Structured Discussions/Rollout

See also: Flow/Project information/status (the monthly updates in the Wikimedia Features engineering page)
 * 1) Rollout: The pages that have been flow-enabled
 * 2) Releases: A fairly high-level overview of changes to Flow.

Rollout
Enabling Flow on a page currently (September 2014) requires a PHP config variable. This will some day change to a Special admin page.

Upcoming/Requested

 * Co-op bot
 * T78640: The en:Wikipedia:Co-op project's MatchBot will use the  right to create Flow boards for new editors and mentors on enwiki. Documentation at w:User:HostBot/Co-op


 * Single pages
 * Wikipedias:
 * a test page at Russian WP - ru:Википедия:Песочница/Flow and ru:Википедия:Форум/Новости/Flow (per and 70697 and discussion here. On trello. )
 * a test page at Korean WP - request here (to be confirmed)
 * a test page at Polish WP - Suggested in IRC. Contact pl:wp:R&D. discussion here
 * MediaWiki:
 * Extension_talk:MobileFrontend (per T85816)
 * Meta
 * m:Programs talk:Evaluation portal/Learning modules
 * Talk:Reference readability (requested via E2 email in April)
 * Commons:
 * commons:Commons talk:Wikimaps
 * Commons:Bistro
 * Wikidata:


 * Wikis/Namespaces
 * Outreach wiki (requested)
 * When we stop using LiquidThreads, we will convert  hundreds of LiquidThread pages on 13 wikis into Flow boards. See mailing list discussion.


 * Later possibilities
 * maybe a lottery for communities wanting to enable Flow on their pages' Talk pages. (Ie. only add 100 pages at a time, for cautiousness)
 * Beta feature for users to enable Flow on their User_talk page (or Wikiproject_talk page), perhaps with a switch for admins to push.
 * Changing talkpages that are red/blank.

Done
The static set of Flow boards enabled by config change is in the wmf-config of a per-wiki  variable.

This doesn't scale, we should replace it with a query for pages with content-model  (part of T85874).


 * 2014-01-20
 * pages on Portuguese Wikipedia:
 * pt:Wikipédia Discussão:Flow
 * pt:Wikipédia:Flow/Testes
 * per T73757 and discussion here and here


 * 2014-12-09
 * pages on Catalan Wikipedia:
 * ca:Viquipèdia_Discussió:Flow (discussion page for the info page about Flow)
 * ca:Viquipèdia_Discussió:Flow/proves (test page)
 * ca:Viquipèdia:La_taverna/Tecnicismes (new Technical Village Pump already agreed by the community)
 * The latter is a main page, not a Talk page, so its discussion page ca:Viquipèdia_Discussió:La_taverna/Tecnicismes is Flow-enabled as well.
 * Flowify all of officewiki's root level talkpages.


 * 2014-12-03
 * officewiki - convert the officewiki talk namespace, and 7 LQT pages.


 * 2014-11
 * another Design Research usability test page on ,


 * 2014-09-XX
 * Talk:Search
 * Talk:MediaWiki UI


 * 2014-09-23
 * Talk:HHVM/About beta feature
 * Talk:MediaWiki 1.25
 * User talk:Jdforrester (WMF)


 * 2014-09-04
 * en:Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Flow_test and then deleted
 * en:Wikipedia:Co-op/Mentorship_match Programs Co-op page, related to meta:Grants:IEG/Reimagining Wikipedia Mentorship
 * fr:Discussion Wikipédia:Flow and fr:Wikipédia:Forum des nouveaux/Flow as testing locations, for a potential future rollout at fr:Wikipédia:Forum des nouveaux
 * he:שיחת ויקיפדיה:זרימה the Hebrew version of WP talk:Flow


 * 2014-07-28
 * Sandbox page for Wikimania user testing


 * 2014-07
 * Flow introduces a Topic: namespace so users can watch individual topics. We renamed one colliding article plus its redirects on enwiki.


