User blog comment:Jenburton/Coming Soon: Message Wall in Labs/@comment-1903385-20111026173107/@comment-1788742-20111026201447

I'm glad you chose the word "offering". It makes it sound better than simply saying "it's mandatory", and more like you're actually considering making it an option, rather then barely acknowledging what we're trying to say here.

I truly hope that the staff has reconsidered this and decided it should, indeed, be completely optional for all wikis. If we want this more "simple" experience on our wikis, we'll add it on our own. And if you think Message Wall is so great, why even make it mandatory? Logically, if it's optional and such a great improvement over talk pages, then all of us would switch over, right?

No. The fact is, this feature is bad. Very. While I can freely admit there are interesting possibilities for more communication listed here, the simple fact is that this article comments like layout is simply not appropriate for some wikis, who, believe it or not prefer professional-looking talk pages, rather than comments with avatars and nicknames.

Don't you see? There's no way anyone will like this if you make it mandatory. If it is so great, than all of us will be using it. But I'm afraid that, unless you've planned to completely overhaul this, some wikis won't accept this, because of it's core nature. If wikis want this, then they can have it. I know most wikis I regularly edit on will not stand for it.

There would be no problem here if you staff members just decided now, that it would stay in Labs, where it belongs. Rather than pushing for a full release date, leave it in Wikia Labs so you can get the most out of all of the communities' across wikia over a span of not a few months, but forever. This will benefit you, and I see no logical reason not to make it optional.

We've tried it, we'll keep trying it, but not all wikis will accept it. Unless you realize that now, you will lose members and wikis, over something that should have simply been stated as optional in the first place. It's quite obvious by now that you're trying to make Wikia into the equivalent of a social network, and you're simply damaging the credibility of Wikia by forcing this on us.

So, instead, simply announce it will be completely, 100% optional for all wikis permanently (or at least in the foreseeable future). Because it makes no sense to make this (Which is clearly based on Article Comments, no matter what you say) mandatory on all wikis.

You gave us the personal option to opt out of using the new skin, by using Monobook. You gave us the personal option to opt out of Chat, article comments, and image attribution either by Wikia labs or via personal css and js. So why not Message Wall? Are you finally admitting what we all suspected when the new skin came along, that Wikia wants to become a social network?

Don't shove this at us, Wikia. It simply encourages more animosity against the Message Wall from users. I think if you stepped back for a moment and thought exactly why you want this to be mandatory, you'll find what I'm saying is correct: it needs to be optional. And here's another important point:

If a wiki wants this feature, they will implement it on their own! If a wiki is arguing against this, chances are they won't use it, mandatory or no. They'll find a way to circumvent it somehow, or, failing that, just move. There's always a choice, and rather than try to eliminate that, simply acknowledge it, like you've done in the past. There's no reason to force it on all communities, many of which don't support your social networking move in any way, shape, or form.

Please, understand that you're simply damaging your credibility needlessly over this, (Given the quality of the other features that you've released over the summer, this will be little better than article comments or Chat, and from the test my hopes are not high), get over the fact that there are wikis out there you do not support your move for social networking, and make it optional. Because I feel like I'm not being given reasonable, logical answers about Message Wall in the process, the kind of answers you had back during the days of the Monaco/Oasis transition. (At least then you acknowledged that not everyone would like the change, and gave us a personal option to opt out of it).

So, please give me a logical answer about why, if Message Wall is so great, you need to make it mandatory. (And none of "we think it will be so much more helpful to new users" if new users are so bad at editing they can't even figure out how to use a talk page, then how are they going to actually contribute to a wiki in a constructive way). Sorry, but it's the truth. I think that you, as wiki editors as well as staff members, know that wikis are diverse, and trying to make them all into the same social-y site will not work. Which, consciously or not (I really don't know at this point) you're doing.

Sincerely,

Varkanax39