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_the... 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