Flow/2017 community feedback concerning URLs format

Flow URLs have been pointed as not being easy to use or understand. The Collaboration team plans to change that aspect soon and is asking for community input.

Technical aspects
A Topic URL is formatted at the moment like that:

We plan to change that to have something more descriptive that will give more context to users.

Those URLs must include:
 * namespace prefix, that must be used as a prefix like on any other page.
 * universally unique identifier (UUID) included somewhere . That UUID is the most import piece of information and it must be kept all times.

Parameters
The Collaboration team is asking for your feedback about how the different elements have to be ordered: There are many options, from these 2 variables. After some discussions offline, the Collaboration team have selected a few.
 * 1) The Order of the 3 elements - (UUID, Topicname, Pagename)
 * 2) The Separator to use between elements
 * 3) Any other safe-character can potentially be used:
 * 4) Some are not available on some keyboards, like   or are not easy to use on other keyboards, like
 * 5)   and/or   are recommended. We can't use.
 * 6) The separator is just for visual distinction and comprehension. It will not be tripped up, if the page/topic name contains the separator-character.

Proposal
As a reminder, the current state is https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:T47jqwe15hsw3ai0
 * :  https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Test@Project_talk:Sandbox/Flow_test/T47jqwe15hsw3ai0
 * 1) * Topic is immediately followed by the location, using the  as a location marker.
 * :  https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Test-T47jqwe15hsw3ai0@Project_talk:Sandbox/Flow_test
 * 1) * The UUID is attached to the topic name to avoid a bad copy/pasting. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Test-T47jqwe15hsw3ai0 will work, even if the location is forgotten.
 * 2) * A dash is used instead of a slash, to prevent confusion with subpages.
 * : https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:T47jqwe15hsw3ai0
 * 1) * Keep it like it is.

FAQ
Will the current URLs already used on pages will still work when the new URL format will be deployed?

Yes. The UUID is the only mandatory element. The current format will still work and it can be possible to use it as a shortcut.

'''Why using UUID ? Can't we skip it?'''

Flow has been designed to support cross wikis posts and displays. The UUID allows that and also prevents to have conflicting threads with identical titles.

Why don't you suggest something like  ?

To avoid confusion by having the Pagename stick to the Topic: prefix.

What about parameters in the URL?

Parameters, used to highlight recent or quoted posts, will remain unchanged, but the URL will use the new configuration. If choice 1 is chosen, https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Topic:T47jqwe15hsw3ai0&topic_showPostId=t49mlohk9hyxugx0#flow-post-t49mlohk9hyxugx0 will be become https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Topic:Test@Project_talk:Sandbox/Flow_test/T47jqwe15hsw3ai0&topic_showPostId=t49mlohk9hyxugx0#flow-post-t49mlohk9hyxugx0

Feedback
Please leave your feedback on the talk page, by indicating which solution you prefer, of a combination of different proposals. Any new format idea can be suggested on the talk page, but please do not edit the proposal page to add a new one.

That feedback process is not a formal decision process. The Collaboration team will make the final decision.