Wikipedia:Mass message senders



Mass message sender is a user group that allows users to send messages to multiple users at once, from the MediaWiki message delivery bot account. Further user documentation can be found at MassMessage and mw:Help:Extension:MassMessage.

On the English Wikipedia, there are currently Special:ListUsers/sysop administrators and Special:ListUsers/massmessage-sender mass message senders (0 in total). Users with  user right can send a message using Special:MassMessage.

Audience
Mass messages should only be sent to groups of users who are likely to want their attention drawn to the message. A prime example is notifying members of a WikiProject about local events or edit-a-thons, though for any regular mailings users should be informed of how they can unsubscribe from future messages (see below).

For other cases, less personalized means of communication are preferred. Wikipedia's primary means of communication is through posts on article talk pages, Wikipedia talk pages, or various noticeboards, including the Village Pump. Editors who are interested in a given topic may have the corresponding page on their watchlist. The requests for comment process can be used to increase participation in a discussion.

To reach the members of a given WikiProject, a post on that project's talk page can be used. Site-wide notices are used for messages of importance to a great many users. Geo-notices are used for locally significant messages.

Content
Adherence to the talk page guidelines is important with mass messages as it can affect a large group of users. Formatting standards should be given consideration, being that verbose, overly formatted and especially large messages may clutter the user's talk page. Formatting is not discouraged however; for invitations to local events, such as an edit-a-thon, it is common to include an image and attractive styling to encourage participation. Signatures are encouraged so that archive bots do not ignore the messages.

The guideline on canvassing is especially relevant to this tool and users should familiarize themselves with its provisions before sending out mass notifications.

Requesting a mailing
Requests for mailings may be made on the talk page; or directly to any of the 0 users with the needed userright. The request page is rarely back logged and is ideal if you are requesting a future-dated message.

Before making your request
Please have the following things available before making your request:
 * A proper list (will be further referred to as « YOUR MAILING LIST ») of users to mail your newsletter or notice to. A category may be used instead of a list.
 * You can get an empty mailing list from here and move it to an appropriate subpage or add a section to Wikipedia talk:Mass message senders requesting a new mailing list.
 * Administrators and template editors may create lists with a special content model via Special:CreateMassMessageList.
 * Another option is to use the Mailing list member template on a normal page which can help you accomplish creating your mailing list and offers a few features.
 * Please categorize these lists in Category:MassMessage delivery lists


 * A newsletter ready to go:
 * Wikipedia Signpost is a good example. This template page can be in any namespace.
 * Some message senders will require that your template include links instructing users how they can opt-out of future messages:


 * It may also be appropriate to include links to the users that contributed to writing the newsletter.

Tracking your request
Once your request has been answered, you may follow the progress of your request:
 * You can see how many messages are left to be sent on Special:Statistics.
 * You can see if there were any issues with any of the members on your list on.
 * Please remove members from « YOUR MAILING LIST » if the member's talk page...
 * ... was skipped because user account does not exist
 * ... was skipped because target was in a namespace that cannot be posted in
 * ... failed with an error code of
 * ... was skipped because target has opted-out of message delivery

Fixing mistakes
Senders should be careful not to send mass messages with any mistakes that will need to be fixed afterwards.

Even minor edits to a user's talk page will send the user a new notification. The only exception to this is when a bot makes a minor edit, since no other user group has the nominornewtalk right. There is at least one bot, DannyS712 bot, that is approved to fix mass messages, but this task is currently only done with input from the bot's operator. If a template should have been substituted but was not, AnomieBOT may be able to fix the issue.

Requesting rights
If you wish to request mass message sending rights for yourself, please see Requests for permissions/Mass message sender. Administrators do not need to request or add this user right for themselves or other administrators as it is automatically granted as part of the administrator tools package.

In general, this user right is only granted to those who regularly request mass mailings or otherwise have shown a need for it, and removed from users that are completely inactive. For evaluation purposes, it is good measure to have filed at least one request for mass message delivery exemplifying an understanding of the guidance for use.