Help:Extension:MassMessage

This is a help page for usage of the MassMessage extension. For installation instructions, please see the extension documentation page.

Creating a page list

MassMessage requires a custom formatted list to be created. The format of the list is as follows:

{{#target:Project:Noticeboard}}

In this case, the page name is "Project:Noticeboard". If you are in a wikifarm setup and wish to post to a page on another wiki, you would use:

{{#target:Project:Noticeboard|en.wikipedia.org}}

This example would post to "Project:Noticeboard" on en.wikipedia.org.

Note that the default configuration will automatically convert all User pages into User talk pages - If you use {{#target:User:Foo}} the message will be posted to "User talk:Foo".

For a real example, check the Signpost subscription page.

Sending a message

Go to "Special:MassMessage" on your wiki.

1. The first input box is for the page list. Type in the full page name of the page list you created in the previous step.
2. Next is the subject of the message, which will also be used as the edit summary. For this reason, it is limited to 240 bytes.
3. Finally, the body of the message. This field accepts any valid wikitext, but it may warn you if it notices bad input. See #Input checking
4. Hit Preview. This will load a preview of how your message will look on an example page.
5. You can now either modify the message and preview it again, or if you are satisfied with your message, hit send. This will queue your delivery.
6. You can visit "Special:Statistics" on your wiki to view how many messages are still queued in the job queue.

Customizing

Each wiki from which messages are sent can require a footer to be added by editing "MediaWiki:Massmessage-message-footer".

Each wiki that receives messages, can edit "MediaWiki:Massmessage-hidden-comment" for similar functionality.

Input checking

MassMessage attempts to check your input for common errors like improperly closed HTML <tags>. Currently the following checks are in place:

• improperly closed HTML tags (requires JavaScript, shown immediately); and
• unescaped language links (e.g., [[de:Page name]], shown on preview).

Opting out

Any MassMessage delivery requires an input list, so removing yourself from whichever input list was used is the most straightforward way to opt out of a particular subscription. Usually the message being delivered will include an "unsubscribe" or "wrong page?" link.

If you want to exempt a page from any and all MassMessage deliveries, you can add the page to [[Category:Opted-out of message delivery]]. This string is localized and may be customized on your wiki, so check what the value of the page "MediaWiki:massmessage-optout-category" for the exact exclusion category being used locally.

If you want to exempt an entire wiki from any and all MassMessage deliveries, you can block the account used to deliver messages (on Wikimedia wikis, this account is "MediaWiki message delivery"). Blocking MassMessage deliveries would likely be considered highly disruptive. Be careful. Deliveries that were aborted due to the block (or any other restriction such as page protection) will be logged at Special:Log/massmessage.

Monitoring

You can use Special:Log/massmessage to monitor the tool. You can also visit Special:Statistics to see how many queued messages there are (if any).

See also

• m:MassMessage