Grants:IEG/Global Watchlist
Project idea
editWhat is the problem you're trying to solve?
editCurrently the user's watchlist on each project and language is only for that local Wikipedia. It is necessary for the user to visit their watchlist on each project and language for which they have interest. This leads to it being harder for users to participate across multiple projects and languages. In addition, for talk pages with a high volume of posts the user is forced to wade through all posts in all threads within the page even if some, or many, of the threads are one in which there is no interest.
What is your solution?
editA user script will be developed to merge the watchlist entries from a user defined list of Wikipedia projects and languages onto the currently viewed project's watchlist page with the ability to subscribe to or ignore individual talk page threads.
Project goals
edit- Enable Wikipedians to have a watchlist which merges entries from multiple Wikipedia projects and languages with the ability to subscribe to or ignore talk page edits on a per thread basis.
Project plan
editActivities
edit- Develop a user script to display, on the current project's watchlist, watchlist entries from multiple Wikepedia projects and languages with the ability to subscribe to or ignore individual talk page threads.
- Test on multiple Wikipedias projects and languages under multiple combinations of operating systems and browsers.
Budget
edit- Developer (1 person-month and significant ongoing maintenance) $5,500
- Hardware to test on multiple operating systems and browser combinations (including limited tablet platforms) (will be shared with an additional IEG proposed by this grantee if both grants are approved) (used systems are to be purchased to save cost) $2,000.
Community engagement
editGet input from various projects as to what user interface elements would be beneficial. Announce availability in projects and locations likely to have participation by Wikipedians active on multiple projects and languages.
Sustainability
editThe code will exist as a user script available from multiple Wikipedia projects. It will be written to a standard which will permit it migrating to a gadget if that is appropriate on a project by project basis. Usage on an ongoing basis is expected.
Measures of success
edit- Deploy a user script that merges watchlists from multiple Wikipedia projects and languages which has the ability to subscribe to or ignore individual talk page threads, as selected by the user, while being compatible with, but not requiring, Flow.
Get involved
editParticipants
editMakyen: Makyen has design experience in multiple computer languages and operating systems; has experience with writing for Wikipedia and coding templates, etc.; and has technical writing experience within the electronics industry.
Community notification
editPlease paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?
- Watchlist with watch/ignore talk page threads – Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)
- Watchlist with watch/ignore talk page threads – Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents
- Watchlist with watch/ignore talk page threads and global watchlist – Wikimedia Forum
- Watchlist with watch/ignore talk page threads and global watchlist – Talk:Small Wiki Monitoring Team
Endorsements
editDo you think this project should be selected for an Individual Engagement Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project below! (Other constructive feedback is welcome on the discussion page).
Support I have been looking for this functionality for some time. Apparently the new "Flow" is supposed to solve the same problem, However, that program apparently does a lot of other stuff, too, which not everyone wants. This limited option gives you a nice choice, please support it! Huldra (talk) 00:02, 31 October 2014 (UTC)- Support I think this is a great idea. Sometimes, on larger pages (like the Village Pump), I'd like to track a certain thread rather than all the ones there. Currently, the watchlist can be deceiving, as a person can make an edit to a completely different thread that you're not interested in. Biblioworm (talk) 00:52, 31 October 2014 (UTC)
- Support Awesome idea, it will enhance the Wiki experience and make contributing that much easier.--NotWillyWonka (talk) 01:00, 31 October 2014 (UTC)
- Support I like this idea. I'll endorse it. Epicgenius (talk) 01:39, 31 October 2014 (UTC)
- Support - a value-for-money endeavour that will make contributing to talk pages (and noticeboards) far simpler. Stalwart111 (talk) 04:27, 31 October 2014 (UTC)
- Support - It would have been nice to have this years ago. Oiyarbepsy (talk) 23:30, 1 November 2014 (UTC)
- Support. Certainly many Wikimedians have been looking/wishing for something like this. Allan J. Aguilar (Ralgis) 21:32, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
- Support - The WMF really should make these improvements to watchlists directly, they have been repeatedly proposed. I'm supporting this project on the assumption that the WMF still doesn't pick this up internally. It won't take long for the editor-benefits of this to pay off the cost. Comments: It should special-case detect changes to a watched-section-title, and automatically update to follow the new title. It might also be useful to watchlist a page to only pick up the creation of a new section. That would be great for village pump pages, and it will let you mostly set aside an article page but still catch any major new discussions that start up there. If you're watchlisting a specific section you probably want to be notified of new section creations, they might be related. Alsee (talk) 21:12, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
- Useful tool. This may be superceeded by flow should that ever come to fruition, but something else for now is never a bad thing. Mdann52 (talk) 21:15, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
