Structured Discussions/Deprecation

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StructuredDiscussions (SD - Flow) is used on a few wikis. This extension is not maintained. DiscussionTools (DT) is the default discussion system on wikis now.

The Growth team (SD maintainers) and the Editing team (DT maintainers) have started thinking about how to deprecate StructuredDiscussions (and possibly LiquidThreads) and replace them with DiscussionTools.

The idea is to have DiscussionTools provide equivalent features of what StructuredDiscussions offers, so that current SD users would switch to DT.

This project has no formal deadline or plan.

Project updates[edit]

StructuredDiscussions and DiscussionTools Comparative review[edit]

StructuredDiscussions/Flow LiquidThreads DiscussionTools
Dedicated workflow for starting a new topic Yes Done Yes Done Yes Done
Dedicated workflow for adding a new comment Yes Done Yes Done Yes Done
Subscribe to be notified about new comments to a topic Yes Done (via Echo) Yes Done (via special page) Yes Done (via Echo)
Be notified when a new topic is started on a talk page Yes Done (via Echo) Yes Done (via special page) Yes Done[1]
Auto-subscription to a topic you created Yes Done (default) Yes Done (by watchlisting) Yes Done (default for new users)
Each topic is a different pages/each conversation has a permalink Yes Done Yes Done In progress In progress[2]
Hide (moderate) a specific comment Yes Done in reading mode delete (but no undelete UI) Incomplete Partially done via undo/revert
Hide (moderate) a topic Yes Done in reading mode delete (but no undelete UI) Incomplete Partially done via undo/revert
Move topics between pages N Not done (planned but not implemented) Yes Done via wikitext editing, breaks permalinking
Include discussions on another page and reply to them there N Not done (planned, including cross-wiki transclusion, but not implemented) ? Yes Done
Backwards compatible with wikitext N Not done N Not done Yes Done
Thank a comment from within the talk page Yes Done in reading mode Incomplete Partially done via Page history Incomplete Partially done via Thanks in Page history[3]
Sort topics by recent comment Yes Done Yes Done N Not done
Sort topics by start date Yes Done Yes Done N Not done
Summarize a discussion Yes Done Yes Done Requires templates
Mark read / unread N Not done Yes Done N Not done
Show/hide (collapse) subthreads N Not done Yes Done N Not done
Supported editors wikitext and visual editing wikitext editing wikitext and visual editing (the latter with limitations)
Templates support Yes Done Yes Done Incomplete Partially done not all templates are allowed in replies in VE mode
Permalink to a given comment Yes Done Yes Done Incomplete Partially done if the comment is not moved elsewhere
Topic and contents preload Yes Done Yes Done Yes Done
History fully integrated to the rest of the wiki N Not done Yes Done Yes Done
Indication of edited comments when you read a topic Yes Done Yes Done N Not done
Notification of edited comments Yes Done Yes Done on your own comments only N Not done
Direct access to user talkpage, contribs and more Yes Done Incomplete Partially done if linked in the signature Incomplete Partially done if linked in the signature
Highlight a quoted comment Yes Done N Not done (can link to comments but only as standalone pages) Yes Done
Highlight a set of unread comments Yes Done N Not done Yes Done (only when subscribed to a topic and using links from notifications)
Mobile web support Yes Done N Not done Yes Done
Mobile app support N Not done N Not done Yes Done


Data on usage[edit]

In August 2023, on average:

  • DiscussionTools is used about 18,780 times per day.
  • Flow is used about 250 times per day, mainly at French Wikipedia.
  • LiquidThreads is used less than once per day.

Notes and references[edit]

  1. See T263821 (desktop) and T332730 (mobile).
  2. Support for offering permanent links to talk page comments and topics is being worked on. See T302011.
  3. Work on supporting "Thanking" from within the talk page is being tracked in T249893.