wikipedia-talk-page

name	wikipedia-talk-page
description	Navigate, participate in, and understand Wikipedia talk pages — includes modern DiscussionTools (Reply Tool, Topic Subscriptions, Permalinks), Usability Improvements, community gadgets, wikitext conventions, WikiProject banners, archives, and talk page etiquette
license	MIT
compatibility	opencode
depends_on	["wikimedia-api-access"]
skill_discovery_hints	[{"keywords":["talk page","DiscussionTools","Reply Tool","topic subscription","WikiProject banner"]},{"keywords":["talk page archive","discussion","indentation","ping","@-mention"]}]
last_verified	"2026-06-12T00:00:00.000Z"

⚠️ User-Agent required: The API examples below use the Action API. All requests must include a descriptive User-Agent header or they will be blocked with HTTP 403 or 429. See the wikimedia-api-access skill for the correct format.

💡 This skill covers both legacy wikitext conventions and modern tools. Most talk pages now have DiscussionTools enabled (Reply buttons, auto-signing, topic subscriptions). Use the modern path unless the user is on a wiki or page where wikitext is the only option.

---

SOP: Understanding the Talk Namespace

Every Wikipedia page has an associated talk page. Pattern: prepend Talk: for mainspace, replace namespace prefix with X talk: for others.

Subject Page	Talk Page
Albert Einstein	Talk:Albert Einstein
User:Example	User talk:Example
Wikipedia:Manual of Style	Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style

• A red-linked talk page means no discussion has ever been started. This is normal.
• Talk pages have separate edit histories, watchlists, and protection levels from their subject pages.
• Access via the "Talk" tab in the web UI, or directly via URL/API.
• Usability note: New contributors often don't find the "Discussion" tab and assume clicking "edit" on an article will open a forum. If someone can't find a talk page, point them to the top-of-page tabs or the URL directly.

---

SOP: Modern Talk Page Tools (DiscussionTools)

Since 2020, the WMF Editing Team has deployed DiscussionTools — a suite adding modern UI on top of existing wikitext. These are now the default on most wikis.

Reply Tool

Each signed comment has a [ reply ] button opening an inline editor that:

• Auto-indents at the correct nesting level
• Auto-signs with ~~~~
• Provides visual mode (no wikitext) or source mode (wikitext)
• @-mention with autocomplete
• Opt-out: Preferences → Editing → uncheck "Use the reply tool"

The Reply Tool has been shown to significantly improve newcomer comment success rates. See this Diff post for A/B test results.

New Topic Tool

"Add topic" (+) tab opens an inline form that auto-adds headings and posts at the bottom. Opt-out: Preferences → Editing → uncheck "Quick topic adding".

Topic Subscriptions (Section-Level Watchlisting)

Solves the "can't follow one thread without drowning in all of them" problem. Subscribe to a single section (bell/star icon) to receive Echo notifications only for new comments in that thread. Subscriptions persist across archives. Check Preferences → Notifications for automatic subscription options.

Permalinks (January 2024)

Each comment has a stable #c- anchor URL. Use for direct links that survive archiving: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Article#c-Username-20260101120000-Topic

Thank from Talk Pages

A "Thank" button next to Reply lets you thank users for comments without visiting page history.

---

SOP: Usability Improvements (Visual Changes)

Rolling out to all wikis in phases. Opt-out: Preferences → Appearance → "Use the talk page usability improvements".

Change	What It Does
Topic containers	Boxes each discussion with subtle background, separating topics visually
Improved headings	Shows participant count, comment count, last comment date per section
Clear action buttons	Reply/Add topic as bold buttons, not disguised links
Page frame / breadcrumbs	Top-of-page summary of latest activity; breadcrumb to subject page
Table of contents	Comment counts per topic for spotting active discussions

---

SOP: Reading Threaded Discussions

Modern (with DiscussionTools)

The Reply Tool renders threading with clear visual hierarchy. No colon-counting needed — the tool handles it. Permalinks reference individual comments.

