Extension:LiquidThreads

LiquidThreads is an extension that implements a new discussion page system. The original code was developed by David McCabe under sponsorship from the Google Summer of Code 2006, the Commonwealth of Learning, and Wikia. However, David McCabe is no longer involved with this project. It is currently being developed by the features team at the Wikimedia Foundation.

Contact

 * Project Manager
 * Alolita Sharma, Engineering Program Manager, Features; Wikimedia Foundation


 * Lead Developer
 * Andrew Garrett, contractor at the Wikimedia Foundation


 * Interaction Designer
 * Brandon Harris, Wikimedia Foundation

Status
The original LiquidThreads code has been substantially improved and augmented by Andrew Garrett at the Wikimedia Foundation since May 2009. In January 2011, a new re-engineering project was begun at the Foundation, and it is anticipated that this will result in a pilot on a large project by the end of Q1 2011. An older version of the extension is also in testing on several MediaWiki sites, and was used in the strategic planning process.

Rationale
Wiki discussion pages have some advantages over web and Usenet forums. They allow use of the entire wiki syntax - from images to wiki links to transclusion. It is possible to refactor entire discussion pages.

Web forums offer a number of advantages over the MediaWiki talk page model:
 * Threads can be displayed in different views: flat, nested, sorted by date, subject, etc.
 * The user only needs to click a "Reply" button or link in order to respond to a comment. Manual indentation is not required. Quotations from the source comment can be inserted automatically.
 * Comments are automatically signed and dated.
 * Avatars are possible. (but not yet created)
 * The user can watch individual threads or be notified about responses in threads.
 * Comments and threads can be displayed individually, without the surrounding page.
 * Old comments are archived automatically and invisibly, with permanent links easily available.
 * Search for author, subject, date, etc. is possible
 * Individual threads can have categories.
 * It is relatively easy to manage related discussions in a subject-specific forum, whereas MediaWiki talk pages always follow the "one discussion page per content page" model.

LiquidThreads aims to unite the advantages of both forum types, and to add some unique discussion features to boot.

Installation

 * 1) Download the files from SVN
 * 2) Create a folder called LiquidThreads and put the downloaded files in this folder.
 * 3) Extract the new folder to your extensions directory folder.
 * 4) Add  into your wiki's LocalSettings.php
 * 5) Add the required tables to the database: php maintenance/update.php (your designated database user needs to have CREATE rights on your MediaWiki database)
 * 6) Installation can be verified through Special:Version

API
API documentation

Sites that use LiquidThreads

 * translatewiki.net (all talk pages)
 * Gamification.org, Gamification Wiki (all talk pages)


 * strategy.wikimedia.org (in places) - link?
 * English Wikinews (in places) - link?
 * English Wiktionary (in places) - link?
 * MediaWiki.org (here - see Project:Support desk)
 * RationalWiki (in places) Example
 * ratingstars.org: http://www.ratingstars.org all talk pages
 * Theopedia (in places) Example


 * Non-English sites


 * German: Web Community Wiki (Guestbook) – Place where Liquid Threads can be tested
 * French: Wikimini.org (used by children 8-13, all talk pages - Example)
 * Spanish: WikiPartido, (spanish political party, all talk pages)
 * Hungarian: Hungarian Wikipedia (here for testing)
 * Polish: http://www.komentarz.org all talk pages

Other links

 * Bugzilla ticket for LiquidThreads deployment
 * English Wikipedia LiquidThreads article
 * Wikimedia Commons LiquidThreads pictures