Topic on Talk:Structured Discussions

Jokes Free4Me (talkcontribs)
  • linking to topics produces redlinks
  • no reply-level history (that i could find)
  • inserting a link makes the text input blue (as if it will be part of the link)... until you press Enter -- and then, the blue text gets cut off at the first space or hyphen
    • very limited pipe-linking -- if you want to change the whole text of the link, you better write the replacement first and then delete the target page's title, or you'll have to re-insert the link. (unless you use the button or the Ctrl+K shortcut)
      • cannot undo an "add link" action
  • doesn't accept all wikisyntax
    • no signature support
    • no multi-level indenting (that i could find) -- unless for lists
    • limited (and non-intuitive) multi-level lists (cannot mix them, repeated indents and unindents create blank items unnecessarily, up and down arrows skip the no-text entries, when those are probably the ones needing more input) -- theUI should also add buttons for these actions instead of just relying on TABs and Shift+TABs.
    • cannot unindent after the colon got replaced by a blockquote... Using backspace for the below paragraph makes it part of this list item, and then it can't be moved out of the list unless via cut-and-paste.
Unintended indent... cannot be undone (unless via cut-and-paste again).

There probably are other issues too, but i'm done testing for now.

He7d3r (talkcontribs)

See these tasks:

  • T94773 - MediaWiki colors links to some existing Flow topics as red
  • T90055 - Changing the displayed name, in Flow
121.219.80.119 (talkcontribs)

Most of those wikitext issues are VE. The no signature support is intended. You don't need to sign in flow.

Jokes Free4Me (talkcontribs)

Okay, then the MOST IMPORTANT problem with Flow is that it uses Visual Editor.

Also, the fact that i don't need something is yourthe devs' unilateral decision. The fact remains that some users want to use it, and it's been decided for them that they shouldn't.

121.219.247.173 (talkcontribs)

Flow uses VE as an option (and not even as the default). You don't have to use it, just like you don't have to use it for normal editing.

Signing doesn't make any sense in flow; your posts are already automatically "signed". Having to write a signature manually is a relic from not having a discussion system and by not supporting the signature wikitext, it helps get people out of the habit of having to do it. Having special wikitext which is substituted with your signature is not a valid need. If for some bizarre reason you do want to write your signature in arbitrary locations, you can do so by writing it manually.

What is a valid need regarding signatures is the ability to customize them. Seems like unnecessary clutter to me, just like having avatars, but valid nonetheless.

Jokes Free4Me (talkcontribs)

Okay, i'll remove the VE-related stuff. Here's the remaining list:

  • linking to topics produces redlinks
  • no reply-level history (that i could find)
  • doesn't accept all wikisyntax
  • (noticed a new one) ULs and OLs are not using the same indent.

Posts are indeed automatically signed, at first. How about edits to posts? And who ever said anything about "having to write a signature"? We just want to be allowed to do it. And doing it manually doesn't cut it, since timestamps cannot be added manually.

PS Does the fact that after a preview (of a long post) the scroll-bar disappears (which disables the scroll-via-mouse-wheel) relate to Visual Editor or to Flow? I'd be inclined to say the latter... Ditto for the preview mode isn't WYSIWYG for when multi-level indents "reset" to "Level 0".

137.147.135.51 (talkcontribs)

And when you edit a post, the timestamp is updated automatically. What else would you want to change when you edit your signature?

Of course timestamps can be added manually, you can write whatever text you like here. Is it convenient? No. But it's really doesn't make sense as a feature. When would you want to do it? At most, you could argue you want the five tilde syntax to work to allow easily writing a timestamp anywhere. But the 3 and 4 tilde syntax aren't relevant in flow.

Jokes Free4Me (talkcontribs)

That's exactly the problem: it updates the whole post to the new timestamp, when there are quite a number of cases when the post will be clearly left in a multi-part state, and currently there's no indication about when were those parts written. Especially if a second user edits a post, and clearly keeps their changes separate from the original user's content. (I'm sure i've seen a great example of this somewhere before, but can't find it right now)

And the 3 and 4 tilde syntax will become irrelevant only after the deployment of T90055 - Changing the displayed name, in Flow (if it manages to get to that point -- there are still some unclear bits about it). So, presently, your statement isn't accurate. Also, of course the five tilde suntax should work. Why shouldn't it?

He7d3r (talkcontribs)

I would just reply to the comment instead of editting it if I wanted a comment to have a new timestamp. No need for multiple timestamps for a single (edited) comment.

Jokes Free4Me (talkcontribs)

New bummers:

  • all those stupid TABS your parser/JS/whaever adds each time a reply is edited, mess up the diff...
  • Having a topic link for each entry on the topic's history page is lazy.
  • Having no way to compare non-successive revisions is a PITA.
He7d3r (talkcontribs)
Reply to "Problems with Flow"