Should we keep $wgRecentPagesDefaultMinimumLength set to 600 by default, or should we set it to some lower number? It seems like a lot of people forget about it and don't realize it's the reason why they're not getting any results. On the other hand, you get a lot of junk sometimes when you don't set a minimum.
Topic on Extension talk:RecentPages
I do not really see a big reason for a change here. However it is possible to explain something decently with fewer words. Perhaps to have more results to begin with and raise the value manually is an approach which at least gives people an initial success experience.
300 characters ought to do it.
Eureka! It worked :)
Cool, thanks.
Zero might not be bad either. I developed the extension and I am constantly thinking, "Why am I getting few/no results?" It's usually because of the minimum. For example, a good, pithy quote for the QuoteList might be shorter than 300 characters.
Perhaps it is possible to print a message like e.g. "No pages match the minimum requirment of size." instead to show that it is working.
I thought about that. It should probably be a parameter that defaults to something (stored as a system message), but can be overridden (e.g. with blank). It would be pretty easy to implement, too.