Topic on Talk:Talk pages project/Usability/Prototype

1. Did you use mobile device or a laptop to test the prototype?
   • Laptop
2. What did you find unexpected about the prototype?
   • Surprisingly familiar
3. Which steps in the "Try the Prototype" section did you find difficult to complete?
   • None
4. What do you like about the prototype?
   • Not too different from what we're used to
5. What do you wish was different about the prototype?
   • Editing talk pages becomes another skill for editors (new and old) to learn. We still need to master editing articles etc. (i.e. pages which won't use this new workflow) but will now need a second set of processes for editing talk.
6. (Optional) Can you imagine this design not working on some pages? If you can, please share links to these pages? It would be very helpful.
   • Discussion pages which are not in talk namespaces. English Wikipedia examples include Teahouse (relevant to new editors), AfD and the Village Pump.

How do you imagine the design being inappropriate in the Teahouse or a Village Pump? (I have some doubts about AFD pages myself. For example, w:en:Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2022 August 31 has no ==Level 2== section headings.)

If the new design works at the Teahouse then it may be appropriate. I just saw technical difficulties in working out which non-talk pages it should apply to. One option is simply to continue the current methods for such pages (edit them like articles) but that difference from talk pages may cause confusion.

The Reply button only appears if there is an "Add new section" button at the top of the page. (This can be controlled locally with a magic word.) Do you think that would be a reasonable signal for whether you want the new discussion activity information displayed?

I'd never *want* the new discussion activity information displayed: I still think that having to learn two different editing systems is a step backwards, and I'll opt out if there is any facility to do so. However, the "new section" button seems like a reasonable signal for when to offer it.

If you want to opt out, then Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing-discussion gives you all the buttons. I believe that if you go to Special:GlobalPreferences#mw-prefsection-editing-discussion here at MediaWiki.org (specifically), then you can even opt out of any/all parts of it on all the wikis in one fell swoop.

Thanks, that's very useful and thoughtful. I'll give the new system a fair try, but it's good to know that it's optional for us Luddites who are used to a more traditional way of editing.

As a side note, I've been really happy recently to see people giving Vector 2022 a fair try. It's a big change, and there are things I personally don't love about it, but it's been really heartening to see people try it out for a week or two instead of seizing onto a first impression.