Extension:DiscussionTools/Comparison

Various extensions and tools have emerged over the years to improve the support MediaWiki offers people to communicate with one another on-wiki: Structured Discussions (Flow), LiquidThreads , DiscussionTools and Convenient Discussions.

This page offers an overview of these various extensions and how the features they offer compare to one another.

Comparative Review

Main characteristics

Status of each tool, and their integration to the wiki's key features.

	LiquidThreads	Structured Discussions	DiscussionTools	Convenient Discussions
Type of tool	MediaWiki extension			Gadget/Userscript based on DiscussionTools
Release status	Unmaintained		Maintained (Wikimedia Foundation)	Maintained (Volunteers)
Activation	Pending removal		Deployed on all wikis as the default discussion system. User configurable (including opting-out).	User opt-in and configurable
Visual editing	N Not done	Done	Done	N Not done
Backwards-compatibility with wikitext	N Not done	N Not done	Done	Done
Templates support	Done	Done	Partially done – Tables, templates and parser tags aren't allowed in replies in visual mode	Done
Full history integration with the rest of the wiki	Done	N Not done	Done	Done
Mobile web support	N Not done	Done	Done	N Not done
Mobile app support	N Not done	N Not done	Done	N Not done
Permalink to a given comment	Done	Done	Done – if the signature of the comment is not altered.	In progress

Discussion features

Interaction with talk pages and other comments.

	LiquidThreads	Structured Discussions	DiscussionTools	Convenient Discussions
Dedicated workflow for starting a new topic	Done	Done	Done	Done
Topic and contents preload	Done	Done	Done	Done
Indication of new comments when you read a topic	N Not done	N Not done	Done
Indication of edited comments when you read a topic	Done	Done	N Not done	Done
Each conversation has a permalink	Done	Done – Each topic is a different page.	Done – By linking to the title, or by using the first comment's permalink.	In progress
Move topics between pages	Done	N Not done – planned but not implemented	Done – via wikitext editing; title and signature mustn't be altered during the move.	Done
Include discussions on another page and reply to them there	N Not done	N Not done – planned, including cross-wiki transclusion , but not implemented	Done – via transclusion
Editing comments	Done	Done	Partially done – via wikitext editing the whole page or section. See T242562 and T245225 for the editing of individual comments.	Done
Thank a comment from within the talk page	Partially done – via Page history	Done	Partially done – via Thanks in Page history. In progress – Work on supporting "Thanking" from the DiscussionTools UI is being tracked.	Done
Sort topics by recent comment	Done	Done	N Not done	N Not done
Sort topics by start date	Done	Done	N Not done	N Not done
Summarize a discussion at the top of it	Done	Done	Partially done – by editing opening comment.
Mark a message as read or unread	Done	N Not done	N Not done	N Not done
Show/hide (collapse) subthreads	Done	N Not done	N Not done	Done

Notifications and interactivity

	LiquidThreads	Structured Discussions	DiscussionTools	Convenient Discussions
Highlight a set of unread comments	N Not done	Done	Done – only when subscribed to a topic and using links from notifications	Done
Subscribe to be notified about new comments to a topic	Done – via Watchlist	Done – via Echo		Done – via Echo or itself
Be notified when a new topic is started on a talk page
Auto-subscription to a topic you created	Done – default
Highlight a quoted comment	N Not done – can link to comments but only as standalone pages	Done	Done	Done
Notification of edited comments	Partially done – only on your own comments	Done	N Not done	N Not done

Maintenance and moderation

	LiquidThreads	Structured Discussions	DiscussionTools	Convenient Discussions
Direct access to user talkpage, contribs and more	Partially done – if linked in the signature	Done	Partially done – if linked in the signature
Hide (moderate) a comment	Partially done – no undelete UI	Done	Partially done – via undo/rollback (requires searching for edit in edit history) or archival templates, not included and requires editing wikitext	Done
Hide or delete a topic		Done		Partially done – same as DiscussionTools
Archiving discussions	Not needed	Not needed	N Not done – see T337293 Requires 3rd party bots for automatic archival Requires wikitext editing or 3rd party gadgets for manual archival	N Not done – Same as DiscussionTools, though moving topics can be used for manual archival.
Report an inappropriate comment	N Not done	N Not done	In progress	N Not done