There is currently no definitive syntax for MediaWiki discussions, because the discussion conventions are user-defined and can vary to some degree. However, since the talk pages project software will directly and automatically interact with the syntax used on talk pages, it will become necessary for the software to output definitively correct syntax (disregarding the user-input parts of the output).

Particularly if the markup used in discussions is to be changed, there being a definitively correct way to structure comments would make it much easier to flag errors in discussion syntax. Doing this through e.g. a linter would have some benefits:

• It would become easier for users to find syntax errors (and thus easier to fix them).
• If syntax errors cause visible and noticeable changes to the page (i.e. error messages), users would be incentivized to fix them (and users formatting their comments manually would be incentivized to use the correct syntax). Currently, some users may not even be aware that they are using incorrect syntax.
• It would set the expectation that errors in discussion syntax are supposed to be fixed. Currently, syntax errors are often left intact even if editors notice them.
• Users would be incentivized to use the new talk pages project software, as it would (hopefully) reduce the probability of them introducing errors.

If new markup is to be introduced, I think it would make sense to introduce the linter at the same time as the new markup. This way the tracking categories would start out empty and make it seem more beneficial to reduce the number of errors to zero.

There would have to be some considerations:

• Errors deliberately included in user input (if they would affect the linter) would have to be ignored in some way, or users would have to be able to manually mark those as not being errors.
• There would need to be sufficient documentation for users to know how to correct the errors. If new markup is to be introduced, it could be difficult to write said documentation before the deployment of the new markup.