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Community Wishlist Survey 2023/Larger suggestions/Structured user pages

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Structured user pages

  • Problem: Users currently don't have structured user pages/profiles
  • Proposed solution: Allow for the possibility of structured user pages
  • Who would benefit: New users specifically, everyone generally
  • More comments: Currently users start the Wikimedia journey with a blank user page/a red link. This creates confusion among new users which have to learn the differences between the account and the user page, both concepts which can exist independently of each other in MediaWiki. (Some even use it as a place to write articles.) Most new users, expect to find "a profile" when they create an account, a premade structured user page that showcases some basic information like the languages they speak, maybe their contributions/achievements or even a way to easily reach into their preferences. Having the possibility of structured user pages (maybe starting by expanding the functionality of the homepage tab) would not only help in alleviating the confusion the current system creates on new users (witnessed it first hand in many wiki-workshops) and help them actually have a profile other than a page with the text "Hello!" at most, but it would also help in bringing more integrity to the account itself, possibly suppressing the multiple fake account creation process by one user, given that an account would appear to be more than a "random red link" then.
  • Phabricator tickets:
  • Proposer: Klein Muçi (talk) 13:49, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion

Hi @Klein Muçi: Is this suggestion more about creating some sort of content model to force a userpage to be "structured", or more about having some sort of "userpage wizzard" that would assist users in creating a basic userpage (the result would just be wikitext as it is now). — xaosflux Talk 15:27, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • Xaosflux, hello! I believe each way would be fine by me personally but maybe the userpage wizzard method could be preferred more. — Klein Muçi (talk) 16:34, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • In Fandom, there are basic information in a userpage, and it says "This user has not filled their profile yet". I think a userpage wizard would be acceptable into this site and explaining what should and what shouldn't be added into the userpage. Thingofme (talk) 12:03, 29 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    @Thingofme Looks like translatewiki has that too? Tryvix1509 (talk) 12:21, 29 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    When you register for Translatewiki it has a settings for people to choose their preferred language, and it has a option for people to set up their location. Thingofme (talk) 12:48, 29 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    Ah yes, I don't remember this. Tryvix1509 (talk) 12:52, 29 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    However the #babel template of the user page can be removed by user after setting up the userpage. The request seems to be a userpage instructions and maybe some default profile of a user. Thingofme (talk) 15:00, 29 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • @Eetzie: Any thoughts on this one? We thought it might be of interest for the Growth team? KSiebert (WMF) (talk) 19:29, 31 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    cc @KStoller-WMF. The Growth team looked at this idea in 2019 (see phab:T229052) but we did not pursue it further (mw:Growth/Personalized_first_day/User_profile).
    The scope of the project is overall pretty big, but I wonder if there is a way we could have a minimal useful version of this as part of the wishlist work, at least to get things moving. KHarlan (WMF) (talk) 20:50, 31 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    @Klein Muçi Thank you so much for adding this wish! The Growth team still hopes to consider refocusing on a User profile page in the future. I think it might be a larger project, unless we brainstorm a more minimal way to approach this. One smaller idea the Growth team has discussed is around allowing newcomers to easily share their "Impact Module" on their user page T219025. But perhaps you have other ideas for how we could move this from a larger wish to a smaller wish? Feel free to make adjustments to the proposal if you have ideas, but if not I'll accept as is after moving into the "Larger suggestions" category. - KStoller-WMF (talk) 21:30, 31 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    My MVP proposal for structured user profiles would be to take the language proficiency that's currently collected as part of the welcome survey, turn it into profile-like data (privacy controls, some kind of preferences interface for updating it, an API) and make it interact with / replace similar Babel and ULS functionality. The other potential profile information that would be highly relevant to both Growth features and editor communities is some kind of "interested in" data, maybe via ORES topics or QIDs. (Also maybe CollaborationKit stuff although I don't know much about that extension.) Tgr (talk) 01:34, 1 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    KStoller-WMF, thank you for the insight. Yes, 90% of the request above is coming from that wish last year. As I've asked elsewhere, I didn't know what happened with old wishes that didn't get chosen as part of that top 10 list. (At least this will tell me not to repeat wishes the next year. Interested users might find more information through that link by following a deep rabbit hole of links in it.)
