**This task description will be updated as new issues/questions come to light.**
---
This ticket contains two lists:
1. A list of **Outstanding issues** //and//
2. A list of **Open questions**
Each issue and question contained within the tables below needs to be resolved **before** Replying v1.0 [1] is deployed to target wikis.
---
=== 1. Outstanding issues ===
//This list contains a list of the tasks that need "doing".//
| **Ticket** | **Description** | **Notes** | **Status**
| ----- | ----- | ----- | -----
|T243621| Create query string parameter to enable/disable DiscussionTools on target wikis | - | //Ready for development// |
| T240639 | Highlighting of the replies is incorrect on Beta cluster | -| //Needs QA//
| T241193 | Replies with <gallery>...</gallery> tags do not render in preview properly| - | ✅ Fixed
| T241393 | Abandon changes dialog appears unexpectedly| -| ✅ Fixed
| T241391 | Unable to respond to specific comments| - | Patch pending; issue persists on beta
| T241861 | [Regression] Reply link disappears from a talk page after editing it from source mode| - | ✅ Fixed
| T238177 | Implement revised approach to previewing reply| - | Ready for development
| T242184 | Create a change tag for edits made using DiscussionTools | Needs further thought from @ppelberg | -
| T243364 | Instrument replying workflow | - | //Blocked by T240056
---
=== 2. Open questions ===
//This list contains questions that need to be "discussed" / "decided upon."//
|**Question** | **Ticket/link** | **Notes** | **Status**
| ----- | ----- | ----- | -----
| How might we me track whether the new replying [and previewing] workflow causes an increase in the number of syntax errors?| T241388#5779747 | |
| How should the new replying workflow react to edit conflicts? | T235923#5741147 + T240643 | |
|What indentation syntax should the reply tool output when a contributor is replying to a "0th comment"?| |**Near-term:** the Reply tool will output `:` to indent a "level 1" comment. **Longer-term:** this approach may need to be changed to meet the needs of wikis that use different indenting conventions. | 🕰 Revisit
| What wikitext should reply tool use for indentations? Does the tool inherit what syntax is used on a given page, does it use `:` in all cases? Context: when bullets are used for indentations (e.g. on ru.wiki), multi-line comments will render on the page as if they are separate comments unless contributors manually insert `<br>` tags as has been done [here](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%81%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5:%D0%A2%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%BF,_%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B4#%D0%9D%D0%B5_%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%B5%D1%89%D0%B5).| [Topic:Vcehgf0nr8rpi26a](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Vcehgf0nr8rpi26a) + [Topic:Vejyl1e4sy0af5ed](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:Vejyl1e4sy0af5ed) | **Near-term:** the reply tool will inherit the indentation syntax the comment "above it" uses. E.g. if you are responding to a comment that is indented with `*` your response will be indented using `**`). **Longer-term:** TBD. Depends – in part – on how T230683 is resolved. | 🕰 Revisit
| What should happen when a discussion gets deleted/archived/moved while you're reading it? |T235923#5741147|This will not be addressed in v1.0. We are going to await to see how contributors use v1.0 in production before revisiting this potential issue | 🕰 Revisit
| What should happen when you get blocked while composing a reply? |T235923#5741147| This will not be addressed in v1.0. We are going to await to see how contributors use v1.0 in production before revisiting this potential issue| 🕰 Revisit
|How – if at all – should the reply workflow support the creation of a `== new section ==`? |T241388 | v1.0 will not support the creation of a `== new section ==` |🕰 Revisit
| In long threads the reply textbox is a long way from the comment it is replying to (and the “Reply” button)...how should we handle/display the page when a lot of text means that there is a big gap between the original comment to which someone is attempting to reply, and the place where the reply will go? Where should the affordance for replying go? At the end of the original comment or the place where the reply will end up? [2] | [Topic:Vcpciv1kcnows4p5](https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Topic:Vcpciv1kcnows4p5&topic_showPostId=vd9ujaxpdc3t9y1d#flow-post-vd9ujaxpdc3t9y1d)| This will not be addressed in v1.0. We are going to await to see how contributors use v1.0 in production before revisiting this potential issue.| 🕰 Revisit
| What should happen when contributors attempt to manually include characters to indent/outdent and/or sign their comment? | |v1.0 will not support outdent templates. We will revisit this question as part of T236918, when we think about the treatment of pages in read mode |🕰 Revisit
| Should there be a workflow for adding a comment at level 0 within an existing discussion? If so, what should that workflow look like? | | v1.0 will NOT support adding a comment at level 0 of an existing discussion. TBD whether this comes as part of Replying v1.1 (T233446) or Starting a new discussion (T233446) | 🕰 Revisit
