The WMF core features team tracks this bug on Mingle card https://mingle.corp.wikimedia.org/projects/flow/cards/488, but people from the community are welcome to contribute here and in Gerrit.

Change 223213 had a related patch set uploaded (by Legoktm):
Remove $wgEchoNewMsgAlert and 'echo-show-alert' preference

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/223213

Updated usage statistics:

This shouldn't be released right now. James and I both feel like the users could be better served by just using the Echo notification instead of the extra talk page indicator. I need to talk to Nick about it.

In T58845#1439356, @DannyH wrote:

This shouldn't be released right now. James and I both feel like the users could be better served by just using the Echo notification instead of the extra talk page indicator. I need to talk to Nick about it.

James who? Alexander? Forrester? Hare?

Sorry, James Forrester. We've been talking about it in the Editing department.

In T58845#1439356, @DannyH wrote:

This shouldn't be released right now. James and I both feel like the users could be better served by just using the Echo notification instead of the extra talk page indicator. I need to talk to Nick about it.

I think there may be some confusion here. This task is about removing a largely unused user preference, as I understand it. There will be a behavior change only for a small set of users.

Do you think we can't remove this user preferences interface clutter right now? It seems to me that removing this user preference would be an easy win and would be relatively uncontroversial.

Whether we continue to use a separate and distinct talk page indicator is a separate matter and is a lot more controversial.

Change 223213 merged by jenkins-bot:
[mediawiki/extensions/Echo@master] Remove $wgEchoNewMsgAlert and 'echo-show-alert' preference

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/223213

Can I have that preference back, or, at least, a way to ignore that orange bar on all wikis simply? I've appreciated that preference very much, because the orange bar is stressful to me. It requires immediate attention, while I prefer to have talk pages notices hidden behind a more discreet red alarm icon.

(I don't see it often as a volunteer, but a lot more during my professional duties.)

In T58845#4535499, @Trizek wrote:

Can I have that preference back, or, at least, a way to ignore that orange bar on all wikis simply? I've appreciated that preference very much, because the orange bar is stressful to me. It requires immediate attention, while I prefer to have talk pages notices hidden behind a more discreet red alarm icon.

Hm, causing stress isn't great, but is it the orange highlight that's actually causing that? Or the fact that you have new messages, and the orange highlight makes it obvious? While the red alert is less obvious, since it also mixes in other notifications.

You could also consider using the Timeless skin, which puts all the personal tools in a drop down, so you don't see the orange indicator, unless you hover over your username.

In any case, the following user CSS should work (I tested it in MonoBook):

.mw-echo-alert {
  background-color: transparent;
}

Thanks @Legoktm. The stress is both caused by the colour and the message: "You have to act NOW" is my perception of it.

I think I'll use the following on my global.css:

.mw-echo-alert {
  display:none;
}

Hi. Sorry to see it was removed. A little explanation: I used, and I believe many others, to use this feature not because of colour and not because of extra space. It was because clicking on this area calls "open user's talk page un read view" instead of "open user's talk page diff between last watched revision and the current one". It is just not helpful - you can't recognize all the changes.

I was also a big fan of this preference, but neither CSS option above fully returns the behavior, either leaving a long message or removing the link to one's talk page. To return to the previous, you'd need to add:

.mw-echo-alert {
  background-color: transparent;
}

in css and:

$('.mw-echo-alert').text('talk');

in js

It's not enough, needs also padding 0, and yes, I also did this.

In T58845#4538197, @IKhitron wrote:

It was because clicking on this area calls "open user's talk page un read view" instead of "open user's talk page diff between last watched revision and the current one". It is just not helpful - you can't recognize all the changes.

Yes. sadly, however, keeping this preference would not bring back the direct link to the diffs. If you use a gadget to bring back the link, you can also get the gadget to hide any redundant indicator.

In T58845#4541161, @Nemo_bis wrote:

If you use a gadget to bring back the link, you can also get the gadget to hide any redundant indicator.

(Crying) It blinks.

In T58845#4541161, @Nemo_bis wrote:

In T58845#4538197, @IKhitron wrote:

It was because clicking on this area calls "open user's talk page un read view" instead of "open user's talk page diff between last watched revision and the current one". It is just not helpful - you can't recognize all the changes.

Yes. sadly, however, keeping this preference would not bring back the direct link to the diffs. If you use a gadget to bring back the link, you can also get the gadget to hide any redundant indicator.

That bug is T58475: Echo: The "You have new messages" link should go to a diff and/or subsection of the user's talk page where the talk page resides

Thank you.

I regret that decision, especially when I see more important tasks being completely ignored.

Why do I need a huge orange bar when there's already the bell icon? Why not let the users choose their preference?

In T58845#4535499, @Trizek wrote:

the orange bar is stressful to me. It requires immediate attention, while I prefer to have talk pages notices hidden behind a more discreet red alarm icon.

It's stressful for me too.