Forum:Admin noticeboard

As a follow-up to Forum:Image maintenance, do you think we should create an administrator noticeboard (similar to e.g. this one)? If so, what do you think should be included/covered?

As a starting point, this is how the linked page defines the purpose of a noticeboard:

-- Porter21 (talk) 10:05, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

The more I think about the idea of a notice board, the less convinced I am that it will work. It seems to me that people see their own talk pages and don't regularly visit another page as a hub of operations. So, tell me what you think of these ideas (and how possible they are): --Gothemasticator 03:00, March 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * A one-button operation for admins that would allow posting of a message on the talk pages of all other admins simultaneously. This would be great for alerting each other to urgent tasks or news.
 * If new user registrations would show up on a list like new article pages do, we could add one more category of daily maintenance to our list: posting the welcome message on all new user pages. (EDIT: So, it seems that you can indeed filter the New Pages page for the User namespace. Still have to add the welcome message to each by hand, and only created user pages show up, not registered users who haven't written anything on their user page.)
 * We could update the welcome message to include a link to the The Vault:Administrators page. Speaking of which...
 * We could update the Administrators page with essentially what Porter has written above. (We would change it a little to encourage people to post on Admins' talk pages instead a message board.)
 * This could work. Wikipedia already has bots that notify users of deletion requests etc. on their files, so subverting the code to notify admins of issues and problems shouldn't be much of a hassle IMHO. The C&CWiki already uses an auto-welcome bot by default and it does work. http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/0/08/Personal_Sig_Image.gif Tagaziel (call!) 12:17, March 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, the thing with bots is that they are not a part of the wiki software but simply programs which run on the computers of users. Wikipedia has quite a number of users which run their bots 24/7; we don't, and I'm not all that keen on leaving my computer running all the time to be honest. Wikia's welcome bot is run by Wikia itself, which is why it works without a specific user on each wiki operating it - it's not open for user task requests though.
 * Regarding Gothemasticator's suggestions, some sort of mass-messaging device is something I'd like to have as well but considering the response I got when I suggested it on Wikia's forum I doubt Wikia is going to add it any time soon (if at all), and I haven't been able to come up with an idea how to do it myself yet.
 * I share the concerns that the page would end up not being frequently visited, but I'm not sure how to address it. It works on other wikis, so maybe it's merely a matter of people getting used to it. I'm fine with updating The Vault:Administrators and welcome in any case. Concerning the welcoming of new users, see my comment in the "Welcome bot" section below. -- Porter21 (talk) 23:20, April 11, 2010 (UTC)

Welcome bot
I remember somebody mentioning that we turned our auto-welcome bot off for one reason or another. Firing it up again would take away a massive workload, and I don't think that the few new users that respond to the bot will be a hassle. :) Nitty Tok. 13:45, March 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm against having a welcome bot, as I prefer it if only users who actually do make valuable contributions get welcome messages. It has the added benefit of more easily spotting new users (since they have red talk page links). Ausir(talk) 16:12, March 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, with the influx of new and younger users that Vegas is creating, who says that a valuable user starts off with valuable contributions? Nitty Tok. 16:16, March 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, without the welcome bot, it's easier to see which new users and IPs are more likely to be potential vandals, at least for me. I'm against turning it on. Ausir(talk) 16:47, March 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm a bit undecided on the welcome bot issue. While the red talk page links are convenient indicators of new users, they are less than perfect in that regard; for example, some new users will post messages on their own talk pages, and it's generally easy to miss out on some new users. I also doubt other people posting welcome messages actually check whether the contributions of a new user are valuable or not. Another issue is that by only welcoming people with valuable contributions (aside from the somewhat subjective judgement of what's valuable), you potentially miss out on getting new editors involved who start out with e.g. only posting a question on a talk page. Of course, vandals should not receive welcome messages, but I feel that'd be a rather minor problem if we limit the bot to greeting registered users only.
 * Having the auto-welcome enabled makes sure all new users receive links to things like our policies and wiki help instead of leaving them "out in the cold" until someone notices the new user. It'd also allow us to more thoroughly track new contributors by simply checking the bot's contributions; it only greets users who've actually made an edit, which is better than both the user creation log (which lists all accounts created on this wiki, no matter whether they actually made an edit, and misses out on new contributors which created their Wikia account on a different wiki) and the new account contributions list (which is not as concise). Not to mention it'd save us quite a bit of workload which would be better spent elsewhere. -- Porter21 (talk) 23:20, April 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Hm, I guess you're right. I'm OK with activating the bot for registered users. Ausir(talk) 14:37, April 17, 2010 (UTC)
 * I've changed the configuration accordingly (no welcoming of anons, no automatic user page creation, message signed by last active local sysop). Not sure whether the message will work the way I set it up, but I guess we'll see when the first new contributor comes along ;) -- Porter21 (talk) 17:25, April 18, 2010 (UTC)
 * What does the "last active local sysop" mean? If I'm editing and the bot welcomes a new editor, does my name get slapped on the page? Nitty Tok. 17:36, April 18, 2010 (UTC)
 * Essentially, yes. The name of the most recently active admin is used to sign the welcome message. -- Porter21 (talk) 17:43, April 18, 2010 (UTC)
 * Just saw the bot in action. I like it. You can either go the bots user page for more info or go to user page of the sysop who gets the signing. Good stuff.--Gothemasticator 03:05, April 19, 2010 (UTC)

Issues
Just a note. On the third bullet point of the welcome message, a link is provided to the "duty admin" talkpage. It currently points to User talk:User talk:  rather than User talk: , with a resultant error message. Suspect it just needs to be tweaked. 11:42, April 19, 2010 (UTC)
 * Strange, I was sure I checked that. Oh well, getting old I guess :) Thanks for the heads-up, I've fixed it. I've also had my bot patch up the screwed up messages left by the welcome bot so far. -- Porter21 (talk) 19:15, April 19, 2010 (UTC)

I think something might be wrong with the bot, as it is missing out a lot of new users. Go onto the user creation log and you will see. Tezzla Cannon 14:09, April 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * It's greeting only users who have made at least one edit. Many of the ones in the user creation log do make an account but make no edits. Ausir(talk) 14:46, April 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * Like Ausir said, that's intentional. Many people make accounts on one wiki but contribute on another, or just make accounts to get rid of the ads. We're only interested in greeting potential contributors. -- Porter21 (talk) 07:52, April 22, 2010 (UTC)

Bot flag
Just to mention it, if people feel that the welcome bot's contributions are annoying in Special:RecentChanges, we can have a bot flag assigned to it (which will make its edits vanish from there). I'm not bothered by it so far, but it might be worth considering after FNV's release (and the resulting influx of new users). -- Porter21 (talk) 07:53, May 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't mind it so far, as it helps see the new users, but once it becomes an issue, sure. Ausir(talk) 12:43, May 29, 2010 (UTC)