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Mass message sender is a user group that allows users to send messages to multiple users at once from theMediaWiki message delivery bot account. Further user documentation can be found atm:MassMessage andmw:Help:Extension:MassMessage.
On the English Wikipedia, there are currently829 administrators and55 mass message senders (884 in total). Users withmassmessage user right can send a message usingSpecial:MassMessage.
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 oredit-a-thons, though for any regular mailings users should be informed of how they can unsubscribe from future messages (seebelow).
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, orvarious noticeboards, including theVillage Pump. Editors who are interested in a given topic may have the corresponding page on their watchlist. Therequests 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.
Adherence to thetalk page guidelines is important with mass messages as it can affect a large group of users.Formatting standards should be given consideration, because verbose, overly formatted, or especially large messages may clutter a 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.
Messages should be signed with four tildes. This will place the signature of "MediaWiki message delivery" and will make sure that archive bots eventually archive the section.
Users should not be wikilinked directly in your message, or they will all get pinged. Please use{{Noping}} or similar if you need to wikilink a user.
Theguideline on canvassing is especially relevant to this tool and users should familiarize themselves with its provisions before sending out mass notifications.
TheMass message user guide is found on Mediawiki. You start the process by navigating toSpecial:MassMessage.
Requests for mailings may bemade on the talk page; or directly to any of the 884 users with the needed userright. The request page is rarely back logged and is ideal if you are requesting a future-dated message.
Please have the following things available before making your request:
If you wish to opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from [[«YOUR MAILING LIST»|the mailing list]] or alternatively to opt-out of all massmessage mailings, you may add [[:Category:Wikipedians who opt out of message delivery]] to your user talk page.Once your request has been answered, you may follow the progress of your request:
errorcodeSenders should be careful not to send mass messages with any mistakes that will need to be fixed afterwards.
Evenminor edits to a user's talk page will send the user a newnotification. The only exception to this is when abot makes a minor edit, since no other user group has thenominornewtalk right. There are two bots,User:DannyS712 bot andDreamRimmer bot III, that are approved to fix mass messages, but this task is currently only performed with input from the bot operators, so requests can be made on their talk pages. If a template should have beensubstituted but was not,AnomieBOT may be able to fix the issue.
If you wish to request mass message sending rights for yourself, please seeWikipedia: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 theguidance for use.