As discussed by @matmarex and @DannyS712 on https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/c/mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools/+/623117, adding new discussions to non-existent pages is an edge case that will need special handling.
Currently all links to such pages (red links) will append &action=edit which will take you straight into the full page source editor.
Open questions
- 1. Does it make most sense to consider the scope of this task as being limited to what happens when people click the New section / Add topic affordance on non-existent talk pages? Meaning: the visual appearance of the empty page itself would be considered separately in T252902.
- We'll consider the experience holistically and then breakout the work needed to realize this experience after having done so. See: T270323#6767558.
- 2. Is this ticket a duplicate of T252902?