User blog comment:Jenburton/An Update on Message Wall/@comment-1788742-20111011184108

Okay, I've been reading through a lot of the comments on the initial message wall announcement, this blog, and on community test, and what I'm wondering is this: are there any more updates on this, considering there's been plenty of feedback provided? I think that the users of wikia have provided ample feedback, and the overriding thing I see on both this blog post and the original is this- make it optional.

I'd prefer not to recap on everything I've said already, but I'd like to say this. There is nothing wrong with user talk pages. Making them easier to use by new users is not a proper answer. I'm sorry, but it's not. New users can learn. There is nothing wrong with user talk pages. Nothing. I don't want to know how you arrived at the conclusion that this would be easier to use, but I'd like to know this: is there any other reason not to make this optional? I still haven't gotten a real answer from any staff member. If the only reason is "it's easier for new users" or "it will disrupt communications", then please rethink this and make it optional. If it's not, then I'll rethink my position. But so far, I haven't seen any other reason listed by the staff. And if you think being able to turn it on and off will disrupt our communications, then simply don't make it available in Wikia Labs, but turned off via Special:Contact.

I don't really want to spend any more time arguing against this, I know you can't answer every question, but I've asked this so many times now...I'd like to state a few my points one time in the hope that this will be noticed. No, not just noticed, but taken to heart by the Wikia staff.

In conclusion:


 * Message Wall causes more problems then it solves (such as what happens when a user with hundreds of thousands of Message Wall messages is renamed. How will you fix that?). It does. I won't restate them, but take a look at posts by Lancer, Godisme, Monchoman, and some of my earlier posts on this blog or on communitytest.wikia.com.


 * It does not look at all professional, sleek, useful, or encouraging of real communication in any way. Maybe talk pages are not perfect, but almost no replacement could be worse then Message Wall.


 * Worse then all that, it's not optional. The staff has been asking for feedback, and the overriding feedback is negative. Worse then that, they have good reasons to not like this. It is not at all a "great addition to my experience at Wikia". I use Wikia for editing and improving content, not for chatting using chat-like devices like Message Wall, Chat, and article comments.


 * The sheer amount of negative feedback from extremely experienced users is worrying (more so the fact that the staff continually says that "we hear your feedback" but does not act upon the most overriding amount of feedback, make it optional.). To see users like Monchoman, Lancer, Godisme (to name but a few), experienced editors on both Central and beyond that have supported Wikia changes in the past saying that this is not a good idea makes me know that I'm not alone in saying that this is a terrible idea. Can we please not have this forced upon us if we don't want it to be?

Wow, that was way longer then I wanted it to be. Anyway, please respond. And please give me an answer this time. If you can't, then listen to what I have said- and what almost all of your editors are saying and have said- and make the Message Wall optional. Because it is not a good new feature. It simply creates way more problems then it solves, and isn't wanted at all by many editors anyway, who want it to be an option only.