In the first half of 2019, the Wikimedia Foundation held a global '''[[mw:Talk_pages_consultation_2019|Talk pages consultation]]''' to bring Wikimedians together to define better tools for wiki communication. Volunteers hosted discussions in 15 languages on how they use wikitext talk pages, what they struggle with, and how talk pages can be improved for both newcomers and experienced users. The goal was to come up with a new product direction that the WMF will work on later this year.
Community growth means welcoming new contributors to our project, and their ability to communicate successfully with more experienced contributors is essential. New contributors often stumble when they're trying to do simple actions, like replying and signing their message -- problems that have been solved by every other site on the internet. And as we welcome more new contributors, the experienced contributors need more sophisticated tools to manage their communication needs. In the consultation, active contributors requested improvements to archiving, searching and watchlisting discussions, while expressing a strong desire for continuity with the existing software.
This session, presented by members of the WMF Audiences and Community Engagement departments, will bring everyone up to date on what we've learned from the consultation, share a vision for the future of on-wiki communication, and invite participants to discuss some of the decisions and tradeoffs that the team will need to make, in order to meet the needs of our contributors and communities.