Talk:Talk pages project/Replying/2021/02

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

Edit summary preview

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T274434

A preview of the edit summary would be useful, esp. for making sure any links in edit summaries are correct. Levivich (talk) 17:48, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

+1 Valereee (talk) 18:29, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

+1. Rarely needed, but when it is, it’s crucial. (Just like a preview not replacing the wikitext input field would be in Flow…) Tacsipacsi (talk) 23:27, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

This idea is now at phab:T274434 and any interested editor is welcome to expand the description with any details that you believe will be useful to a designer or software developer. Most people don't set custom edit summaries, and most custom edit summaries don't benefit from the previeww, so this might turn out to be a low-priority task, but it's still good to have a solid description. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 21:52, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

stand-alone button for bulletpoint lists

Perhaps you'll hate this, but I've made a workaround for the sorts of lists commonly found at wikipedia featured article review, and wikijournal peer review. It relies on creating a minimal blank signature to trigger the reply tool wrapped inside a span that sets font size to zero: v:Template:Reply_link

It allows people to write comments like:

Here are my comments:
*comment comment comment comment comment comment {{replylink}}
*note note note note note note note note note {{replylink}}
*issue issue issue issue issue issue issue {{replylink}}
*critique critique critique critique critique {{replylink}}
I hope that helps. ~~~~

Downsides: The fake signature might get read out by screen-readers. The whole template is sensitive to the exact features that the replyto tool is using to spot signatures, e.g. the "00 December 0000" seems to trigger it but not "00 January 0000"... T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)^talk 00:19, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for the note, as one of the developers, I do hate it ;)

I have some practical advice though:

• Please don't use a fake username in the signature. We're working on sending people notifications when they receive replies to their comments, and this will cause the notifications to not be sent to the right person. It would be best to require the template to be substituted, and use ~~~ or maybe {{subst:revisionuser}} or something to insert the real username of the author.
• Please don't use fake dates, and especially not fake dates that are far in the past or invalid. Correctly parsing old dates is surprisingly hard (due to time zone changes, and if you go far enough, changes to the calendar system), and replying might not work correctly if different systems disagree what "00 December 0000" is. We have definitely not tested dates older than Wikipedia :)

(00 December is actually 30 November, while 00 January is 31 December of the previous year, and this change to negative years is probably what breaks it. And let's not even mention that there is no year 0, at least in our calendar system, only 1 and -1 / 1 B.C.E., and this probably violates all kinds of assumptions.)

I would really, really suggest using real signatures, or at least real signatures wrapped in some markup like <span style="display: none;"> to make them invisible. Matma Rex (talk) 16:15, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

You make a good point. I've changed it to <span style="display: none;">~~<includeonly>~~</includeonly></span> for now.

Do you know if ther would be any way to make {{reply link}} work without needing a subst: prefix? I want it to be as simple as possible for inexperienced users if possible. T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)^talk 01:00, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

AFAIK that can't be done, wikitext syntax requires the subst: to substitute. At best, you can use something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Require_substitution to show a better error message if the user forgets the subst. Matma Rex (talk) 12:25, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

As an additional followup for the record, I've also been testing out a substitutable template that will add reply links a the end of every bulletpoint or paragraph of a piece of text if it is expected that someone may wish to reply to each point separately:

v:Template:Add replylinks

The downside is that it also does this after single linebreaks that would otherwise be formatted into a single paragraph and after headings which is typically not wanted. T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)^talk 23:57, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

Usage inside a template

It seems as though replylinks mainly don't work if placed within a templates. E.g. the text:

{{some template
|text text text. ~~~
}}

Results in the error message:

'The "reply" link cannot be used to reply to this comment. To reply, please use the full page editor by clicking "Edit source".'

Here's a few tests, although the same template sometimes behaves differently.

I'd love to eventually be able to include within templates like v:template:Review

Any ideas? T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)^talk 04:31, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

We aim to support templates that wrap an entire, single comment, e.g. Template:Barnstar_1. It seems like Template:Review should also work… I'm not sure why some of the uses on that page are broken. Matma Rex (talk) 16:28, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

Watchlist expiry feature

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T278190

Watchlist expiry is now available in all wikis. Can the reply tool also support this feature? (This is a feed back from Keruby in w:ja:Wikipedia:井戸端/subj/返信ツールをベータ機能として導入する提案) ネイ (talk) 08:33, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

thumbs up on the default to what you used before

I see that the reply tool defaults to Visual vs. Source depending on whatever you last used. I think that's a great decision, probably the least likely to annoy people lol! Valereee (talk) 13:39, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

Your comment could not be saved in the latest version of the page. Please reload the page to see the latest changes.

Hi, I comment that when trying to reply on my talk page, it shows the error message "Your comment could not be saved in the latest version of the page. Please reload the page to see the latest changes." and does not allow the update. I've already reloaded the page, logged out, and logged in again, but it still shows the same message.

Thanks in advance

@Sergiocara Sergiocara (talk) 15:14, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

@Sergiocara Hello, could you please record a video? (For example using ctrlv.tv). Patrik L. (talk) 15:19, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

Hi @Patrik L., of course. I sent de video with the evidencie of incident.

The video was recorded with the tool you suggest, but when I send it, it shows me a message that the spam filter was activated.