Legacy (wikitext / no tools)

Discussions under == Heading == sections, indented with colons:

== Date of birth discrepancy ==

I noticed the article lists two different dates. ~~~~

: The 1950 source says March 14. ~~~~
:: But the 1960 biography says March 13. ~~~~

Indentation rules: Each reply adds one more colon (: → :: → :::). The colon creates a definition-list indent in wikitext HTML.

Reading order: Start at section heading, read chronologically top to bottom. Indentation shows who replies to whom.

Deep nesting problem: Beyond 4–5 levels, colon indentation becomes unusable — especially on mobile. Use {{outdent}} to reset:

{{outdent|::::}}
New comment at the left margin. ~~~~

Alternative strategies: start a new sub-section (=== Side topic ===) or move very long debates to a subpage.

Accessibility: Legacy colon indentation uses <dl> elements, which is semantically wrong for threading. Screen readers may announce indented comments as "definitions." DiscussionTools' rendering doesn't have this problem.

---

SOP: Signing and Attributing Comments

Modern (with DiscussionTools)

The Reply Tool auto-signs on publish. No need to type ~~~~ unless editing source mode.

Legacy (wikitext only)

Always sign talk page comments:

Wikitext	Renders As	Use
~~~~	Username 23 May 2026 14:30 (UTC)	Standard
~~~	Username	Rare
~~~~~	23 May 2026 14:30 (UTC)	Rare

Detecting unsigned comments: Lacks ~~~~. Tag with {{unsigned|Username}}.

Custom signatures: User-configurable in preferences. Display text may differ from username. For reliable attribution, use the username from revision history, not display text.

---

SOP: Community Gadgets

Community-built, unofficial but widely used. Check Special:Preferences → Gadgets on any wiki.

Convenient Discussions (by Jack who built the house)

Full shell over MediaWiki discussions: inline reply/edit, @-mentions, quoting, section watchlisting.

• Available as gadget on Russian Wikipedia; userscript on any wiki.
• Compatibility: Incompatible with DiscussionTools Reply Tool — enabling CD disables it.
• Install: add script to common.js — see User:JWBTH/CD

Reply Link Gadget (by Enterprisey)

Lighter alternative: adds [reply] link per comment with auto-indent/sign. More compatible than CD.

---

SOP: WikiProject Banners

Banners at the top of talk pages tagging article scope, quality, and importance:

{{WikiProject Biography|class=B|importance=High}}

Assessment ratings: Stub → Start → C → B → GA → FA (ascending). Importance: Top → High → Mid → Low → NA.

Reading assessment data:

• Single article: Parse talk page wikitext for {{WikiProject...|class=...|importance=...}}
• Bulk: Use wikimedia-page-assessment (queries page_assessments database table directly)

---

SOP: Finding and Using Archives

Archives are subpages of the talk page (Talk:Article/Archive 1).

Automated archiving via {{User:MiszaBot/config}}:

{{User:MiszaBot/config
| algo = old(30d)
| archive = Talk:Article/Archive %(counter)d
| counter = 3
| maxarchivesize = 150K
| minthreadsleft = 5
}}

Finding archives via API:

action=query&list=prefixsearch&pssearch=Talk:Albert_Einstein/Archive&format=json

Searching across archives: Query each archive individually via action=query&prop=revisions&titles=Talk:...&rvprop=content. The {{Archives}} template links all archives and provides a search field.

Permalinks: Since 2024, comment permalinks remain stable across archiving — a significant improvement over the old system where archiving broke all comment links.

---

SOP: Participating in Discussions

Modern Workflow (Recommended)

1. Find talk page via "Talk" tab at article top
2. Click [ reply ] on an existing comment, or "Add topic" button for new thread
3. Write in visual or source mode; use @-mentions for pinging
4. Click Publish — auto-signs, auto-indents, posts at correct position
5. Subscribe (bell icon) to get notifications for new replies in that thread

Legacy Workflow (wikitext fallback)

New topic: Add == Subject == + comment at the bottom of the page. Use "Add topic" (+) tab or edit full page.

Reply: Add one more colon than the message you're replying to, write your comment, sign with ~~~~.

Topic
I think the article is missing context. ~~~~