 * 2014-06-02
 * Talk:Search
 * Talk:Cite-from-id


 * 2014-05-20
 * Talk:Design (existing LiquidThreads threads moved to Talk:Design/Team/Process)
 * Talk:Phabricator/Help
 * Talk:Wikibase/Beta Features/Other projects sidebar


 * 2014-04-29
 * Talk:VisualEditor/Beta_Features/Language
 * Talk:Content_translation (existing LiquidThreads threads moved to Talk:Content translation/Specification)


 * 2014-03-25
 * Talk:Compact Personal Bar

From now on, the discussion pages for all new Beta Features will be Flow-enabled.
 * 2014-03-20
 * Talk:Beta Features/Hovercards


 * 2014-02-18
 * first Flow page on meta: m:Talk:Flow/Developer test page
 * mw:Talk:Winter (talk page for design refresh)
 * mw:User talk:Jorm (WMF) – first User talk page in production!


 * 2014-02-03 first Flow pages on enwiki:
 * en:WikiProject_talk:Breakfast,
 * en:WikiProject_talk:Hampshire
 * en:Wikipedia talk:Flow/Developer test page

Enabling the extension was tracked in.
 * 2013-12-11 first Flow pages on mediawikiwiki:
 * Talk:Flow
 * Talk:Sandbox
 * Talk:Flow_QA

Prior

 * See Flow/Interactive prototype

Process
Basically: For a Wiki that doesn't have Flow installed at all: (but all moving at the speed of "when we have sufficient time/bandwidth to do it properly.")
 * 1) Start a discussion with the community, to get consensus on starting the trial.
 * 2) Once that's confirmed, the devs will enable it at 2 pages: a test (sandbox) page, and a feedback page (usually WT:Flow in the local language).
 * 3) During 1 & 2, it's good to discuss where the community wishes to trial Flow after that, in a real-working environment. E.g. a helpdesk, or villagepump, or similar.

For individual's who just want to opt-in to using Flow on their own usertalk pages, as soon as that becomes possible at any wiki, there's a signup list at Flow/Volunteers to test

Ways in which enabling Flow affects a wiki
Flow does not affect any non-special pages of a wiki other than the page(s) where Flow has been deployed.


 * Feeds

You will see slight differences in Flow entries in:
 * RecentChanges
 * Special:Contributions
 * Watchlist
 * Special:Log

We're working to make those entries look more like page edits.


 * History

Each Flow topic has its own history. The Flow board is currently the history of topic-level changes. We're working to make it look and behave more like a page history.


 * Moderating content

Currently, deletion and suppression are done from the Flow board, by using the action menu next to a topic or post. In the future, we will move deletion and suppression actions to the history to make them work more like RevisionDeletion


 * Pagelinks, imagelinks, categorylinks, etc.

This functionality is not yet implemented, but work on it is currently in progress.

Steps in activating the Flow extension on a wiki

 * 1) Update this page
 * 2) Announce that Flow is going to be activated on the wiki's technical/admin notice boards
 * 3) ready Flow-enabled template, or custom messaging, for Board headers
 * 4) check for any existing pages using the Topic: prefix, use Special:MoveTo to rename them.  Note, "namespaceDupes.php doesn't update references in other tables for pages it moved"
 * 5) prep config change activating the extension and adding a test page (decide whether to distinguish a Flow feedback board from a Flow sandbox board, e.g.m:Talk:Flow/Developer test page)
 * 6) deploy config change, test test page, add Flow-enabled

Steps in enabling Flow on a talk page

 * 2015-01-20 the config change is no longer required. Any developer with the  right can make an API request to a non-existent page to add a Flow board header or a new topic, and this will create a Flow board. Details to follow.

From https://trello.com/c/23lOl7v5/76-enable-flow-on-meta-programs-and-some-mw-org-design-pages, we'll refine it. This is the detailed-version for the first Talk page on a wiki that is Flow-enabled.


 * 1) Update this page
 * 2) Announce that Flow is going to be enabled on some Talk page (e.g.), point people to test page for wiki.
 * 3) Add to Deployments calendar, usually in our Tuesday Flow window. (Prior to 10am Friday PST. For best news dispersal via Greg's meetings and Tech News.)