I only send you the code of the url that goes after the domain: CxdG Sergiocara (talk) 15:32, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

@Sergiocara Is not it caused by text which you want to add? I do not have any problem with replying, see this edit. Patrik L. (talk) 17:59, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

Hi @Patrik L., I don't know if it is caused by the text. As seen in the video, it is normal text and there is nothing strange. What part of the text could generate some kind of conflict? I consider it an incident to escalate. Thanks @Sergiocara. Sergiocara (talk) 19:58, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

@Sergiocara When you try to reply for example comment "blah, blah, blah" (without formating), you can see that error too? There is a problem because I cannot replicate that error (see my edit). Patrik L. (talk) 20:41, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

Check the video with code https://ctrlv.tv/ycu1 Sergiocara (talk) 21:18, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

Oh, thanks. Ping (developer) @PPelberg (WMF) Patrik L. (talk) 13:18, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

Oh, and a related issue...I have been occasionally getting a 'timed out' message. I've learned that it may have posted anyway and not to try again, as it may have posted before it timed out, and if I try again, it'll post duplicate posts. Valereee (talk) 16:05, 15 February 2021 (UTC)

Replying on fr.wikipedia but non fr.wikiversity, why ?

Hello, just a message to share my enthusiasm about this new feature but disappointment about not being able to use it on my home Wiki fr.wikiversity. Is there an explanation ? Lionel Scheepmans ^{✉ Contact.} 12:37, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Hello @Lionel Scheepmans, you can request @Whatamidoing (WMF) :-). The consensus is not required, but it is appropriate, I think. And explanation – deploying to all WMF project is long-time process, so it is currently available on some wikis (you can see this configuration page, row "'wmgUseDiscussionTools"' => [ and down). Patrik L. (talk) 12:51, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Thanks ! Lionel Scheepmans ^{✉ Contact.} 12:53, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for your note. I'm talking to Peter about it, and I've got you on my list. If all goes well, it might be offered as a Beta Feature at all the Wikiversities sometime in March. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 22:11, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Perfect. Lionel Scheepmans ^{✉ Contact.} 23:34, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Oh ! Just in case. Don't you have contact with people dealing with Help talk:Reference Previews ? I'm waiting an answer for both implementing reference previews on fr.wikiversity. Lionel Scheepmans ^{✉ Contact.} 00:10, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

That's a WMDE Technical Wishes project, so User:Johanna Strodt (WMDE) will know who can hep you. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 20:03, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Ok thanks Lionel Scheepmans ^{✉ Contact.} 20:11, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Suggestion: one-click to add user(s) to edit summary

Allow one click to quickly adding the user being replied or multiple participants in the section to the edit summary to mention (ping). YFdyh000 (talk) 05:34, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Oh, that would be nice, I agree! Valereee (talk) 16:20, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

They're talking about a couple of different options. So, first: have you tried the ping tool, which is (currently) only in the "visual" mode? (Most experienced editors are going to default to the wikitext mode.

Another option is to have a tickbox (outside the message) that says something like "Do you want to ping other participants? ☑︎ Alice ☐ Bob ☐ Chris" or "You're replying to a comment by Alice. Ping Alice? ☑︎ Alice" What do you think would be best? Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 21:57, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

I do use the ping tool, but sometimes I'd prefer to ping someone (or link to something for that matter) in the edit summary for whatever reason -- like, maybe I'm making them aware of the situation without actually asking them to chime in, or pinging them actually in the post feels like I'm being aggressive toward whomever I'm discussing something with. I always find linking/pinging in the edit summary a challenge as you can't preview it to make sure you've done it right, and of course you can't edit. So having the tool make sure that ping/link is correct would be helpful for this non-techie. Valereee (talk) 14:40, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

1. I have tried the ping tool in visual mode, but I prefer the wikitext to editing because of some advanced usage and modify templated contents is crappy in visual mode.

2. I expected it to be an input field rather than a select boxs area, and to avoid increasing harassment to irrelevant people. The user should be clearly aware of who he responded to, rather than mentioning based on the username or all selected.

This can also use a separate mention input field, and then allow the pasted content to include the username links to convert the mentioned person, and append these to the edit summary. But this seems to be non-touch friendly, so the selection mode may still be needed.

This should also disclose who declined to receive mentions, if this is not privacy. YFdyh000 (talk) 08:55, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

Copy username

Hello! Congrats for this excellent functionality. I would suggest that - if possible - there could be an option to display somewhere the name of the users that recently commented on the section, so we can copy them and add notification templates, like {{U }} or {{Ping }}. —Teles «Talk to me˱_{M @ C S}˲» 18:35, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

There’s already an option to insert the ping itself, although it uses plain wikitext, not templates (so that it can work reliably across wikis). It’s currently only available in visual mode, but it’s on its way to source mode. Tacsipacsi (talk) 22:55, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

If you try to mention someone (by typing "@" or clicking the icon: ), it will show a list of all users who commented to choose from. Matma Rex (talk) 14:43, 22 February 2021 (UTC)

Excellent! That doesn't work when editing the source. That's why I haven't seen it. Thanks for telling me; it's very helpful. And thank you for working on this tool. —Teles «Talk to me˱_{M @ C S}˲» 02:28, 23 February 2021 (UTC)