User:Diego Moya/Draft Talk RfC

Using Talk pages for discussion has a non-trivial learning curve, which makes it difficult for new editors to participate in existing threads. It requires them to learn the basics of wikicode as well as the en.wiki protocols for indentation, signature and signaling who are you replying to, before they can make a meaningful contribution. This is a real problem that runs counter to our third pillar and ethos that anyone can edit; by making it difficult, we are excluding for technical reasons people who could provide valuable insights (think people with limited hardware or connectivity, or with cognitive or physical impairments). Any barrier that makes it harder to edit will push away some of these persons, and conversely any usability improvements, even if small, can bring them back.

The Wikimedia Foundation has backed up a new the Flow discussion software that was originally intended to replace Talk pages. Flow does not integrate well with mediawiki, provides a different edition and threading system, and doesn't teach the skills required to edit Wikipedia articles the way that Talk pages do.

However, mediawiki can be extended in ways that makes it easier to use. One of those extensions is the the Teahouse Respond script, which has been tested for a long time in the Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions page. It adds a "Join this discussion" button to each thread, which shows a dedicated text box for the user message and includes mini-tutorial for signatures (you can try it without making changes as long as you don't click on "Add my response"). The message is then posted at the bottom of the thread. This is proof that it's possible to ease the entry point for total beginners, and would be enough to solve the problem of newcomer's first impressions.

It is also fairly non-intrusive and doesn't get in the way of the usual workflow for experienced users. It provides similar benefits and is near in spirit to the "Start a new section" button at the top of current talk pages, but helps new users to participate in existing sections. And if it is integrated into mediawiki, it should be possible to show or hide it through the Preferences / Gadgets control panel.

Shall we take advantage of this already existing, well-tested improvement to Talk pages? This is what this RfC tries to explore. Diego (talk) 10:01, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

The first question asked is: Do we activate at the header of talk page sections a function similar to the "Join this discussion" already used at Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions? There are two questions with several options:

Question A: Should the gadget be used in some or all pages?

Support options:

• Option A-All pages: Activate it at all Talk pages.
• Option A-Some: Activate it at some Talk pages, but not all (discuss which ones):
  • Some-a: Article's Talk pages.
  • Some-b: User Talk pages.
  • Some-c: Project Talk pages.
  • Some-d: Other pages.

Oppose:

• Do not activate it at any page (outside the Teahouse and other pages which already has it).

The second question explores which editors should see this gadget. Question B: If there is consensus to activate the gadget at some or all pages, then:

• Option B-All-editors: Activate it for all editors.
• Option B-Some-editors: Activate it for some editors:
  • Some-editors-a: Non-logged editors.
  • Some-editors-b: Logged editors, newcomers.
  • Some-editors-c: Logged editors, autoconfirmed.
  • Some-editors-d: Other editors.
• The last possible option ("Do not activate it for any editors") is equivalent to option A-3.

Ideally, options B-1 and B-2 would have a preference to disable the message for users who don't want to see it. In that case, if this proposal is approved we could discuss the default value (opt-in or opt-out) for each class of editors.

• Diego (talk) 10:01, 19 February 2016 (UTC)