Extension:LiquidThreads

LiquidThreads is an extension that implements a new discussion page system. The original code was developed under sponsorship from the Google Summer of Code 2006, the Commonwealth of Learning, and Wikia. It is close to completion, and being worked on by Andrew Garrett under contract with the Wikimedia Foundation. It is currently being tested and used on some Wikimedia wikis and may eventually be deployed on all Wikimedia sites.

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)
 * lqt.sql is found in the main LiquidThreads folder
 * Add database tables from lqt.sql using the sql.php MediaWiki tool.
 * cd into the extensions/LiquidThreads directory
 * run mysql -u[put your username here] -p [put your database name here] < lqt.sql on a shell
 * Unix: if the current directory you are in is the MediaWiki root directory, you can type "php maintenance/sql.php extensions/LiquidThreads/lqt.sql".
 * If you haven't created the AdminSettings.php file, you will have to do that first; see Manual:AdminSettings.php [Note: not required in 1.16].
 * 1) Installation can be verified through Special:Version

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.
 * 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.

Redesign
'''LiquidThreads is currently undergoing a redesign. You can read about these changes here. Your comments are appreciated.'''

Addressing
Each thread has a unique and permanent wiki title, so they can be linked to: e.g., Thread:Talk:Main_Page/Thread 1.

API
LiquidThreads adds a 'threads' list module to retrieve thread details.

Parameters
 * : The thread id to start enumerating from
 * : The thread id to stop enumerating at
 * : The direction in which to enumerate (older, newer)
 * : The maximum number of threads to list
 * : Which properties to get
 * : Limit results to threads on a particular page(s)
 * : Limit results to threads by a particular author(s)
 * : Limit results to threads with the given root(s)
 * : Limit results to threads corresponding to the given summary page(s)
 * : Get threads with the given ID(s)
 * : Get threads with the given ID(s)

Example

Sites that use LiquidThreads

 * translatewiki.net (all talk pages)
 * Gamification.org, Gamification Wiki - Liquid Threads used on every discussion tab.


 * strategy.wikimedia.org (in places) - link?
 * English Wikinews (in places) - link?
 * English Wiktionary (in places) - link?
 * MediaWiki.org (here - see Project:Support desk)


 * Non-English sites


 * German: Web Community Wiki (Guestbook) – Place where Liquid Threads can be tested
 * German: 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)

Other links

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