On 12/19/2009 10:36 PM, David Goodman wrote:
I did not write that, except for the final sentence [...]
Sorry; that was my editing error. I was trying to reply while providing more of the context; specifically the part of my message I thought you were replying to. That clearly didn't work!
I was saying that just the most elementary knowledge is enough for talk pages. Of all the parts of Wikipedia syntax, it's the easiest. The problems for users in learning things is elsewhere.
I agree that there are big problems elsewhere; I'm just trying to say there are also significant usability problems with discussions.
My broad point is that although the talk page may only use the most elementary parts of Mediawiki, and therefore seem easy to us, it still has very low usability compared with typical discussion systems on the Internet. In placing a much smaller burden on the software, we have placed a much larger burden on the user.
Even if our current discussion system were somehow superior, it's still very different than other systems, which is in itself a design mistake. Indeed, it's one of the most common mistakes in web design, appearing at #8 on Jakob Nielsen's top 10 list of design mistakes:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html
If we want broad participation, we have to accept it in a way that most people are familiar with. Whether we want broad participation is a reasonable question, as is what to do with that participation when we get it.
William