It's a weird concept. I don't really like the idea of going to another site entirely, even if it is our own, as it can easily confuse a user as to where they are, exactly. I'd recommend one of the following:
  1. Include that page as part of the default mediawiki installation. This would need translation for every language, though.
  2. Or link to the MW page in a modal in an iframe, or alternatively in a new tab with an iframe, but an affixed above above the iframe indicating that the user is on another site with (click here) to return to close this tab/window and return to the original wiki.

--Shahyar


On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 8:30 PM, Steven Walling <swalling@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hey all, 

I'd like some wider opinions, particularly from UX designers, on the following issue: in MediaWiki's login form on desktop, there is a link to a login help page. By default it links to "Help:Logging in", which exists on most Wikimedia wikis but which is likely not existing in a brand new MediaWiki installation. 

I was comfortable including this link by default because I think it's reasonable to ask wiki administrators to either create a login help page or link to one they like. However, some people find this unacceptable, and would prefer to link by default to the help page on MediaWiki.org.

I think this is not so bad, and there are drawbacks to both. However, I think it's better to not link to a help page on a completely different site. Users, especially casual non-technical users, won't understand what "MediaWiki" is or why they were sent there instead of to a help page on their wiki. This seems likely to confuse, and we should put more of the burden on site admins to deal with the link as they see fit. 

The relevant patch is https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/83220/ and the bug to comment on is https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=53888 if anyone can chime in. 

--
Steven Walling,
Product Manager

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