Forum:Message Wall info page

I started creating this list of pros and cons for WoWWiki, but maybe people want to add, edit, or discuss it.

Pros and cons

 * Pros
 * Optional. It can be turned on/off in the Wikia Labs control panel (usable by admins only).
 * Clean user interface and easy to use.
 * Still supports wikicode for images and sigs.
 * Supports sorting by Newest threads, Oldest threads, Newest replies, or Most active. (Not sure how many at a time or what other specific criteria might be.)
 * Allows simple thread organization based on replies to an initial post.
 * Users cannot edit other user's posts/replies. (Better security.)
 * View individual threads.
 * Has simple separate entry for post section header equivalent and message body.
 * Automatically shows user avatars by their posts/replies.
 * Automatic date/time stamping (n time ago or HH:MM Month Day, Year).
 * Optionally shows profile name ("What's your name?"), if filled in, as first user link. (Some may view this as a Con.)
 * Edit/history/remove individual posts or replies. Not sure how edge cases will work though.
 * Consolidated wiki talk page/message wall notification. (Not exactly sure if this works in combination with talk pages.)
 * Notification of replies to your posts on other user's message walls. (This could also be considered a Con.)
 * Automatically archives existing talk page when Message Wall is turned on. (Not sure what happens if you turn it on/off multiple times.)
 * Auto collapses long threads. (Not sure how this works.)
 * People can remove other users posts from Message Walls that aren't their own. (This could also be considered a Con.)


 * Cons
 * People can remove other users posts from Message Walls that aren't their own. (This is mostly only bad, if marker or thread links don't stay around where the removed post/reply was).
 * Hard to find link for revision history for individual message walls or threads (need to add action=history or look for link in toolbar at bottom).
 * By default, Message Wall activity will spam your e-mail address. (You can turn it off under the "Email" tab in preferences.)
 * You will get spammed on other wikis by replies to threads you've commented on and there appears to be no way currently to control or throttle notification.
 * No help page yet.
 * Less wikicode control of overall formatting.
 * Users cannot edit other user's posts/replies. (Can't fix problems.)
 * You can view source of a post/reply, but you can't select it (making it hard to copy and re-use).
 * No TOC generation or index of links to posts.
 * Can't spawn separate thread based on a reply.
 * No known archive mechanism.
 * Might not be as space efficient as old wiki code blob talk page.
 * Post or reply removal can be slow.
 * Optionally shows profile name ("What's your name?"), if filled in, as first user link. (Several users have expressed dislike of this during testing.)
 * Notification may be slow.

Adding a View History button to threads
Here's some js you can use to add a history button to the top of both Message Wall and individual threads: function WallHistory { if (wgCanonicalNamespace == 'Thread') { $('#WallBrickHeader').append('View History'); }	if (wgCanonicalNamespace == 'Message_Wall') { $('.WikiaMainContent').prepend(' View History '); } } addOnloadHook(WallHistory);

19:56, January 27, 2012 (UTC)