Just in case you find it interesting:
http://neverworkintheory.org/2016/06/09/too-many-knobs.html summarizes this
paper:
"Hey, You Have Given Me Too Many Knobs! Understanding and Dealing with
Over-Designed Configuration in System Software". ESEC/FSE'15, August 2015,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2786805.2786852,
http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~tixu/papers/fse15.pdf.
The topic of amount and usefulness of user preferences is relevant to our
software. I dream of a simpler user configuration by default combined with
easier ways to find and enable community supported gadgets.
--
Quim Gil
Engineering Community Manager @ Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil