The Wikimedia Foundation is currently conducting a global consultation about communication https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk_pages_consultation_2019. The goal is to bring Wikimedians and wiki-minded people together to improve tools for communication.

*Phase 1 of the consultation is over https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk_pages_consultation_2019/Phase_1_report* – thank you to everyone who participated! – and we've published the Phase 1 report https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk_pages_consultation_2019/Phase_1_report. The report summarizes what we've learned, proposes a direction for the project, and asks specific questions to explore in Phase 2.

Very briefly, the proposed direction is that wikitext talk pages should be improved, and not replaced. We propose building a new design on top of talk pages that changes the page's default appearance, and offers key tools like replying, indenting and signing posts. To keep consistency with existing tools, the new design will be a default experience that existing users can opt out of. We also propose building features that experienced contributors want, including the ability to watchlist a single discussion, and the ability to move, archive and search for threads. Building these features may require some loss of flexibility, or small-to-medium changes in wikitext conventions. The goal is to only make changes that directly enable functionality that users really want.

You can see more information and discussion about the proposed direction in the Phase 1 report https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk_pages_consultation_2019/Phase_1_report, including the results of new user tests and some of the quotations from Phase 1 discussions that led to this proposal.

*Now it's time to start Phase 2!*

We have six questions to discuss in Phase 2, asking for reactions to the proposed direction, and pros and cons for specific changes that we could make.

You can help by hosting a discussion at your wiki. Here's what to do:

1. First, sign up your group here. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk_pages_consultation_2019/Participant_group_sign-up don't forget to coordinate with other users from your wiki to avoid creating multiple consultations on the same wiki! :) 2. Next, create a page (or a section on a Village pump, or an e-mail thread – whatever is natural for your group) to collect information from other people in your group. 3. Then start the conversation with the six questions listed in the Questions for Phase 2 https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk_pages_consultation_2019/Phase_1_report#Questions_for_Phase_2 section of the report. 4. When the conversation is concluded, the host should write a summary of the discussion on the Phase 2 community discussion summaries page https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk_pages_consultation_2019/Phase_2_community_discussion_summaries, and report what you learned from your group. Please include links if the discussion is available to the public.

You can read more about the overall process https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk_pages_consultation_2019 on MediaWiki.org. If you have questions or ideas, you can leave feedback about the consultation process https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Talk_pages_consultation_2019 in the language you prefer.

Thank you! We're looking forward to talking with you. Best, Benoît On behalf of the talk pages consultation team