Help:Notifications
- Help:Notifications
Introduction
Welcome to the help page on Notifications in MediaWiki! This page will guide you through understanding, managing, and utilizing the notification system within your wiki. Notifications are a crucial feature for staying informed about activity relevant to you on the wiki, helping you collaborate effectively and remain engaged with the community. This guide is designed for beginners, so we'll cover everything from the basics of what notifications are to more advanced settings and troubleshooting. Understanding how to manage your Special:Notifications is key to a productive wiki experience. This page assumes you are using MediaWiki 1.40 or a later version, as notification features have evolved across releases.
What are Notifications?
Notifications are alerts that inform you about events on the wiki that you have expressed interest in or are directly involved with. These events can include:
- **Mentions:** When another user specifically addresses you using your username (e.g., "Hey User:YourUsername, what do you think?").
- **Talk Page Mentions:** When someone leaves a message on your Special:MyTalk page.
- **Echo Events:** A broad category encompassing various wiki activities, such as changes to pages you're watching, edits to templates you use, and new messages in relevant discussion threads.
- **Recent Changes:** Notifications related to recent changes made to pages you've watched.
- **Rights Changes:** Notifications about changes to your user rights (e.g., becoming an administrator).
- **Community Messages:** Important announcements from wiki administrators or the community.
Essentially, notifications aim to reduce the need to constantly monitor every page and discussion on the wiki, bringing relevant activity directly to your attention. They're a cornerstone of collaborative editing and knowledge building. The system utilizes a feature called "Echo", which powers the notification functionality.
Accessing Your Notifications
There are several ways to access your notifications:
- **The Globe Icon:** The primary method is through the globe icon located in the top right corner of the screen when you are logged in. A red number displayed on the globe indicates the number of unread notifications.
- **Special:Notifications:** You can directly access the notification page by typing `Special:Notifications` into your browser's address bar. This page provides a more detailed view of your notifications.
- **Email Notifications (Optional):** You can configure email notifications for certain types of events, which will send you an email when those events occur. (See section "Configuring Notification Preferences" below).
Clicking the globe icon or navigating to `Special:Notifications` will open the notification panel, displaying a list of your notifications. Notifications are typically grouped by date.
Understanding the Notification Panel
The notification panel presents notifications in a chronological order, with the most recent notifications appearing at the top. Each notification entry typically includes:
- **The Event:** A brief description of what happened (e.g., "You were mentioned by User:Example").
- **The Source:** The page or user associated with the event (e.g., "on Talk:Help:Notifications").
- **The Timestamp:** When the event occurred (e.g., "2 minutes ago").
- **A Link:** A direct link to the relevant page or discussion.
Within the notification panel, you can perform several actions:
- **Mark as Read:** Clicking on a notification or using the "Mark all as read" button will mark the notification as read, removing it from the unread count.
- **Dismiss:** Dismissing a notification removes it from the list, even if it's not read. It's useful for clearing out irrelevant notifications.
- **Filtering:** The notification panel often includes filtering options to view specific types of notifications (e.g., mentions only, talk page mentions only).
- **Archiving:** Older notifications can be archived to keep the panel clean. Archived notifications are still accessible but are not displayed by default.
Configuring Notification Preferences
Customizing your notification preferences is crucial to ensure you only receive alerts about the events that matter most to you. You can access these settings by:
1. Clicking on your username in the top right corner of the screen. 2. Selecting "Preferences" from the dropdown menu. 3. Clicking on the "Notifications" tab.
The "Notifications" tab offers a range of options:
- **Email Notifications:** This section allows you to enable or disable email notifications for various events. You can choose to receive emails for:
* **You are mentioned:** Receive an email when another user mentions your username. * **You are mentioned in a talk page:** Receive an email when someone leaves a message on your talk page. * **A page you are watching is changed:** Receive an email when a page you're watching is edited. (See section "Watching Pages" below). * **A file you are watching is changed:** Receive an email when a file you're watching is changed. * **You have new messages:** Receive an email when you receive new messages. * **Someone replies to your discussion forum post:** Receive an email when someone replies to a forum post you created. (If your wiki has a discussion forum).
