Hey folks,
I just filed a Request for Comments on Meta to enable Flow -- an improved
discussion system -- in the Research namespace on meta. See
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Requests_for_comment/Enable_flow_in_th…
This is meant to replace the talk-page based discussion mechanism that is
currently in use.
To try out a Flow board, see
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Sandbox
Please leave your comments on the bottom of the Meta page I linked to
above. Here's a copy-paste for the lazy:
I propose that Flow <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Flow> be enabled on
the Research_talk namespace. This namespace is used to document and list
projects involving original research of Wikimedia projects and
technologies. See Research:Index
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Index>.
I have been working on developing the research community around Wikimedia
wikis as well as performing my own research projects. As a result, I have
been very active in the "Research" namespace writing new content and
discussing projects with others. It's clear to me that our work in this
space will benefit from adopting Flow for discussions. Many researchers of
Wikimedia projects do not engage on-wiki often and they find Flow to be
more intuitive than talk pages. Flow topics are also much easier to track
with notifications (a benefit I hope to reap). Further, the "Research"
namespace content on meta is still new enough -- and under active
development -- that we are poised to adapt to Flow-based conversation
patterns.
Note that I am the most active editor in this namespace. I have written our
core templates (*e.g.*, Template:Research project
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Research_project>), category
pages (*e.g.*, Category:Research projects
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Research_projects>) and
documentation (*e.g.*, Research:New project
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:New_project>). So this change
will primarily effect me and those who I work most closely with. As I have
been developing templates and other mechanisms to support navigation in
this namespace, I accept responsibility for making sure that workflow
problems around such a transition are resolved. After all, given that I'm
the most active editor in this namespace, most of those problems will be my
own.
Note that I am proposing this under my volunteer account, but I also work
as senior research scientist for the Wikimedia Foundation. See User:Halfak
(WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Halfak_(WMF)>. --EpochFail
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:EpochFail>(talk
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:EpochFail>) 17:36, 8 September
2015 (UTC)
-Aaron