 * 1) prep config change to enable Flow on the talk page
 * 2) Immediately prior to deploy: Archive the existing pages:
 * 3) * Page-move the existing talkpage to [OldName/Archive 1]. (e.g.)
 * 4) * Add a "This page is now archived" template to the top of the archived talkpage. (Use archive at mww, and  at enwiki or meta). (e.g.)
 * 5) If the current page is using LiquidThreads, edit its source and remove   from the page, otherwise enabling Flow won't work.
 * 6) Deploy config change
 * 7) If the page does not display as a Flow board, then purge it (append   to its URL).
 * 8) Edit the header of the talk page that has become a Flow board:
 * 9) * add Flow-enabled or a similar message.
 * 10) * link to the archived talkpage (from Step 8)

Releases
To see in detail what's changed:
 * browse in git or gerrit.
 * See subpages of MediaWiki 1.23 and MediaWiki 1.24

Most recent first.

1.24wmf25
Improved moderation dialog box.

1.24wmf21

 * "Close topic" renamed to "Lock topic" for clarity.
 * proper support for replying with no JavaScript

1.24wmf18

 * Echo changes: notifications from Flow appear in a separate "Messages" tab in the Echo flyout, you can mark each or all as read, visiting a topic marks notifications about its new posts as read.

Earlier:there is a watchlist star on individual topics on a Flow board.

1.24wmf14, deployed to enwiki on 2014-07-24

 * Topics are now "pages" named Topic: in the new Topic namespace. You can watch these pages. See Flow/Architecture/URLs
 * While viewing a Flow board, you can click on a watchlist star in a topic's titlebar to watch ("subscribe") to it.
 * Flow boards reference 'mediawiki.skinning.content.parsoid' CSS module, so image thumbnails and other wikitext should display better.

1.24wmf12, deployed to enwiki on 2014-07-10

 * Major frontend-rewrite: new templating, new drop-down menu, new iteration of "Agora" buttons styles
 * You can sort Flow board by "Recently active topics" as well as newest topics first.
 * Flow boards use ContentHandler to identify their contentmodel as 'flow-board'.

1.24wmf2, deployed to enwiki on 2014-05-01

 * close and summarize topics

1.23wmf20, deployed to enwiki on 2014-04-03

 * display warning when editing anonymously

1.23wmf19, deployed to enwiki on 2014-03-27

 * "Thanks" feature, ability to thank someone for their post.

March 2014: improvements to logging

 * Special:Contributions improvements
 * Oversight/suppression of posts improved

1.23wmf16, deployed to enwiki on 2014-03-06

 * allow a third level of nesting (Replies to replies to comments on the topic ).

enable more Flow pages and backports, 2014-02-18

 * enable Flow on meta: test page and some mw.org design pages Trello
 * Watchlist improvements, show only most recent relevant changes

1.23wmf13, deployed to enwiki on 2014-02-13

 * use underscore instead of square brackets in Flow URLs
 * allow  in the query string of a Flow board URL. This shows a subset of the information that a regular page shows.

DB update, deployed to mediawiki.org and enwiki on 2014-02-11

 * shorter Flow UUIDs. A post or topic UUID such as  becomes  . Old URLs with longer UUIDs should continue to work.

1.23wmf12, deployed to enwiki on 2014-02-06

 * Separate and static "Reply • Edit" links for posts
 * Other post actions are in a [...] action menu
 * Timestamps no longer link to topic/post history
 * Terms of use text for edits and replies.

1.23wmf11, enabled on enwiki 2014-02-03

 * First version enabled on two WikiProject pages
 * Updates:
 * Fix to Echo for broken Special:Notifications deployed on 2014-02-05
 * Fix to Special:CheckUser deployed on 2014-02-04

Pre-history

 * initial prototype on http://unicorn.wmflabs.org/flow/

"Where's the fix?!"
Visit Special:Version to see what version of MediaWiki software a wiki is running, look for "1.NN/wmfXX".
 * 1) The latest Flow code appears on the team's development server (test page) and on the beta cluster (test page).
 * 2) Each week the Flow code goes out with the new MediaWiki release to mediawiki.org (test page).
 * 3) A week later that MediaWiki release is deployed on English Wikipedia (test page).

So on the current deployment cadence (see Deployments/One_week) if some bug is marked fixed or some patch is merged, you can expect to see the fix two Thursdays later on English Wikipedia. We sometimes make special deployments to fix egregious bugs outside of this cadence.