https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56537
Web browser: ---
Bug ID: 56537
Summary: The very name "BetaFeatures" is really really bad
Product: MediaWiki extensions
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: All
Status: NEW
Severity: normal
Priority: Unprioritized
Component: BetaFeatures
Assignee: wikibugs-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Reporter: matma....@gmail.com
CC: fflo...@wikimedia.org, mtrac...@member.fsf.org
Classification: Unclassified
Mobile Platform: ---
I realize it's probably already water under the bridge, but I believe
this should be said anyway. Just WONTFIX the bug if we can't do
anything about it.
The name "BetaFeatures" is bad. Like, really bad. And I don't think
this is just my personal opinion (but I don't like it personally
either).
* We have so many things named "beta" right now live on the wikis that
it's not even funny. VisualEditor is beta. MobileFrontend has some
beta stuff. Now we're also going to have "beta" features.
Depending on the person, the "beta" label has either lost its
meaning or is negatively associated with past deployment failures.
* It's non-descriptive. It may be the non-native English speaker in
me, but it sounds like marketing-speech. "beta" doesn't mean much
these days (see point 1); "feature" is a catch-all buzzword.
* It's stupidly hard to translate:
* Most languages don't even have a word for "beta" – unless somebody
talented does the translation, these will keep using the English
word in likely very awkward ways – most of currently translated
messages just keep the "beta" label tacked onto a normal word:
[[translatewiki:Special:Translations/Mediawiki:Prefs-betafeatures]],
some went with "experimental" instead.
* Similarly, most languages don't have a word for "feature" – in the
link above, most translations say the equivalent of
"functionality" or "function", and neither is a friendly word.
Basically, any translation of this will consist solely of
English/Latin loanwords in almost all languages, which may make it
sound "remote" or "unfriendly".
So what do we do about it?
* We can try renaming the project. We could go with the lowest
friction option and call it "Experimental features", which would be
at least a little better.
* Or we could use others' experiences and name that section
"Laboratory", which would also give us an obvious, clear icon to use
(laboratory beaker) – Google does this with their experimental
options and it has always seemed like a great idea to me.
No idea if "rebranding" as this point is still viable – it might be
possible, as I don't think it was widely announced yet. But I'm just
saying.
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