Talk:Talk pages project/Replying/2021/01

The team would value any thoughts and/or questions you have about this new tool for Replying to specific comments on talk pages.

Emoji

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T271380

I know this might be a lot of work but I feel adding a emoji section (similar to what Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, etc. have) to the discussion tool (on the same line of pinging people) might be really useful. Even Gmail has "add emoji" button now Ladsgroup (talk) 22:30, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

Should this be part of a Special Characters section? Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:34, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

I personally prefer them as a separate section given their importance in discussions but I understand others might have different feelings about it. No strong preference . Ladsgroup (talk) 20:30, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

I think that it is a good idea, emojis are often used also at Czech Wikipedia. Here are some graphic performances. Maybe better would be the use of Unicode characters (for example 🙃, 👍, 😎, 🎶) – computers and smartphones support them. And I think that better would be a separate section. Patrik L. (talk) 21:02, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

Bug inside tables

Some talks uses for design purposes tables (example); when using the reply button, an error occours Valcio (talk) 10:56, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

Unfortunately, we probably won't be able to support this. This is the case described here: Help:DiscussionTools/Why can't I reply to this comment?#Wrapper templates

Note that the problem is not the table itself, that would work fine – rather, the problem is that it's generated by a template (in this case, "Gruppo di tab"), and we're not able to add replies inside template uses. Matma Rex (talk) 15:30, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

we're not able

It would require a significant change in design. Alsee (talk) 16:20, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

Table previews

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Tables are not correctly visualized inside the preview Valcio (talk) 14:36, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Adding tables

It is not possible adding tables, since the tool do add some dots before the wikitext (example). This is quite annoying, it would be usefull if tables could be normally added Valcio (talk) 14:39, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

Unfortunately, this is blocked on phab:T230683. I don't expect this to be possible during the next six months, but maybe it will be possible by the end of 2021. You can see a draft of the planned Technical RFC on this page. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 01:23, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

Getting the Reply tool as a Beta Feature at your home wiki

The Reply tool is already available as a Beta Feature at most Wikipedias, plus a few of the other WMF-supported projects, including this one. If you want to use it at another wiki, then:

1. Please make sure that it's not already available. If it's available, it will probably be listed as "Discussion tools" in Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-betafeatures. You need to check Special:Preferences at the wiki where you want to use it. This link will only show you the Beta Features here at MediaWiki.org.
2. If it's not available at your other wiki(s), and you want it to be, please Reply to the end of this thread and:
   1. give me a URL for your wiki (e.g., https://wikitech.wikimedia.org or https://en.wiktionary.org/)
   2. tell me whether you've tested it at your wiki
   3. if it is normal for your community to discuss software changes, give me a link to a discussion or announcement about your request. The Editing team does NOT require a formal vote or big discussion. You should do what is normal and appropriate for your community.
3. Wait. I will add new requests to the list, but it may take weeks or even months for the configuration changes to be made.

If you have previously requested access to the Reply tool as a Beta Feature, then you don't need to repeat the request. I still have your name on my list. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 01:41, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

Add as a beta feature to https://en.wikipedia.org/

I was unable to test it on Wikipedia as I cannot find it anywhere on https://en.wikipedia.org/ 1.Ayana (talk) 00:54, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

It is not currently available at the English, German, or Russian Wikipedias. You could test it at simple: if you wanted. Feel free to use my talk page at the Simple English Wikipedia if you want a safe place to test. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 21:40, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

Ayana, the Beta Feature might reach the English Wikipedia next week. In the meantime, you might want to read w:en:WT:Talk pages project. It has a special link (search for ?dtenable=1) so you can test it on that page. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 04:40, 10 March 2021 (UTC)

Cannot reply to a comment

Hello, @Whatamidoing (WMF) @PPelberg (WMF), please try reply to comment by @Mario7 – 13. 1. 2021, 10:17 (CET) at cswiki. When I click on reply link, it disappears withnout any error mesage. Best, Patrik L. (talk) 21:33, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

But reply link works if I try to reply to comment by @Mykhal – 13. 1. 2021, 10:10 at the same page. Patrik L. (talk) 21:37, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

Also please try reply to same comment by Mykhal here. I can see reply link under text field, see screenshot. Patrik L. (talk) 21:42, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, I filed a bug: T272090 and will look into it. Matma Rex (talk) 21:08, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

And also T272318 for the second bug. Matma Rex (talk) 19:43, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

Manual loading broken?