: I agree, but let's find sources. ~~~~
:: Good point. Here's a source: [link]. ~~~~

Notifying editors: {{ping|Username}} inside a signed comment. Pings only work with a signature. In the Reply Tool, @-mentions accomplish the same thing.

Section editing: Click [edit] next to a heading, or append &section=N to the edit URL, to edit a single discussion without loading the full page.

---

SOP: Following Talk Page Etiquette

Rule	Meaning
Assume good faith (WP:AGF)	Assume others are trying to help, even if you disagree
No personal attacks (WP:NPA)	Comment on content, not the contributor
Stay on topic (WP:TALK)	Discuss how to improve the article, not the subject itself
Sign your comments	Use ~~~~ or let the Reply Tool do it
Strike, don't delete	<s>old text</s> to retract; never remove comments entirely
Don't edit others' comments	Except vandalism, formatting fixes, or signatures
Respond in context	Article talk: reply below addressed comment. User talk: reply on own page unless asked otherwise

Closing discussions:

Template	Meaning
{{resolved}}	Issue addressed
{{done}}	Action completed
{{not done}}	Proposal rejected
{{withdrawn}}	Proposer withdrawing

Article talk vs. user talk: Talk:Article is for improving the article with any interested editor. User talk:Username is for personal messages to a specific editor. Don't discuss article content on user talk pages.

---

SOP: Structured Discussions / Flow — Deprecated

Structured Discussions (Flow) was a WMF project (2013–2024) to replace wikitext talk pages with a structured forum. It is officially deprecated; communities still using it (Catalan Wikipedia, some help desks) are being asked to migrate back to wikitext.

If you encounter a Flow page:

• Visual-editor-only comments; no wikitext shown
• Automatic threading, but limited search and no diff support
• Cannot be edited with normal wikitext tools
• The WMF provides migration tooling

For historical context on why Flow was abandoned, see references/discussion-tools-history.md.

---

SOP: Accessing Talk Pages via API

Task	API Method
Get talk page wikitext	action=raw&title=Talk:Title
Get parsed talk page	action=parse&page=Talk:Title&prop=text
Search talk pages	list=search with namespace (srnamespace=1)
Find archive subpages	list=prefixsearch&pssearch=Talk:Title/Archive
Check if talk page exists	prop=info on the talk page title
Get DiscussionTools data	action=discussiontoolsinfo&page=Talk:Title

---

Relationship to Other Skills

• wikipedia-page-anatomy — Shares underlying MediaWiki structure with articles.
• wikipedia-edit-history — Talk pages have their own history; same diff/rollback apply.
• wikimedia-page-assessment — For bulk assessment queries instead of parsing banners individually.
• wikimedia-api-access — Same Action API; handles User-Agent and rate limiting.
• wikimedia-eventstreams — Can monitor talk page events (new topics, replies) in real time.
• wikimedia-search-cirrussearch — Can search talk namespaces with talk: prefix.
• wikipedia-notability-assessment — WikiProject banner assessment data and notability evaluation.
• wikipedia-wikiprojects — Finding projects, interpreting assessment tables, and navigating the WikiProject directory.

---

Tooling

🔧 Get Assessment (scripts/get-assessment.sh)

./scripts/get-assessment.sh "Albert Einstein"
./scripts/get-assessment.sh "Python (programming language)" --json

🔧 List Archives (scripts/list-archives.sh)

./scripts/list-archives.sh "Albert Einstein"
./scripts/list-archives.sh "Talk:Albert Einstein" --json

📚 Assessment Ratings Reference (references/assessment-ratings.md)

FA/GA/B/C/Start/Stub ratings and Top/High/Mid/Low importance with descriptions and distribution stats.

📚 Discussion Tools History (references/discussion-tools-history.md)

Historical context: 2019 Talk Pages Consultation, LiquidThreads, Flow, DocumentMode vs. ThreadMode debate. Load on demand when historical understanding is needed.

🐍 Talk Archive Search (assets/talk-archive-search.py)

Search across a talk page and all its archives for a keyword or phrase. Uses only Python stdlib.

python3 assets/talk-archive-search.py "Albert Einstein" "Nobel"
python3 assets/talk-archive-search.py "Talk:Albert Einstein" "birth date" --json