Template talk:Welcome needed

Possible enhancements

Exclusion list

It might be handy to have a parameter, or parameters, to provide an exclusion list. This would exclude the given templates from search results, for example, we might want to exclude User talk pages having Template:uw-cluebotwarning1, Template:uw-vandalism1, or Template:uw-disruptive, but that should be under user control. Maybe params, |x1=, |x2=, |x3=? Or a comma-sep list? Template {{uw-block}} is already excluded in the code. Should be clever about dealing with unsubsted templates (can use -hastemplate) vs. substed ones (must use -insource:Template:Foo) Mathglot (talk) 10:01, 20 December 2024 (UTC)

Block exclusion

Besides {{uw-block}}, which we already exclude, there are others, like {{uw-soablock}}. These, and any other similar ones, should be excluded, too. Mathglot (talk) 12:16, 20 December 2024 (UTC)

By user

Add a |by user= parameter. Mathglot (talk) 00:12, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

Bugs

Exclusion interacting with user=reg

This search is returning mostly anon users (both ipv4 and ipv6):

• {{welcome needed|x1=vandalism2|x2=disruptive2|user=reg|year=2026|month=July|count=50|sort=last_edit}} → search link

The generated link (in rev. 1264191869) is this:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=50&offset=0&profile=images&fulltext=1&search=User+talk%3A+you+-insource%3A%22Template%3AWelcome%22+-hastemplate%3AArchive_box+-hastemplate%3AArchives+insource%3A%2FTemplate%3Auw-%5B%5E%5B0-9%5D%2B1/+-insource%3A%2FTemplate%3Auw-block%2F+-insource%3A%2FTemplate%3Auw-vandalism2%2F+-insource%3A%2FTemplate%3Auw-disruptive2%2F+-insource%3A%2FTemplate%3Auw-%5B%5E%5B0-9%5D%2B%5B2-4%5D%2F+-intitle%3A%2F%5B0-9%2Ca-f%2CA-F%5D%7B1%2C4%7D%5B%5C.%5C%3A%5D%5B0-9%2Ca-f%2CA-F%5D%5B%5C.%5C%3A%5D%7B1%2C4%7D%2F+insource%3A%22December+2024+%28UTC%29%22&sort=last_edit_desc

This may be related to the fact that the exclusion params are regexes, and they could (and probably should) be quoted search instead. Mathglot (talk) 01:04, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

Fixed in rev. 1264199381. Still, the regexes should have worked, and this may mean we are hitting some kind of threshold of regex terms within one advanced search, though I don't recall seeing anything like that. There is a character limit, but it is very large (something like 6,000 characters), so we are not anywhere close to that. Something that bears watching. Mathglot (talk) 01:21, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

Not fixed; rolled back, and will reinstall anew. Mathglot (talk) 02:30, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

No results just after day flip

Right after a day change (i.e., shortly after time 0:00 (UTC)), there may be no results for a search on a given day, if the day is {{CURRENTDAY}}. This isn't really a bug, because it is doing what you asked for, but it could be confusing to users. Maybe we should try to include results from the previous day in that case. This only happens when the user requests results from a particular day and uses the {{CURRENTDAY}} magic word. Mathglot (talk) 01:17, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

Documentation

I think the documentation needs to say right away where the template is meant to be used—I found it when I was investigating templates that generate a welcome message on someone's talk page, and initially thought it must be a way of adding a kind of "Please welcome this user, because I can't decide what to say" tag to their talk page. (Which would also generate a weird edit for them to be puzzled by.) Musiconeologist (talk) 17:29, 15 January 2025 (UTC)