Help talk:Notifications

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Design problem and possible bug

Firstly, I had a quick look on Phabricator and didn't see anything and I won't be reporting anything on Phabricator. Getting a grip on the notification system is really difficult as you can't reproduce notifications, and I don't get that many to test for bugs/usability. Two issues I think I have found:

  1. Submenu disappears: when I get a new alert from commons while reading enwiki I get the red bell, but when I click on it I have to open the submenu "for other projects" to view the alert. If I accidentally dismiss the alert from commons, the submenu disappears and is iretrievable while on enwiki. In other words the submenu should always be visible at the top of the notifications list on every wiki. If I miss the initial alert, the only workaround is to visit every wiki and check for notifications.
  2. Notices on mobile don't show: when I get a mention the red bell alerts me right away. The only way I can see thanks is by switching to desktop mode. Seems to be broken.

I would like to add that the notification system is the best thing since sliced bread, it could just use some tweaks. Commander Keane (talk) 04:30, 6 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding (1), if I see the "More notices from another wiki" box, I note down which wiki that is. Assume that it's Commons. I then switch to another tab, navigate to Commons, and click the notification icon there and deal with those messages that are specific to Commons - any "More notices from another wiki" boxes are left alone. Repeat for each different wiki. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:55, 6 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I am glad someone reads this page! Your technique is good, I just got into trouble by clearing the cross-wiki notice (which is rather easy to do by accident, on a phone at least) before noting it down. I would like to see the "More notices from another wiki" box a permanent addition to the drop down (just shouting/summarising for developers, not aimed at you Redrose64). To be honest, for my use case, I would prefer a sequential listing of notices regardless of which wiki they came from (like the global watchlist). But I can appreciate others get more notices than me. I do wonder how many people miss cross-wiki notices because of this issue. Commander Keane (talk) 23:13, 6 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

all in a single paragraph

Why does the documentation not mention that a "mention" fails if you link to the user in one paragraph (like this one)...

... but sign your post in a different paragraph (like this one). Regards,

]

I'm asking because, to the best of my knowledge, using the {{]
@
CapnZapp
:
My understanding is that the number of paragraphs doesn't matter...
...as long as they are added...
...in a single edit...
...with a four-tildes signature included. So here's a test. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:26, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Did you get this, User:John of Reading?

Curious,

]

Yes, I got a notification. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:23, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

How do I delete notifications?

How do I delete notifications? Anamyd (talk) 03:56, 7 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Notifications cannot be deleted. Wikipedia likes to permanently log every action and rarely outright deletes stuff. (Compare how older overwritten article edits can still be accessed through page history, and how Wikipedia keeps a permanent track of every contribution you've made). You can mark notifications as read, however, and ignore them after that. ]

Erroneous ping

Not sure if this is the right place to bring this up, but I triggered an unwanted ping with this edit. I was adjusting the formatting of an AfD discussion per

]

Well, you made a new signed post, whichh is half the story. But in your reformatting, the MediaWiki parser presumably saw it as the removal of a blank line, a paragraph, and another blank line; and the addition of an entirely new paragraph in place of the first blank line. That "new" paragraph contains the link to User:PARAKANYAA (in their sig). It's possible that the bullet at
WP:MENTION that reads Not alter any text outside your own comment is no longer applicable. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:11, 29 January 2025 (UTC)[reply
]

Missing major example

In the lead, we have a long list of examples with "You can "mention" a user called Example by making an..." but we don't mention how to do it in the modern, code-light VE talk page style, i.e by clocking the person+ button. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 13:46, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]