[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #64690: Administration: Improve confusing error message when bulk role change skips current user

[WordPress Trac]

#64690: Administration: Improve confusing error message when bulk role change skips
current user
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
 Reporter:  dpknauss                 |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)             |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                   |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Administration           |    Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal                   |   Keywords:  has-patch needs-copy-
  Focuses:  accessibility,           |  review needs-testing
  administration, ui-copy            |
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
 When an administrator uses Bulk Actions → Change role on the Users screen
 and selects
 a role without the `promote_users` capability, the action silently skips
 their own
 account and displays:

   The current user's role must have user editing capabilities.

 This is confusing for three reasons:

 1. "User editing capabilities" is internal jargon — it refers to the
 `promote_users`
    capability but gives no actionable information to the user.
 2. The message describes the constraint as a requirement rather than
 explaining what
    just happened and why the current user's role was not changed.
 3. There's no indication the bulk action succeeded for other users while
 silently
    skipping the current user (the second "Other user roles have been
 changed." notice
    only partially addresses this).

 **Proposed fix**

 One string change in `src/wp-admin/users.php` line 686:

   Current:  The current user's role must have user editing capabilities.
   Proposed: You can't change your own role to one that doesn't allow
 managing
             other users. Your role was not changed.

 No logic changes required. The condition that sets `$update =
 'err_admin_role'`
 (lines 146–152) is correct — this is purely a copy improvement.

 **Steps to reproduce**
 1. Log in as an Administrator.
 2. Go to Users.
 3. Select multiple users including yourself.
 4. Bulk Actions → Change role → Editor (or any role without
 `promote_users`).
 5. Observe the error message.

 **References**
 #18164 addressed the multisite super admin exemption (closed/fixed) but
 did not
 change the message text. #43622 improved other WP Admin error messages but
 did
 not include this one.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64690>
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