I didn't describe a correct first step, but the use-case responds to a real need. > I don't think this is a MassMessage bug. Perhaps an Echo bug. Perhaps an > "Extensions requests" bug. But this seems likely out of scope for > MassMessage. It would be good to have a firm answer from the MassMessage maintainer(s). Currently MassMessage looks like the closest tool to deliver this needed feature. However, if you decide this functionality is out of scope then yes, we will need to find another way to do this.
Sorry about not responding to this sooner. (In reply to comment #0) > As a substitute of a bot, MassMessage inherits a subscription model based on > entries listed in wiki pages. This is a very fragile process, open to abuse > and > user mistakes. It is also a process that puzzles most humans out there. I agree that the {{#target}} syntax is not very friendly to users, and could definitely be made better, but I don't think that preferences are the way to go. > A first step wold be very basic: subscribe to all notifications / unsubscribe > from all notifications. A possible next step would be to allow subscriptions > per "channels" or "newsletters". I don't believe this fits MassMessage's model very well. Input lists aren't tracked by the extension, and can be created by any user at any time. Messages might be sent out once, or they might be sent out regularly. If you want to let users sign up for all notifications, just create a central list, and transclude that list on individual lists for each "newsletter". I think this kind of functionality belongs in Echo (bug 56362 or bug 56361), though I remember being told Flow was going to handle subscriptions... (In reply to comment #2) > > Open to abuse how? Wiki pages provide full accountability and transparency, > > unlike user preferences. > > Unlike user preferences, anybody can edit the pages that MassMessage relies > on. > Sure, if someone deletes 60 entries this will be noticed, but the risk of > having users doing small changes adding/removing someone else's entries is > high. This works both ways. Most wikis (anyone who isn't the WMF basically) don't keep logs of when a user's preferences change, so if a user sets it and then wonders why they're receiving the notification, there is no log available to verify it. I know there were complaints of not being able to stop the Translation Notification Bot from posting on a user's talk page - only the user could change it in their settings. > It would be good to have a firm answer from the MassMessage maintainer(s). > Currently MassMessage looks like the closest tool to deliver this needed > feature. However, if you decide this functionality is out of scope then yes, > we > will need to find another way to do this. I don't plan on adding a subscription ability to MassMessage via user preferences, nor do I think it makes sense for the extension. Echo is probably the closest to what I think you're looking for IMO.
(In reply to comment #3) > I don't plan on adding a subscription ability to MassMessage via user > preferences, nor do I think it makes sense for the extension. Echo is > probably the closest to what I think you're looking for IMO. Ok, thank you for the clear answer. This is a WONTFIX for MasMessage, then. Fabrice, Maryana, do you think this request has any future in the context of Echo or Flow? Otherwise this would be a request for a completely new extension.