    No problem, feel free to move it to larger ideas. — Klein Muçi (talk) 11:16, 1 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    @Klein Muçi I've moved this to the Larger suggestions category. I've reviewed the votes and comments on the similar proposal from last year, and I will be sure to continue to watch this proposal. I would love to see the Growth team pick up a project like this in the future, especially if there is community consensus on what a smaller "first iteration" version of this could be. What do you think of @Tgr's idea? Should we add a Phab task for MVP proposal like that? KStoller-WMF (talk) 22:13, 3 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    KStoller-WMF, yes, everything is better than what we currently have which is practically nothing.
    Maybe one can also showcase the account's age (maybe with some fun elements on wikiversaries) and hopefully the WikiLove awards that may have received. But even without these elements, it's good. As I said, everything is a good starting point. — Klein Muçi (talk) 11:45, 4 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks, @Klein Muçi! Agreed, it would be good to start somewhere!
    @Tgr - would you be willing to outline your MVP proposal for structured user profiles in a Phab task? Do we want to consider narrowing this wish description to just that MVP so it can be moved out of "Larger suggestions" and back to "New contributors"?
    Klein Muçi, I also like the idea of sharing account age, and I certainly love the idea of somehow integrating some positive reinforcement moments like wikiversaries and Wikilove! If a structured user page MVP is worked on, it should ideally be build in an extensible way so it can continue to improve over time. KStoller-WMF (talk) 17:06, 5 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    KStoller-WMF, having the account show the privileges one user may have (admin, reviewer, etc.) can also be a good idea, again something that already exists in many wikis with topicons. Just noting it down as an idea. Thank you for the sympathy shown! — Klein Muçi (talk) 18:13, 5 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Related: Allow users to specify their location in their profile. --Tgr (talk) 02:24, 1 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    • Tgr, yes. This would be part of the same waters with my request. I believe social features should be introduced in the wikisphere. We already have many templates for those features like for languages, location, timezone, happy birthday/other festivities wishes, funny ones like trout slapping, etc. The problem is that most of these features are only accessible on big wikis and for medium to experienced users. New users who need them maybe more than other users to integrate themselves in the community can't usually reach or use them. If we want to foster communities, we need social features. The WikiLove extension is one of the best things that has happened in this direction and I've seen its effect in increasing productivity and creating long lasting contributors firsthand many times. Users' productivity skyrockets after receiving barnstars as recognition for their work. I dare say that having ways to message users privately on-wiki without using 3rd party features or check their online/offline status quickly would also be needed features in this direction which ultimately help in team-building and overall better harmony. Of course, privacy concerns should be heard and people that wish to remain anonymous for whatever reason should have the ability to do so but many of us have been contributing on this site for many years now (I've been around for almost half the age of Wikipedia itself). It's only human to want to socialize with the people you've worked on for over a decade. — Klein Muçi (talk) 11:42, 1 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    See also Allow user to pin/unpin specific languages, which is also kind of profile-related functionality. Tgr (talk) 06:00, 5 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • No, let User pages be free, a refuge, where you can write and place whatever you want (within the law and rules of Wikimedia). No strict formats as on many places on Wikimedia (with reason, I would not argue them). What you can do, however, is sending a message to new users (as is done now with Help pages) with suggestions, explaining why a user page is important and what might be there (on Commons a Babel infobox is desirable), perhaps give examples and suggestions without the obligation to make your page similar. That might be a less large project as the proposal here and will perhaps solve a lot of the described problem. --JopkeB (talk) 14:30, 11 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    I think the "Userpage wizard" idea above is feasible, and may be used. Everyone can create their own userpage in their own taste, but anyone who struggles to edit it may use the wizard instead. —‍(ping on reply)—‍CX Zoom (A/अ/অ) (let's talk|contribs) 07:59, 18 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Voting

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