Hi all,
I just thought I'd do a quick poll to see if people are interested in the new features FANDOM has to offer - I will give a sample below of what they are and I will do so in an unbiased way and just say what it is and what it's designed for.
Please take part in the poll below also to give an indicator of if you think having the below features is a good idea. If the overall poll shows in favour, a real forum will be created.
Discussions
FANDOM created discussions with the intention of creating a separate part of the Wiki where people can have conversations about said Wiki's topic. You typically find discussions there where people would talk about their favourite characters, set up opinion polls or talk about anything.
Message Walls
FANDOM's new message platform, it automatically creates the title, and marks who left the message. It was designed so that users dont need to do basic mark up to leave a message. (such as == title == ~~~~ )
23:06, January 3, 2020 (UTC)
Other (additional information for those who voted this way in the poll)
Comment - I strongly object to this proposal. Message Walls are not the worst thing in the world, but this post undersells Talk Pages. Signing a memo with "~~~~" is hardly HTML, and other forms of markup are good practice for the articles that make up for the core of the wiki. On the other hand, Discussions are a nuisance. On wikis where Discussions are implemented, the Forums as a whole are locked down.
https://i.imgur.com/M6DynHs.png
FANDOM's hostile insertion of Discussions into unwilling communities should not be forgotten either. There is no closing Pandora's box where Discussions are concerned. But more than this, we observed at the time that no one here had an interest in policing this feature on a part of the site wholly removed from Wiki Activity. Now that the series is over, we are hemorrhaging staff. I acknowledge that the strongest protestors against this change are among those who have left, but I resent that we should try pushing this again in their absence and with even fewer hands on deck.
Bottom line: we are past the point when we could have handled Discussions, and we rightly didn't want them then. It would decentralize the community's efforts (particularly staff oversight) and further weaken Wiki Activity to implement them now. I don't think the average voter fresh from Discord understands this is the nuclear option. We cannot put it to a referendum and then work out a plan later. Guildmaster Grovyle (talk) 03:23, January 4, 2020 (UTC)
- Moderating discussions wouldn't be a problem. The discussions feature comes with its own user right. Discussions moderator. I don't mind moderating it until suitable candidates turn up. I am after all, very experienced in managing discussions. The new forum extension was indeed replaced with the discussions extension but we don't use the new forums layout anyway. We use the old style forums. 343TheGuiltyProphet - Contact 06:37, January 4, 2020 (UTC)
Comment - I feel this post not only undersells talk pages but also oversells Message Walls. They're certainly more organized and aesthetically pleasing, but they're also VERY easy to manipulate and erase with little detection. Speaking from experience on the Star vs. the Forces of Evil Wiki, Message Wall threads can be wholly removed and most wouldn't notice unless they were closely watching Special:RecentChanges. This would render the current Wiki policy of archiving talk pages completely ineffectual.
Plus, to remove or close Message Wall threads requires giving a reason for the removal or closure in this pop-up box:
https://i.imgur.com/BLHLDSi.png
But a typical user can insert as little as one text character or space, and the system will consider it sufficient enough to let the user click "Remove" or "Close". They don't even have to check the "Notify an admin" checkbox. Easily abusable. I have no solid opinion about Discussions, but Message Walls are not perfect or as superior to talk pages as some think. 
16:29, January 5, 2020 (UTC)
- Hi Imperfect, I will address your points
- My intention is not to "sell" anything, I have already changed the wording once to try and not make Message Walls look too superior. This forum was created just as a little indicator as to if a proper forum would be worth it.
- Sorry but I don't feel that your point about it being harder to keep track off to be all that plausible. Deleted messages will appear in Special:RecentChanges and yes, not many users use that, but surely it won't be too challenging for admins to start using it? After all, that is what it's there for. If users are deleting messages, it's no one else's concerns except for administrators. Taking a look at the poll as it stands, whilst yes, it is pretty close, it's clear that just over half the audience favour the changes and I think that's something that desperately needs to be considered, we can't ignore people because we hate the concept of change because I truly fear, that's what has actually happened here. 343TheGuiltyProphet - Contact 17:01, January 5, 2020 (UTC)
About the message walls
I think we should have them, don't yall think talk pages are quite outdated now???
Alexoof 00:13, January 4, 2020 (UTC)
Dry63's Thoughts
I'm all for Message Wall. It's more efficient in communication. However, the Discussions are not worth it in my opinion. Dry63 (talk) 23:54, January 4, 2020 (UTC)