Forum:Enable auto welcoming bot

Forums: Yew Grove > Enable auto welcoming bot

Previous discussions: Forum:Wikia welcome bot, Forum:Enable User:Wikia welcoming function, Forum:Welcome bot

I propose we enable User:Wikia to welcome users on their talk pages in addition to creating their userpages. This has been discussed several times before (and I'm sure someone else will grab the links to the archives), with the most important point being that lacks a personal touch and then the person might not actually be around anymore. However I am willing to bet it is better to have that message sent and the person be unavailable than the message not be sent for a few hours after they have left the wiki and never login again.

I propose it being setup as follows

• MediaWiki:welcome-user - @sysop

  This would have it only sign as the most recent sysop around.

• MediaWiki:welcome-enabled - page-user message-user

  This would create their userpages and welcome them. This does not welcome anons, though that could be toggled if we so decide.

• MediaWiki:Welcome-message-user - Changed to be like Template:Welcome

  This is the message placed on their talk page.

Discussion

Support - User:TyA/sig 02:39, March 12, 2015 (UTC)

Support --Iiii I I I 03:37, March 12, 2015 (UTC)

Support - User:Cqm/Signature

Why most recent sysop? - Most recent sysop and best person to go to for new users generally aren't linked. I'm not sure if this is technically feasible, but wouldn't it be better to have a list of users interested in welcoming new users, and sign as the most recent active person from that list? Kind of like the old Welcoming Committee, but perhaps with a little more rigorous entry requirement. --Liquid^Talk 14:23, March 12, 2015 (UTC)

Because the options are latest sysop, latest sysop with staff fallback, disabled, and a specific username. We could make an account called RSW Welcoming Account and have its stuff redirect to a project page about being welcomed and stuff, but too much effort imo. User:TyA/sig 03:11, March 13, 2015 (UTC)

Wiki signature - Make the welcome from everyone, not a specific person. Liquid's idea is kinda nice, but I think directing them to boards of discussion that are not seemingly directed at any one specific person would be more helpful. We might consider making a Project:New_users_board or something where new accounts can ask questions. Someone can create a dummy account that just has a signature for the template. Redirect its userpage and talk page to a discussion board, and then fully protect the page (so that a new user doesn't accidentally try to ask a question there should they find themselves on the redirect itself).

Also the welcome message needs to be changed. I don't like the colours. And lucky for me, they're not colorblind-friendly. MolMan 14:32, March 12, 2015 (UTC)

Does that say the font-size on the wiki also fails accessibility tests? User:Cqm/Signature

No. Large fonts and small fonts have different contrast ratio requirements. It says that it fails for both large and small. MolMan 16:21, March 12, 2015 (UTC)

So... what, if anything, should we do about it? User:Cqm/Signature

Probably fetus. Someone should redesign it so that it uses different colors. Also, unfortunately, we might have to reword the whole thing because there is no way to subst this message with how it's used. I don't really like the idea of having it so blatantly mechanical that it uses a variable to display the user's name (even if no one would know). Even if no one else cares about that, I think it could do with a rewrite anyways, because it's really old. I assume $3 is just the signature of whoever is set to be the "welcomer", so I think we could use my idea of a global signature easily. Along with the rewrite, there's some removal/additions of links that should be done. MolMan 16:47, March 12, 2015 (UTC)

As I mentioned, the welcome message should probs be changed to be like Template:Welcome. The variables are described on the help page (near the bottom in the tabber). User:TyA/sig 03:13, March 13, 2015 (UTC)

Wow it's like you ignore me on IRC ;( ~~~~

????????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow you're right, signing is kinda hard. MolMan 03:41, March 13, 2015 (UTC)

Support - alleviates edit inflation from welcome talk page edits, as well as one less type of edit not shown on RC. – Ozank Cx 16:26, March 12, 2015 (UTC)

Why is edit inflation the first thing you think of, lol Ronan ^Talk 00:18, March 14, 2015 (UTC)

It's derived from something I saw Mol saw a while ago regarding welcoming users on RSW. – Ozank Cx 00:20, March 14, 2015 (UTC)

Support - Nice idea there from Mol to represent the wiki with a single signature. Ronan ^Talk 00:18, March 14, 2015 (UTC)

Support - Also liking Mols idea of single signature (RIP my welcome message ;() Star ^Talk 01:02, March 14, 2015 (UTC)

Comment - Since it appears the idea of a single signature is popular, does anyone have any suggestions for what that signature should look like? User:TyA/sig 03:26, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

DPL of every single signature in Category:Signatures --Iiii I I I 03:30, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

Can we DPL all but the ugly box ones? User:TyA/sig 03:32, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

