Extension:LiquidThreads
 | This extension is currently not actively maintained! Although it may still work, any bug reports or feature requests will more than likely be ignored. The Wikimedia Foundation provides no support to Wikimedia wikis using it and requests to install on new Wikimedia projects are no longer possible. If you are interested in taking on the task of developing and maintaining this extension, you can request repository ownership. As a courtesy, you may want to contact the author. You should also remove this template and list yourself as maintaining the extension in the page's {{Extension}} infobox. |
The LiquidThreads (LQT) extension implements a precursor threaded discussion page system.
 Warning: | This extension is currently incompatible with temporary accounts. |
History
The original code was developed by David McCabe under sponsorship from the Google Summer of Code 2006, the Commonwealth of Learning, and Wikia. However, David McCabe is no longer involved with this project.
The original LiquidThreads code was substantially improved and augmented by Andrew Garrett at the Wikimedia Foundation since May 2009. The latest stable release of the LiquidThreads extension is LQT 2.0, described on this page. LQT 2.0 is the version currently being used on several Wikimedia wikis, and was used in the strategic planning process.
In January 2011, work on LiquidThreads 3.0 was begun at the Wikimedia Foundation. LQT 3.0 was being developed, with Andrew Garrett as the lead developer, but is now suspended. The last commits to LQT3's branch (lqt-updates) were in September 2011. Development by the Foundation has been discontinued.
User documentation
To activate LiquidThreads on a specific page on a wiki where LiquidThreads is opt-in, add the following to the page's source code:
{{#useliquidthreads:1}}
To deactivate LiquidThreads on a specific page on a wiki where LiquidThreads is opt-out add the following to the page's source code:
{{#useliquidthreads:0}}
Comprehensive user documentation will be developed when LiquidThreads has a finalised (or remotely stable) interface.
Rationale
Wiki discussion pages have some advantages over web and Usenet forums:
- They allow use of the entire wiki syntax, from images to links to transclusions.
- It is possible to refactor entire discussion pages.
But web forums offer many more advantages over the MediaWiki talk page model:
- Threads can be displayed in different views: flat, nested, sorted by date, subject, etc.
- The user only needs to click a "Reply" button or link in order to respond to a comment. Manual indentation is not required. Quotations from the source comment can be inserted automatically.
- Comments are automatically signed and dated.
- Avatars are possible (but not yet created).
- The user can watch individual threads or be notified about responses in threads.
- Comments and threads can be displayed individually, without the surrounding page.
- Old comments are archived automatically and invisibly, with permanent links easily available.
- Search for author, subject, date, etc. is possible.
- Individual threads can have categories.
- It is relatively easy to manage related discussions in a subject-specific forum, whereas MediaWiki talk pages always follow the "one discussion page per subject page" model.
- There can be restrictions on which users can edit other users' posts.
LiquidThreads aims to unite the advantages of both forum types, and to add some unique discussion features to boot.
Installation
Prerequisites: LiquidThreads currently requires the Extension:WikiEditor extension to be already installed. See task T40654.
- Download and move the extracted
LiquidThreadsfolder to yourextensions/directory.
Developers and code contributors should install the extension from Git instead, using:cd extensions/
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/LiquidThreads - Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:
wfLoadExtension( 'LiquidThreads' );
- Run the update script which will automatically create the necessary database tables that this extension needs.
Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.
Configuration
This is the default configuration of the extension. You can override such values in LocalSettings.php:
// Preferences
$wgDefaultUserOptions['lqtnotifytalk'] = false;
$wgDefaultUserOptions['lqtdisplaydepth'] = 5;
$wgDefaultUserOptions['lqtdisplaycount'] = 25;
$wgDefaultUserOptions['lqtcustomsignatures'] = true;
$wgDefaultUserOptions['lqt-watch-threads'] = true;
// Permissions
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['lqt-split'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['lqt-merge'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['lqt-react'] = true;
/* Allows activation of LiquidThreads on individual pages */
$wgLqtPages = array();
/* Allows switching LiquidThreads off for regular talk pages
(intended for testing and transition) */
$wgLqtTalkPages = true;
/* Whether or not to activate LiquidThreads email notifications */
$wgLqtEnotif = true;
/* Thread actions which do *not* cause threads to be "bumped" to the top */
/* Using numbers because the change type constants are defined in Threads.php, don't
want to have to parse it on every page view */
$wgThreadActionsNoBump = array(
3 /* Edited summary */,
10 /* Merged from */,
12 /* Split from */,
2 /* Edited root */,
14 /* Adjusted sortkey */
);
/** Switch this on if you've migrated from a version before around May 2009 */
$wgLiquidThreadsMigrate = false;
/** The default number of threads per page */
$wgLiquidThreadsDefaultPageLimit = 20;
/** Whether or not to allow users to activate/deactivate LiquidThreads per-page */
$wgLiquidThreadsAllowUserControl = true;
/** Whether or not to allow users to activate/deactivate LiquidThreads
in specific namespaces. NULL means either all or none, depending
on the above. */
$wgLiquidThreadsAllowUserControlNamespaces = null;
/** Allow LiquidThreads embedding */
$wgLiquidThreadsAllowEmbedding = true;
// Namespaces in which to enable LQT
$wgLqtNamespaces = array();
/** Enable/disable the bump checkbox. **/
$wgLiquidThreadsShowBumpCheckbox = false;
/** Enable/Disable 'New messages' link and special page (Special:NewMessages) */
$wgLiquidThreadsEnableNewMessages = true;
API
Notes
$wgEnableAPI = false; and $wgEnableWriteAPI = false;See also
- v:THREADNAV – Wikiversity development on structured and threaded discussions using wiki-syntax for structures. Last activity was in 2007.
- User:Inquisitor Ehrenstein/LQTavatar – Forum-style LQT templates for including avatars and full forum style signatures.
- Structured Discussions – WMF effort for forum-style discussions; also deprecated.
- Extension:DiscussionThreading – Maintained and light-weight solution that will still allow editing the discussion page like a wiki page.
- Extension:DiscussionTools – Heavier WMF effort to integrate with normal wikitext talk pages.
- Extension:DiscussionTools/Comparison – Comparison between LQT and 3 other talk page tools.
External links
- Sites using this extension
- Phabricator task for LiquidThreads deployment
- w:Wikipedia:LiquidThreads
- LiquidThreads pictures on Commons
 | This extension is being used on one or more Wikimedia projects. This probably means that the extension is stable and works well enough to be used by such high-traffic websites. Look for this extension's name in Wikimedia's CommonSettings.php and InitialiseSettings.php configuration files to see where it's installed. A full list of the extensions installed on a particular wiki can be seen on the wiki's Special:Version page. |
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