On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 3:08 AM, Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org wrote:
We have a range of ideas about how e-mail could be used for retention/engagement
Here's one more for the idea pile...
If the operations reasons for not mass-enabling email notifications can't be overcome (or even if they can be), something finer grained could still make a big difference.
That is, when you leave a message on someone's talk page, there should be the option to send them an email notification automatically at the same time, through the equivalent of Special:Emailuser.
This is what Kaldari's WikiLove gadget does when you leave barnstars and such, and it's great... especially for newcomers. I hacked together a version of the script that has a "Just a message" option so you can leave a plain message but still send an automatic email at the same time, which is quite handy for the ambassador program where we work with students who don't log in regularly.
-Sage