Extension:Debate

MediaWiki extensions manual - list

Debate Release status: beta
Implementation	Parser function, Tag, Page action
Description	Adds tags that allow a rebuttal for a section of text to be displayed in a column to its right, plus helpers that allow case category and case point hierarchies to be easily created. Requires the CategoryTree and SubPageList3 extensions.
Author(s)	Mark Reginald James (SilicoTalk)
Last version	0.27 (2008-12-22)
MediaWiki	?
License	MIT
Download	svn://svn-server.mooo.com/mw_debate_extension/trunk/Debate
Hooks used ParserFirstCallInit LanguageGetMagic UnknownAction
Check usage (experimental)

What can this extension do?

The Debate extension allows a wiki to host a collection of accumulating, hierarchical, and closely-argued debates. The extension—

1. Adds <debate>, <contended>, and <rebuttal> tags that allow rebuttal text to appear alongside sections of page text.
2. Adds the {{#addcategory:}}, {{#addcase:}}, {{#addpoint:}}, and {{#addsubpoint:}} parser functions that allow category and case-point hierarchies to be created through input boxes.
3. Allows subpage lists displayed by the SubPageList3 extension to remain current by purging the appropriate page caches after page creation, deletion, or renaming, and by automatically renaming the sub-pages of a renamed page.

Download instructions

In the MediaWiki extensions directory, run

svn co svn://svn-server.mooo.com/mw_debate_extension/trunk/Debate

Installation

To install this extension, add the following to LocalSettings.php:

require_once("$IP/extensions/Debate/Debate.php");

Ensure the prerequisite CategoryTree and SubPageList3 extensions are installed, then apply the included patch to the SubPageList3 extension.

Changelog

Version 0.27, 2008-12-22

Implement the "watch all" and "unwatch all" tabs to allow one-click watching of page hierarchies. Not yet done are tooltips, Ajax, and some error messages.

Version 0.2, 2008-12-21

Allow rebuttal sections to be displayed in truncated form, terminated by an ellipsis that can be clicked to reveal the full text of that rebuttal section. This prevents long rebuttals from interrupting the case text flow.

Version 0.1, 2008-09-16

Initial release.

Planned Enhancements

• Allow editing of case texts to be restricted to certain users, while rebuttals can be changed by all. (Extract case text, check for changes.)

• Add an <aside> tag that places text in tooltips, eliminating the need to clutter texts with explanations (especially responses to rebuttals).

• Integrate the functionality of the Diff Highlighting on Article Pages Extension.

• Paragraph-level watching.