Structured Discussions

Users expect a modern and intuitive discussion interface. Talk pages - as a discussion technology - are antiquated and user-hostile.

Users are surprised by the cultural norms of the community. Many things about the culture that has grown up around talk pages (such as "talkback" templates or being able to edit other people's comments) are confusing.

We believe that a modern user-to-user discussion system will improve the projects. Better methods for collaboration will improve collaboration, which will improve all of the projects.

What is Flow?
Flow is the code name for an ambitious project being started by the Wikimedia Foundation. At first glance, Flow is a next generation discussion system - but that is only one part of it. Flow is actually a rethinking of how we do collaborative work in the projects. Initially, the key components of Flow are likely to include:


 * The Feed module. This is a powerful way for users to have insight into their discussions and interests, and introduces several modern software conveniences (such as subscriptions and tagging)
 * The User Discussion module. We are starting our focus only on what we call "User to user discussion" as these discussion types are not overly complex.  As we learn more, we can expand the technology to cover additional cases
 * A Workflow Description Language module. This will allow local wikis to create both simple and complex software workflows that work with in Flow.  Example workflow ideas include:
 * A Block Module. This is an example of a specific user-discussion use case that is best solved in software.
 * A Welcome Module. This is an example of a specific use case that is best served in software rather than templates (think: welcome templates that are interactive and teach new users how to edit before they make mistakes).

In the future, Flow will grow to encompass all manner of tools, including:


 * A Watchlist module
 * A Wikiprojects module
 * Further Discussion modules to cover additional use cases (like !voting, noticeboards, the Teahouse, reference desks, article discussions, and so forth)