Extension:LiquidThreads

Liquid Threads, abbreviated LQT, is an extension that implements a new discussion page system. The code was developed under sponsorship from the Google Summer of Code 2006, the Commonwealth of Learning, and Wikia.

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. This, however, happens relatively rarely as the software does not promote it specifically.

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.

Core model
Details forthcoming.

Schrödinger's thread
When a thread is moved to a different talkpage, a pointer is left in the old location so that users can follow it easily.

Smart archiving
Threads are archived after a defined number of days, but only if a summary exists for the thread. This way, summaries are to be encouraged.

Addressing
Each thread has a unique and permanent wiki title, so they can be linked to: e.g., Thread:Discussion about LiquidThreads (4). A number is automatically added to the end of the title to make it unique.

Gateways
In the long term, LiquidThreads could offer interfaces for external access - by e-mail, using a newsreader, or even using real-time chat like IRC. Even the web interface could allow real-time chat: Using a link "Change to real-time mode", users could open a chat room for a specific thread and invite others to join.

Typically, real-time comments are rather short, and it is not as clear as in a forum who has written what. It may therefore be desirable to collect real-time chat protocols in a single, openly editable comment so that other users can edit and summarize them.