Is there any point in this interface?

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The point of making each comment separate is to avoid edit conflicts and the massive overhead in storage requirements (guess why our database is 20 gigs but compresses to just 5). And I don't get this whole "OMGZ it doesn't use MW syntax stuff".

What is this then?
-- Nx / talk21:03, 29 November 2010

If you put the same amount of text in a regular talk page here, say the Saloon Bar, and converted it into LQT threads, how much less space would it take up?

Kels (talk)21:26, 29 November 2010

That's not how it works. (It would take up a bit more space actually, because of the overhead of having every comment as a separate page)

The problem is that when you edit the saloon bar to add, say, a 100 byte comment, what's saved into the database is the full page, which is usually above 30 kilobytes. Each edit you make to the saloon bar, even if it's just fixing a typo, adds a lot of redundant data to the database.

-- Nx / talk21:30, 29 November 2010
 

I know it uses MW syntax, my point is that it completely changes the method of editing discussion threads.

Evil wisest Phantom!12:30, 30 November 2010

But the current method SUCKS. It was never intended to be used for discussion.

-- Nx / talk12:35, 30 November 2010

The current method is used on every wiki that exists at the moment, and the number of pages where it causes a problem is negligible.

TBH, this entire system is silly. If you want a forum, you know where to get it. Trying a hack to turn MediaWiki into forum software is trying to make it do something it was never intended to do.

SuspectedReplicant retire me12:59, 30 November 2010

It was never intended to do what we do with the Saloon bar either.

- π13:03, 30 November 2010

I don't dispute that. But I think plain talk pages are better than this and that proper forum software would be better than either.

SuspectedReplicant retire me13:12, 30 November 2010
 

There's an extension to integrate phpbb into mw. want me to install that?

-- Nx / talk13:13, 30 November 2010

Personally, I think that would be the best idea. You've made this look much better than it originally did, and I can see it being useful once some of the oddities have been ironed out, but there's only so much you can do with it and forums ain't it.

SuspectedReplicant retire me13:16, 30 November 2010
 

Might be worth a look.

- π13:26, 30 November 2010