Hi, I've been using the tool for a bit now (by importing it with

if ( $( '#ca-addsection' ).length ) mw.loader.using( 'ext.discussionTools.init' );

in my global.js), but it looks like it has suddenly stopped working. Did I mess something up, or was there some breaking change that disabled this method? Blablubbs (talk) 14:08, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Indeed looks broken, it wasn't intentional. I filed T272850 and we'll fix it. Matma Rex (talk) 14:14, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

It's taken a long time for this patch to get through the system. It will probably arrive tomorrow, but if not, then copying this edit might solve the problem. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 21:42, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

Don't know how to do it using reply tool

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T250127

In many discussion, we need to comment using * (instead of :). How can i do that using replay tool? আফতাবুজ্জামান (talk) 15:03, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

Right now, you can't start using * for a reply. If you reply to a comment that is already using *, then your reply will be *:. If you think that is not the best approach, please tell me. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 21:39, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

I would love this function too! This would make it easier to edit for me on FAR, where the reply function is allowing me to edit subpages directly (yay!), but we often comment using *. Femke (talk) 18:31, 14 February 2021 (UTC)

V2 Feedback: USERNAME OR ANON

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T275456

7. Compared to the previous steps, which I was able to accomplish very easily, I had to fidget around a bit to be able to mention someone who was not involved in the discussion.

8. I was initially trying to unlink the mention (not delete it completely). Try as I might, I was not able to do it, unless I switched to wikitext mode and back. Similarly, I could not delete a mention I created in visual mode without switching to wikitext mode and back.

For all the other steps, the behaviour was as expected and it was intuitive enough for me to easily do what I wanted. The Discoverer (talk) 18:40, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

When you said that you wanted to unlink the mention, did you want to turn "@The Discoverer" into plain text "The Discoverer"? Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 21:43, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

Yes, that is what I was trying to do. The Discoverer (talk) 04:07, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

I’d like to add a “+1” or “me too” for this. In earlier iterations of the Reply Tool, mentions were editable wikilinks which worked just like any other link in VE. It was straightforward and easy to understand. Then something changed. Now if I want to mention WAID with a piped link, I have to switch to source mode. I can’t even remove the leading “@“. Pelagic (talk) 05:08, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

I'm annoyed by the leading "@", too. I've forgotten why that changed. (One of the devs told me that it would, but I've forgotten what he said.) I'll file a Phab ticket for this. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 00:20, 23 February 2021 (UTC)

Okay, but....

What ''is'' the Reply tool? It's not actually said on this page. 74.118.116.59 01:57, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

(Or, anyway, if it is, it's not at the top. Came here from a report about the A/B testing on en-wiki that similarly failed to define terms.) 74.118.116.59 (talk) 02:08, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

It's an extra button that appears at the end of a post on a talk page. When you click on it, it opens a reply form that makes replying to that post easier to do correctly. It indents correctly, helps ping correctly, and automatically signs correctly for you, among other things. Valereee (talk) 13:57, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

Probably he easiest way to try it is visiting any talk page on the Arabic, Czech or Hungarian Wikipedia—these are the three wikis where the tool is enabled by default for everyone. For example my talk page on the Hungarian Wikipedia, with English interface: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szerkesztővita:Tacsipacsi?uselang=en. Notice the [reply] links after the timestamps. (Feel free to click on the link and play with it, although I’d be happy if you didn’t actually send me new messages.) Tacsipacsi (talk) 22:12, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

I'm with the IP here. The page desperately needs to say what the reply tool actually is, e.g. Valeree's explanation, placed in or near the lead. You have to scan through 40 kB to get some clues in Talk pages project/Replying#Deployment decisions, the only place on the page where reply links are mentioned. There are some earlier images which include weak grey "Reply", mostly on a discussion from 2013! Why use an 8 years old discussion as illustration of a new tool? Readers may think the images are from 2013. This talk page also has "Reply" links and it's unclear whether I'm using the reply tool right now. I'm probably not but without seeing Valeree's description, it would have looked like I am. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:16, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

I've added that in. Everyone should of course feel free to edit and/or place in a better spot. :D Valereee (talk) 03:38, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

This page is using Flow. If you'd like to try the new Reply tool, click on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Talk_pages_project/Replying/Prototype_testing?dtenable=1 I've just made a "sandbox" section. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 22:01, 10 February 2021 (UTC)