| What can be done to ensure contributors drafting replies in long conversations always have the text-input visible/accessible, even while scrolling to see an earlier portion of the conversation ? |[Topic:Vcpciv1kcnows4p5](https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Topic:Vcpciv1kcnows4p5&topic_showPostId=vd9ujaxpdc3t9y1d#flow-post-vd9ujaxpdc3t9y1d)| This will not be addressed in v1.0. We are going to await to see how contributors use v1.0 in production before revisiting this potential issue. | 🕰 Revisit
|How could the replying workflow be improved to make it easier for contributors to "locate" a reply they have already started drafting on lengthy talk pages?| [Topic:Vcpciv1kcnows4p5](https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Topic:Vcpciv1kcnows4p5&topic_showPostId=vct23natmuuawmhf#flow-post-vct23natmuuawmhf)| This will not be addressed in v1.0. We are going to await to see how contributors use v1.0 in production before revisiting this potential issue. | 🕰 Revisit
|How might the workflow be enhanced to support contributors seeking to reply to multiple comments on the same page?| [Topic:Vcpciv1kcnows4p5](https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Topic:Vcpciv1kcnows4p5&topic_showPostId=vcuwq3b6gk7gdnee#flow-post-vcuwq3b6gk7gdnee)| This will not be addressed in v1.0. We are going to await to see how contributors use v1.0 in production before revisiting this potential issue. | 🕰 Revisit
| How many levels of indentation does the tool need to support [Convention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wikipedia:_The_Missing_Manual/Collaborating_with_other_editors/Communicating_with_your_fellow_editors#Adding_a_comment_to_an_existing_section) says "undent" after 5 levels; [reply-link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Enterprisey/Reply-link) does so after 8 | | Right now, there is [no limit](https://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Chat&oldid=411027) on the number of levels of indentation the tool will support. We do not have plans to implement any "outdenting rules" at this time.| ✅Resolved
| If a contributor has a reply drafted and then presses "Escape," the text input area closes without warning; however, their draft is retained and can be accessed by clicking the same "Reply" link...how should this behave? Should contributors be warned? Should there be some visual indication to make contributors aware they have a draft pending? | |For now, contributors should be warned they will lose their changes. This approach may change when more robust auto-saving is added T240257 |✅Resolved
| How should the software render multi-line comments? | | Currently, multi-line comments work in the same way they would on existing talk pages. The key difference with the new replying workflow is the software automatically calculates indentation depth and inherits the indentation syntax from the comment being replied to.|✅Resolved
| Currently, when Contributor A responds to Contributor B's post that's already received subsequent Replies 1, 2 and 3, Contributor A's reply (Reply 4) is appended to the bottom of the discussion, beneath Replies 1, 2 and 3, why is this so? | |Child comments are indented beneath their parents and newer comments are shown after older comments. This will be the logic in v1.0. Although, this may need to be adapted to meet a specific wiki's conventions. |✅Resolved
| What – if anything – should be pre-populated in the reply box? | | v1.0 of the reply text-input area will not be pre-populated with any text. This will be introduced in v1.1 (T236916) | ✅ Resolved
| What happens when a contributor attempts to add a table in wikitext, within the reply text box?| | **Near-term:** we are assuming the real-time preview will provide contributors sufficient feedback to know what kind of syntax is supported and what syntax is not supported (e.g. indented tables). **Longer-term:** they might be supported. Depends on how T230683 is resolved. | ✅ Resolved
| How might the replying text input more clearly communicate to experienced contributors how the workflow behaves (e.g. How and when does the reply workflow prepend indentation syntax? | T238177 | For now, we are assuming the real-time preview will provide contributors the feedback they will need to understand how the software behaves. We might need to revisit this approach in a future iteration. | ✅ Resolved
| How should time be represented on the page in "read" mode? | T240360 | Version 1.0 will not include any changes to how time is represented to contributors in read mode. Instead, we will address this as part of v2.1 – T236918 – wherein we will focus on enhancing, //"...the talk page read experience to help contributors more easily understand Talk Pages are spaces for discussion and how to participate in existing conversations."// | ✅ Resolved
| What level of indentation do replies to the first comment get? Do we assume they are replies to the first comment itself, or new sub-threads within the topic? | |For now, the software assumes replies to comment at indentation level 0 should be indented at indentation level 1 | ✅ Resolved
---
1. v1.0: T235592
2. Possibilities include floating titles and contexts (see floating thread titles in Flow)