User blog comment:Dopp/Communicate Easily with Message Wall/@comment-26333886-20110926201648

This is an absolutely horrible idea. We are not a social networking site, we are not Facebook or MySpace or whatever. We're supposed to be an encyclopedia. The current talk page format works just fine, the "issues" with talk pages this proposal mentions are trivial and petty.

"it’s hard to know where to respond" - no it isn't. Unless Oasis got rid of section headers it's easy to find the current topic someone has posted on and reply to them. "new users are often confused about how to sign messages" Does it not say at the top of the editor window to sign posts with four "~" symbols? If new users are ignoring that or not seeing it, it is their fault, not a limitation of the format. "there’s no way to limit your notifications to just the conversations you’re involved in." - If they're posting on your talk page, one would assume that *all* the conversations taking place there involve you.

By contrast, the advantages are just trivial bells and whistles that don't actually enhance talk pages in any meaningful way. The only change that sounds good is new messages displaying at the top of the page, which can be done with the current talk pges I'm sure.

This is a horrible, horrible idea. At least make it optional. I'll also note that a few Wikis like to use personalized "talk bubble" templates, such as those seen in the following link - http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Wikia_Transition. Are the wikis who like to use such templates to be told "tough luck, too bad"?