Topic on Talk:Talk pages project/Notifications/Flow

T275232 contains the issues and opportunities for improvement that surfaced in this conversation. These same issues and opportunities have also been documented on the project page: Talk pages project/Notifications#Usability testing.

An *in-progress* prototype of the new topic subscription feature is ready for you to try.

This prototype enables you to elect to receive a notification via Echo when someone posts a new comment in any conversation you have decided to "subscribe" to.

Below is information about:

1. The goals of this prototype
2. How to share feedback about the prototype
3. How to try the prototype
4. What will happen after you all share feedback

1. Goals

The goal of sharing this prototype with you all at this stage is to learn:

1. Which – if any – of the fundamental assumptions we've made about how the feature works conflicts with existing workflows/practices?
2. What – if anything – do you think could be changed about how the feature currently works for it to improve your awareness of new comments in conversations you are interested in?

2. Sharing feedback

Once you have tried the prototype and you are ready to share what you think of it, please add a new topic to this talk page by doing the following:

1. "Start a new topic" on this talk page
2. Name this new topic: "Topic subscription prototype feedback: YOUR USERNAME"
3. Write your answers to the "Feedback questions" below.

3. Trying the prototype

1. Visit this link on a desktop computer: https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/77cda30f9d/wiki/Talk:Main_Page
2. Create a new account (this is a test wiki, not a single-sign on wiki)
3. Experiment with the feature by "subscribing" to a few conversations on this talk page and/or create a new talk page.

4. Feedback questions

Please answer the questions below when sharing feedback about the prototype.

1. What did you find unexpected about how the prototype looks and functions?
2. What do you appreciate about the prototype?
3. What do you wish was different about the prototype?

5. Next steps

1. We will compile the feedback you all share and post it to this page.
2. Communicate when we will address the issues that surface
3. Learn what people who are new to using talk pages think of the prototype
4. Refine the prototype

Update: there had been an issue that would have prevented you from trying the prototype. That issue should be resolved as of earlier today, 6-April.

We have in ruwiki :ru:Википедия:Гаджеты/Удобные дискуссии and it is MUCH better for expirienced users, who likes wikitext. You see - I had to insert space inside wikilink and use copy-paste to have an opportunity to add plain text after wikilink (it typed inside wikilink). Also - no preview and no custom buttons.

Thank you

@Dyolf77 (WMF), @Patriccck, @Pelagic, and @Sunpriat: we value the time and effort you all put in to trying the manual topic subscription prototype and sharing the feedback you had about it with us.

We've documented, and in some cases, acted upon the feedback you all shared in this Phabricator ticket T275232.