This is only anecdotal, but in my experience the MW user configuration (here specifically I mean Special:Preferences, the main space for user-facing knobs and levers) isn't much of a problem. My anecdotal experience comes from introducing decidedly non-IT technical users to the system.
If anything, new user confusion comes mainly from digesting the MW content architecture; we use Semantic Forms for example, and the notion that a template and a form are wiki pages just like any page in the main namespace, and associated notions like checking the page history for a form is something I've seen give more confusion. It's apparently something of a mental transition when you're used to a more traditional CMS. (Just to be clear, I'm not saying anything needs to be fixed in this regard, I'm mentioning it for contrast against current complexity/simplicity of user configuration in MW.)
The UI for user configuration? they don't bat an eye.
Even outside Special:Preferences, I can't really see any user-facing UI elements (knobs and levers) which would be nice to hide or abstract out.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone smarter than me can follow up with strong examples of unnecessary config, but I'm generally wary of making things simpler than they need to be.
/J
On 06/13/2016 08:54 AM, Quim Gil wrote:
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.