Change #1238688 had a related patch set uploaded (by Cyndywikime; author: Cyndywikime):

[mediawiki/core@master] Improve other verification related emails: add email, change email, remove email

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1238688

Change #1240339 had a related patch set uploaded (by Cyndywikime; author: Cyndywikime):

[mediawiki/core@master] Improve notification emails (change/remove email)

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1240339

Change #1240351 had a related patch set uploaded (by Cyndywikime; author: Cyndywikime):

[mediawiki/extensions/WikimediaMessages@master] Override notification email messages to direct users to ca@wikimedia.org

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1240351

Change #1238688 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] Improve confirmation emails (add/change email)

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1238688

Change #1240351 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/WikimediaMessages@master] Override notification email messages to direct users to ca@wikimedia.org

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1240351

The qqq for the new message wikimedia-notificationemail_html_footer says that it's a WMF override of notificationemail_html_footer, but I cannot find such a message.

In T410807#11653041, @Amire80 wrote:

The qqq for the new message wikimedia-notificationemail_html_footer says that it's a WMF override of notificationemail_html_footer, but I cannot find such a message.

Ah, that's my bad for merging the WikimediaMessages change early. The actual message notificationemail_html_footer is part of https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/c/mediawiki/core/+/1240339 where I still had a small review note. It should be merged real soon, I hope.

In T410807#11653751, @Michael wrote:

In T410807#11653041, @Amire80 wrote:

The qqq for the new message wikimedia-notificationemail_html_footer says that it's a WMF override of notificationemail_html_footer, but I cannot find such a message.

Ah, that's my bad for merging the WikimediaMessages change early. The actual message notificationemail_html_footer is part of https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/c/mediawiki/core/+/1240339 where I still had a small review note. It should be merged real soon, I hope.

Thanks, this clarifies it!

Adding User-notice, because starting next week Thursday, the users on all projects should get a nice email to their old confirmed email when they change the email in their account.

This will happen in conjunction with T416748: Release improved verification email to all wikis (WE1.1.22 FY2025-26).

Basically, all that is happening is that the emails around confirming and changing your account email are a bit nicer. Should we announce that in tech-news?

@Michael how does this sound for tech news?:

"Starting in the week of 2 March, users across all projects will now receive an email notification sent to their previously confirmed email address whenever there is a change to the email associated with their account. This helps users confirm changes and detect unauthorized updates, improving account security."

Also what do you mean by 'a bit nicer'?

In T410807#11655022, @Michael wrote:

Adding User-notice, because starting next week Thursday, the users on all projects should get a nice email to their old confirmed email when they change the email in their account.

This will happen in conjunction with T416748: Release improved verification email to all wikis (WE1.1.22 FY2025-26).

Basically, all that is happening is that the emails around confirming and changing your account email are a bit nicer. Should we announce that in tech-news?

Change #1240339 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] Improve notification emails (change/remove email)

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1240339

In T410807#11655334, @STei-WMF wrote:

@Michael how does this sound for tech news?:

"Starting in the week of 2 March, users across all projects will now receive an email notification sent to their previously confirmed email address whenever there is a change to the email associated with their account. This helps users confirm changes and detect unauthorized updates, improving account security."

Also what do you mean by 'a bit nicer'?

No, you already do get an email in that situation. You can try it out by removing your email address from your profile. Then you should get a very basic email to the old email address. That email consists only of 3 lines plain text and sounds ... not great. We now changed that email to what you see in the picture in the description: a nice HTML email with the logo. But in the end it is a purely visual and copy change, not a change in behavior. So maybe it does not need to be annouced?

But a better wording might be:

"Starting in the week of March 2nd, the emails sent out when an email address was added, removed, or changed for an account will switch to a substantially nicer and clearer HTML email from the prior plaintext one."

Though I'm no good at phrasing these things.

This would cover T416748 as well.

QA Note:
The notification emails should be testable on any beta wiki.
The new confirmation emails maybe on beta-wikidata? Not sure about that.

So, changing from the specific subject “{{SITENAME}} registered email address has been removed” to the scary-sounding generic “Your email was removed” is “a bit nicer”? I’d disagree with that, and I’d prefer to get the previous subject in my inbox.

In T410807#11661780, @Mormegil wrote:

So, changing from the specific subject “{{SITENAME}} registered email address has been removed” to the scary-sounding generic “Your email was removed” is “a bit nicer”? I’d disagree with that, and I’d prefer to get the previous subject in my inbox.

we suggested to remove {{SITENAME}} from the subject line because the site name will already show up in the sender field. including it again in the subject doesn’t add much value and uses up space that could be used for the most important information.

subject lines also tend to get truncated, especially on mobile devices and/or languages other than english. that's why we recommended moving the key part “your email has been removed” to the very start of the subject - before it could get potentially cut off.

on this feeling scary: this email is sent immediately after someone removes their email address from the project. so in most cases, the recipient has just performed this action, so the context should make it clear and not alarming. if someone receives this email without having taken that action, the stronger wording is actually helpful because it prompts them to investigate right away - which could signal that their account may have been compromised.

Original message	Revised message

In T410807#11662504, @AAlhazwani-WMF wrote:

In T410807#11661780, @Mormegil wrote:

on this feeling scary: this email is sent immediately after someone removes their email address from the project. so in most cases, the recipient has just performed this action, so the context should make it clear and not alarming. if someone receives this email without having taken that action, the stronger wording is actually helpful because it prompts them to investigate right away - which could signal that their account may have been compromised.

I do think that makes some sense, but I can also imagine a world where someone interprets this as "We deleted your entire email account". I know plenty of people who have no idea where their email actually lives. Might also require some good guidance in qqq.json to ensure that translators make a proper translation, and one that aligns with how you want this to be interpreted.

Have you considered something like: "Your email was decoupled/disconnected" ?

In T410807#11662659, @TheDJ wrote:

In T410807#11662504, @AAlhazwani-WMF wrote:

In T410807#11661780, @Mormegil wrote:

on this feeling scary: this email is sent immediately after someone removes their email address from the project. so in most cases, the recipient has just performed this action, so the context should make it clear and not alarming. if someone receives this email without having taken that action, the stronger wording is actually helpful because it prompts them to investigate right away - which could signal that their account may have been compromised.

I do think that makes some sense, but I can also imagine a world where someone interprets this as "We deleted your entire email account".

that's a valid concern!

I know plenty of people who have no idea where their email actually lives.

yeah - thou if they've just removed their email they know where it lives.

Might also require some good guidance in qqq.json to ensure that translators make a proper translation, and one that aligns with how you want this to be interpreted.

Have you considered something like: "Your email was decoupled/disconnected" ?

our suggestion is to rely on the email body rather than the subject line to provide that context.