Just something simple, i.e. "The RuneScape Wiki", possibly being altered depending on the flow of the message. User:Cqm/Signature

We could always hold a contest that I would end up winning. MolMan 12:56, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

Support - Honestly, I don't understand why we never implemented this back in the day (aka before I went MIA for a year or two), but I kinda see why there would be opposition to the idea. However, after having at least two (maybe three) kinderwikians welcome me to the Wiki despite being an oldie here, I do believe this would at least cut down on unnecessary welcoming messages on older users' talk pages. Thus, I'll support this noble cause. User:N7 Elite/Signature 21:36, March 24, 2015 (UTC)

Support - yes for welcoming automatically with a "wiki" signature. It probably wouldn't be best to direct users to some barely-active admin who just happened to have edited recently. Ajraddatz (Talk) 05:31, April 14, 2015 (UTC)

Signature ideas

Here's just 3 random ideas I came up with. Feel free to add your own.

Before designing a signature: Please understand that these should be as universally accessible as possible. Try to avoid niche appeal. Make sure it is readable by everyone (no colors that are too close to a background [I'll point this out], no crazy small text). It may be best to use a web-safe font so that all browsers can see it as intended. I know we have a few of our own fonts that will work, but am not sure what fonts Wikia has installed on all wikis. As mean as it may sound, try to avoid being yourself. Make sure the signature represents everyone; i.e. the wiki as a whole.

k MolMan 13:30, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

Signatures

Cliche border-background-image	RuneScape WikiUser help | Another link
Very simple	RuneScapeWikiUser helpAnother link
RuneScape chat	RuneScape Wiki : Need help? | Another link

Is that third one intended to be an example of what to avoid? Dark blue and dark purple text on a black background is pretty unreadable. --User:Saftzie/Signature 17:43, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

Third one passes color contrast tests. MolMan 17:58, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

http://i62.tinypic.com/2qvz9ts.png It fails the one my eyeball implements, though. --User:Saftzie/Signature 18:01, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

That's only for monobook. Oasis colors stay blue. MolMan 18:10, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

So these are Oasis-only signatures? Do the Monobook-only signatures come later? Hey, how about something that works on both? --User:Saftzie/Signature 18:16, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

I think Mol's focusing on Oasis because it's what almost all new users will be using. We could always force the color with <span>s if option 3 is chosen. --Iiii I I I 18:20, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

No new user is going to use monobook. Anyone who knows how to switch to monobook probably doesn't need the links in the signature anymore. If it matters that much, we can just change the color of a:visited inside the sig by adding a new class for monobook. MolMan 18:24, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

It's worth noting that Venus is coming soon and will probably stem off Oasis, so no doubt new users will be using that skin in the time to come. – Ozank Cx 18:33, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

#2 - I find the first one with the border hurts my eyes when looking at it, and the last one poor for aesthetics as it has a brown line above the black background, which has a bad luminosity ratio. The second seems simple and eye friendly from my point of view. I'm also not a fan of emulating the in-game stuff for a welcome message as it seems pretty spurious. – Ozank Cx 17:48, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

#1- Probably my favourite, but I think this one would look better without the border+background. #2 - Nice and simple, but the editing icon just put in the middle of the 2 words slightly bugs me, heh. #3 -...not a fan of this one, sorry. Also I'm assuming therefore that the 'the' will be put in the welcome message, as opposed to being included within the signature? Star ^Talk 17:57, March 18, 2015 (UTC)

Comment - How about we don't put a signature? Do we really need one? User:TyA/sig 02:39, March 24, 2015 (UTC)

Nope, you could just do something like The Administrators! for the "signature" – Ozank Cx 21:40, March 24, 2015 (UTC)

That's retarded. No. MolMan 21:45, March 24, 2015 (UTC)

We could probably do without, but it might make the welcome message a bit more welcoming to have one. MolMan 21:45, March 24, 2015 (UTC)

I don't think it's helpful to have a signature. The whole point of signing a welcome message is to give the new user a point of contact for any questions (which is rarely every used anyway). Removing the signature isn't going to have any real implications imo. User:Cqm/Signature

well the idea was to put helpful links inside this sig MolMan 22:15, April 7, 2015 (UTC)

Well, we can just put the helpful links in the body or in a short list at the bottom. User:TyA/sig 01:40, April 8, 2015 (UTC)

Just a note that instead of a signature, Wikipedia's welcomes come with a note that the message was automatically delivered. At this point, I don't care what goes at the bottom though. MolMan 13:19, April 8, 2015 (UTC)

That's fine with me too. User:TyA/sig 21:52, April 8, 2015 (UTC)

There doesn't seem to be any benefit to any or the proposed signatures in my mind, but tat this point I'd like to get this done - it's been discussed long enough. User:Cqm/Signature