LiquidThreads 3.0

Rationale
Currently, MediaWiki discussion pages are unstructured free-form Wikitext pages. There are many disadvantages to this system, including but not limited to:


 * Lack of obvious threading
 * Lack of consistent user identification
 * Lack of intelligent archiving
 * Lack of sorting
 * High difficulty for new/inexperienced users to engage in discussions
 * Inability to "watch" specific discussions; user must watch entire page (which may be sub-optimal).

With LiquidThreads, we attempt to solve these problems while bringing new features to the table:


 * A more "standard" approach to threaded discussions, greatly enhancing the ability for new users to engage. This feature includes:
 * Replies are nested within discussions
 * Automatic signing of posts
 * A single "reply to" button and other mechanisms to aid inexperienced users instead of simply throwing them into Wikitext.
 * User avatars
 * Ability to sort discussions by differing criteria
 * Individual discussions (and posts within the discussion) are treated as single pages (which potentially allows for categorization, individual watching/unwatching, etc.)
 * Automatic archiving: older discussions naturally "fall off" the visible page, retaining permanent links.

The ultimate goal of LiquidThreads is to encourage community health, editor participation, and editor retention.

Timeline

 * Phase 1 (back-end work) due to complete by August 2011.

Additional documents

 * User requirements:
 * Specifications:
 * Software design document:
 * Backend update document
 * The fate of various parts of the LiquidThreads code
 * Object model
 * Test plan:
 * Documentation plan:
 * User interface design docs: Extension:LiquidThreads/Redesign
 * Task management: Open issues on "LiquidThreads" component
 * Release management plan:
 * Communications plan:
 * Status updates

Obsolete documents

 * Old object model: Core
 * Old object model: Discussion core