User blog comment:Jenburton/An Update on Message Wall/@comment-1393830-20110930191300

To add to those who say make it optional, I understand that Wikia likes all wikis to be consistent but the fact of the matter is that while the basic idea of a wiki is the same for most (and I say most, not all for a reason) wikis are so diverse that to try and make them all consistent would take away from what makes each wiki great. My home Bleach Wiki is so completely different than say the Glee wiki that the only thing they really have in common are passionate users and the basic MediaWiki software. The look, focus and overall feel is completely different amongst these wikis as it is with all wikis. The message wall is great for wikis that have a much more social environment or are more laid back. The message wall however does not fit the focus of Bleach wiki where we are extremely content focused and do not encourage a lot of socialization other than chat and some users weekly blogs. A talk page message on Bleach wiki is rarely ever just someone dropping in to say hi. It is official and many times a warning for a users actions as we get many vandals and people not following the rules. The message wall does not fit with all this. The basic MediaWiki talk page does. Consistency is not always good so stop trying to enforce it. Let the individual wikis choose which features fit them and which do not. Basic MediaWiki features cost nothing to maintain so why not let us keep it if we want?