[WikiEN-l] Eschatology and Wikipedia

[Peter Coombe]

On 22 December 2010 12:29, wiki <doc.wikipedia at ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> 5) I see the growing use of {{talkback}} templates. Personally, I hate them.
> However, the assumption that everyone masters watchlists and knows how to
> find discussions - and sees replies people make to them in any one of 27
> noticeboards, talk pages etc is also counter intuitive. Could we develop
> software that flagged a user when someone replies to their post, wherever
> the reply might be? So if I post anywhere and someone posts indented below,
> I get some form of automatic notification? I don't know how it would work -
> but Facebook's beauty is that wherever I comment, or wherever someone
> comments about me, I get notified - that tends to keep me interested in
> continuing the discussions rather than drifting off. Watchlists were great
> in 2002, but they are part of an increasingly tired looking infrastructure.

This is one of the main benefits of LiquidThreads. The system is coded
and in use on a few wikis (the strategy wiki & en.wikinews comment
pages spring to mind), but I can't see it ever being introduced on
en.Wikipedia without serious resistance. It's a big change from the
current discussion model, and unlike skins there's no way for
individuals to opt-out.

Pete / the wub