On 22 December 2010 12:29, wiki doc.wikipedia@ntlworld.com wrote:
- 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