User blog:BertH/Discussions Plans for the Rest of 2017



Discussions continues to be an ever-evolving part of the platform. Though much of our product focus this year has been on Wiki Modernization, updates continue to be made to Discussions, with even more planned for 2018.

Here are some of the biggest updates for the rest of 2017.

Image upload

This week we’ve added image upload capabilities to all Discussions communities across FANDOM. A few communities have had it for a while as part of an initial test release, and we're really thankful for their help and enthusiasm! Their feedback helped us make some improvements and fix a few bugs, notably around the handling of GIFs in the community apps.

Communities in the test group also did some great things with the feature! Check out [http://yugioh.wikia.com/d/p/3100000000000039049 a Yu-Gi-Oh! Discussions moderator getting to showcase his artwork], and this entry in a drawing competition on WikiDex (Spanish Pokemon). The images in the header graphic of this post are also from some talented artists that shared their work in various communities.

A few notes about how images work in Discussions:
 * For desktop users, drag-and-drop upload is available!
 * Images uploaded to Discussions do not get file pages and are not included on Special:Images or any other wiki activity feeds.
 * Like all images on FANDOM, images uploaded to Discussions are subject to review shortly after they are uploaded, to keep content suitable for readers of all ages.
 * At this time there is a limit of one image per post/reply.
 * Make sure you have the latest version of your favorite community app installed!

Performance and migrations

For the remainder of the year, the focus will be on improving the performance of Discussions. Database optimization will speed things up for users in both community apps and browsers. And loading speed for web users will increase with the incorporation of Ember fastboot, which is already helping article pages load more quickly on mobile browsers.

This week we will also be migrating content from inactive Forums to Discussions. This is generally defined as Forums that have not had any new threads or replies in more than six months. Aside from those that request it, this will be the last group of communities to be migrated in 2017. We’ll talk more about migration in 2018, based on how feature development proceeds.

In the new year we’re looking forward to more new functionality for Discussions and talking about how to engage with the community members who get their start there. We’d love to hear some of your Discussions success stories in the comments!