Thread:Talk:Flow/Strengths of existing system/reply (8)

Talk page are used for other purposes in addition to sending messages to a person, or joining in a discussion.

In my own work in WP, I normally go to a user talk page when there is a problem with their contributions; what I will say there can depend very much on what else I find, first there, and then  in their contribution history. The present system works extremely well for this., except when they delete things from their talk p., and if I suspect this, I need to check also their talk p. history.

There are also some people whose talk p. is watched by a very large number of people--sometimes several hundred, most of whom do not really plan on posting there, but want to see what is being discussed there, under the assumption that some of what they find out about may be interesting.

I'm concerned that the emphasis on specific information flow may be damaging to general project-wide awareness.