Help talk:Talk pages
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Question
When exactly was the Talk page added to Wikipedia? I couldn't find the answer on the article. Iamnotflour (talk) 02:00, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
- @Iamnotflour: I don't know, but the associated "magic word"
{{TALKPAGENAME}}
was added to the software in version 1.7, which dates from 2006. Pinging Graham87 (talk · contribs), who specialises in Wikipedia's history. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:00, 2 November 2023 (UTC)- @Iamnotflour and John of Reading: Modern talk pages (and namespaces) were introduced in January 2002 with the Phase II software (see Wikipedia:PHP script new features). Before then, talk pages were in the main namespace with "/Talk" on the end (see George W. Bush/Talk] on the Nostalgia Wikipedia for an example). I'm sure I read somewhere that Larry Sanger said he invented the concept of separating article and talk page content, but I can't find a good source about that now. Graham87 (talk) 11:44, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
- Thanks. I wasn't sure is anything predated the Talk namespace, because the earliest talk posts I can really find are from late 2006, meaning there would be a 5-year gap between the creation of Wikipedia and the Talk page being established. Iamnotflour (talk) 13:04, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
- Nowadays, archiving is performed (usually by a bot) by cutting individual threads from the main talk page and pasting them to an archive subpage, so the history of the main talk page goes right back to when it was created. But some years ago, it was the practice (and still is for some user talk pages) to rename the talk page to an archive subpage, and then convert the resulting redirect into a new edition of the main talk page - in these cases the history of the main talk page only goes back to the page move. As an example, consider an article that is likely to have existed from very early on - Talk:New York City has a history going back to January 2008; you need to look at the history of its archives to go back earlier. It seems that its very earliest history is now at /Archive 10. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 21:42, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
- Thanks. I wasn't sure is anything predated the Talk namespace, because the earliest talk posts I can really find are from late 2006, meaning there would be a 5-year gap between the creation of Wikipedia and the Talk page being established. Iamnotflour (talk) 13:04, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
- @Iamnotflour and John of Reading: Modern talk pages (and namespaces) were introduced in January 2002 with the Phase II software (see Wikipedia:PHP script new features). Before then, talk pages were in the main namespace with "/Talk" on the end (see George W. Bush/Talk] on the Nostalgia Wikipedia for an example). I'm sure I read somewhere that Larry Sanger said he invented the concept of separating article and talk page content, but I can't find a good source about that now. Graham87 (talk) 11:44, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
Starting a new thread
WP:TPNEW says to start a new topic by clicking on the "New section" link. Experiment suggests the following occur with various skins.
- Vector : New section
- Vector-2022 : Add topic
- Minerva Neue : Add topic
- Timeless : New topic
- MonoBook : +
- IP editors (not logged in) : Add topic
Is the above correct? Can something simple be done so WP:TPNEW gives less puzzling advice? Johnuniq (talk) 01:53, 11 December 2023 (UTC)
- The same problem was actually discussed recently at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 209#"New section" vs "Add topic", but it was archived without anyone doing anything about it. Matma Rex talk 11:00, 11 December 2023 (UTC)
How to update a page title?
Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement
It would be a good thing if this was posted at the top of all article talk pages. Editors need to be reminded of its principles. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 16:53, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
Note about subpages
Please see my edit summary here. This was referenced at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Accessibility#When are tables an accessibility problem? (search for "AI overlords"). Graham87 (talk) 16:54, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
Problem with reply script
Since WP:REPLY redirects here. See Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Reply_script_not_loading_properly? Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 22:36, 24 March 2024 (UTC)