Extension:DiscussionTools/Comparison
Various extensions and tools have emerged over the years to improve the support MediaWiki offers people to communicate with one another on-wiki: Structured Discussions (Flow), LiquidThreads, DiscussionTools and Convenient Discussions.
This page offers an overview of these various extensions and how the features they offer compare to one another.
Comparative Review
[edit]Main characteristics
[edit]Status of each tool, and their integration to the wiki's key features.
| LiquidThreads | Structured Discussions | DiscussionTools | Convenient Discussions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of tool | MediaWiki extension | Gadget/Userscript based on DiscussionTools | ||
| Release status | Unmaintained | Maintained (Wikimedia Foundation) | Maintained (Volunteers) | |
| Activation | Pending removal[1] | Deployed on all wikis as the default discussion system.[2] User configurable (including opting-out). | User opt-in and configurable | |
| Visual editing | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Backwards-compatibility with wikitext | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Templates support | Yes | Yes | Partial – Tables, templates and parser tags aren't allowed in replies in visual mode | Yes |
| Full history integration with the rest of the wiki | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile web support | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile app support | No | No | Yes | No |
| Permalink to a given comment | Yes | Yes | Yes – if the signature of the comment is not altered.[3] | |
Discussion features
[edit]Interaction with talk pages and other comments.
| LiquidThreads | Structured Discussions | DiscussionTools | Convenient Discussions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated workflow for starting a new topic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Topic and contents preload | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Indication of new comments when you read a topic | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Indication of edited comments when you read a topic | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Each conversation has a permalink | Yes | Yes – Each topic is a different page. | Yes – By linking to the topic heading, or by using the first comment's permalink.[3] | Yes[3] |
| Move topics between pages | Yes | No – planned but not implemented | Yes – via wikitext editing; title and signature mustn't be altered during the move.[3] | Yes |
| Include discussions on another page and reply to them there | No | No – planned, including cross-wiki transclusion, but not implemented | Yes – via transclusion | |
| Editing comments | Yes | Yes | Partial – via wikitext editing the whole page or section. See T242562 and T245225 for the editing of individual comments. | Yes |
| Thank a comment from within the talk page | Partial – via Page history | Yes | Partial – via Thanks in Page history. In progress – Work on supporting "Thanking" from the DiscussionTools UI is being tracked.
|
Yes |
| Sort topics by recent comment | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Sort topics by start date | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Summarize a discussion at the top of it | Yes | Yes | Partial – by editing opening comment. | |
| Mark a message as read or unread | Yes | No | No | No |
| Show/hide (collapse) subthreads | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Notifications and interactivity
[edit]| LiquidThreads | Structured Discussions | DiscussionTools | Convenient Discussions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlight a set of unread comments | No | Yes | Yes – only when subscribed to a topic and using links from notifications | Yes |
| Subscribe to be notified about new comments to a topic | Yes – via Watchlist | Yes – via Echo | Yes – via Echo or itself | |
| Be notified when a new topic is started on a talk page | ||||
| Auto-subscription to a topic you created | Yes – default | |||
| Highlight a quoted comment | No – can link to comments but only as standalone pages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Notification of edited comments | Partial – only on your own comments | Yes | No | No |
Maintenance and moderation
[edit]| LiquidThreads | Structured Discussions | DiscussionTools | Convenient Discussions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct access to user talkpage, contribs and more | Partial – if linked in the signature | Yes | Partial – if linked in the signature | |
| Hide (moderate) a comment | Partial – no undelete UI | Yes | Partial – via undo/rollback (requires searching for edit in edit history) or archival templates, not included and requires editing wikitext | Yes |
| Hide or delete a topic | Yes | Partial – same as DiscussionTools | ||
| Archiving discussions | Not needed | Not needed | No – see T337293
|
No – Same as DiscussionTools, though moving topics can be used for manual archival. |
| Report an inappropriate comment | No | No | In progress[4]
|
No |
References
[edit]- ↑ https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T332022
- ↑ A few wikis have Flow as the default discussion system.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 DiscussionTools has its own system of permalinks based on signatures. Convenient Discussions can auto-generate links for this system as well as PermanentLinks to the current revision.
- ↑ T339247 – Create entry points for the Incident Report dialog with DiscussionTools