- **In-Wiki Notifications:** This section allows you to control the types of notifications you receive within the wiki interface (the globe icon). You can typically adjust settings for:
* **Mentions:** Enable or disable in-wiki notifications for mentions. * **Talk page mentions:** Enable or disable in-wiki notifications for talk page mentions. * **Echo events:** Customize which specific echo events trigger in-wiki notifications. This is a more granular control option.
- **Bundle Notifications:** This option allows you to group similar notifications together. For example, multiple mentions from different users might be bundled into a single notification.
- **Sound Notifications:** Some wikis may offer the option to enable sound notifications for new activity.
Experiment with these settings to find the configuration that best suits your needs. It's generally recommended to enable email notifications for critical events (like mentions) and customize in-wiki notifications to avoid being overwhelmed.
Watching Pages
Help:Watching pages is a key feature that works in conjunction with notifications. When you "watch" a page, you're telling the wiki that you're interested in any changes made to that page. Whenever the page is edited, you'll receive a notification (depending on your notification preferences).
To watch a page:
1. Navigate to the page you want to watch. 2. Click the "Watch" tab at the top of the page. The tab will change to "Unwatch" once you've started watching the page.
You can manage your watchlist by visiting `Special:Watchlist`. From there, you can add or remove pages from your watchlist. Watching pages is an effective way to stay informed about updates to topics you care about.
Troubleshooting Notification Issues
If you're experiencing problems with notifications, here are some troubleshooting steps:
- **Check Your Preferences:** Double-check your notification preferences (as described above) to ensure you haven't accidentally disabled the notifications you want to receive.
- **Check Your Email Spam Folder:** If you're expecting email notifications but haven't received them, check your email spam folder. Add the wiki's email address to your safe sender list.
- **Clear Your Browser Cache:** Sometimes, outdated browser cache can cause issues with displaying notifications correctly. Try clearing your browser's cache and cookies.
- **Check Your User Rights:** Certain user rights may affect your ability to receive notifications. If you're still having problems, contact a wiki administrator.
- **Check the Wiki's Documentation:** Some wikis may have specific documentation or known issues related to notifications. Consult the wiki's help pages or contact the community for assistance.
- **Ensure Javascript is Enabled:** The Echo system relies on Javascript. Verify that Javascript is enabled in your browser settings.
Advanced Notification Concepts
- **API Integration:** Developers can use the MediaWiki API to interact with the notification system programmatically. This allows for creating custom notification tools and integrations.
- **Extension Development:** Wiki administrators can extend the notification system's functionality by developing custom extensions.
- **Universal Registration:** A system for registering events that can trigger notifications. This allows developers to add new notification types without modifying core MediaWiki code.
- **Filtering by Namespace:** You can often filter notifications by namespace (e.g., only show notifications related to pages in the "Help" namespace).
- **Notification Suppression:** Certain wiki features or extensions may temporarily suppress notifications to avoid overwhelming users.
Best Practices for Using Notifications
- **Be Selective with Watching:** Don't watch too many pages, or you'll be overwhelmed with notifications. Focus on pages that are truly important to you.
- **Customize Your Preferences:** Take the time to configure your notification preferences to receive only the alerts you need.
- **Regularly Review Your Notifications:** Check your notifications regularly to stay informed about activity on the wiki.
- **Use Talk Pages:** Use talk pages to discuss changes and ask questions. This can reduce the need for direct mentions and keep conversations organized.
- **Be Mindful of Mentions:** Only mention users when it's truly necessary. Avoid unnecessary mentions that can clutter their notification panels.
- **Understand the difference between 'Watch' and 'Echo' events:** Watching a page directly relates to edits. Echo events are broader, encompassing various activities.
Resources & Further Reading
- Help:Contents - The main Help page for MediaWiki
- Special:Notifications - Direct link to your notifications.
- Help:Watching pages - Learn about watching pages.
- Special:MyTalk - Your talk page.
- [MediaWiki Echo Documentation](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Echo) - Official documentation for the Echo extension.
- [MediaWiki API Documentation](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Main_page) - Information about the MediaWiki API.
- [Extension:Notifications](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Notifications) - An extension related to advanced notification features.
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