Extension:DiscussionTools

**MediaWiki extensions manual**
DiscussionTools; Release status: stable
Implementation	User interface
Description	Tools to enhance discussion pages
Author(s)	Wikimedia Editing team
Latest version	Continuous updates
Compatibility policy	Snapshots releases along with MediaWiki. Master is not backward compatible.
Database changes	Yes
Tables	discussiontools_items; discussiontools_item_ids; discussiontools_item_pages; discussiontools_item_revisions; discussiontools_subscription
License	MIT License
Download	Download extension ; Git [?]: Browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub); Gerrit code review; Git commit log; Download source tarball;
Help	Help:DiscussionTools
	Parameters $wgDiscussionToolsReplyIndentation; $wgDiscussionToolsBeta; $wgDiscussionTools_visualenhancements; $wgDiscussionToolsEnablePermalinksBackend; $wgDiscussionToolsEnableThanks; $wgDiscussionToolsTimestampFormatSwitchTime; $wgDiscussionToolsShowFeedbackLinks; $wgDiscussionToolsTalkPageParserCacheExpiry; $wgDiscussionTools_visualenhancements_pageframe; $wgDiscussionToolsAutoTopicSubEditor; $wgDiscussionToolsConflictingGadgetName; $wgDiscussionTools_visualenhancements_reply; $wgDiscussionToolsEnablePermalinksFrontend; $wgDiscussionTools_visualenhancements_reply_icon_languages;
	Hooks used ApiMain::moduleManager; BeforeCreateEchoEvent; BeforeDisplayNoArticleText; BeforePageDisplay; ChangeTagsListActive; DiscussionToolsAddOverflowMenuItems; EchoGetBundleRules; EchoGetEventsForRevision; GetActionName; GetBetaFeaturePreferences; GetDoubleUnderscoreIDs; GetPreferences; ListDefinedTags; LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates; OutputPageBeforeHTML; OutputPageParserOutput; ParserAfterTidy; ParserOutputPostCacheTransform; RecentChange_save; ResourceLoaderGetConfigVars; RevisionDataUpdates; SidebarBeforeOutput; SkinTemplateNavigation::Universal;
	Hooks provided DiscussionToolsAddOverflowMenuItems; DiscussionToolsTermsOfUseMessages;
	Translate the DiscussionTools extension
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

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The Discussion Tools extension is a set of tools to enhance discussion pages. As of 2024, it is being built by the Editing team as part of the talk pages project .

User documentation is at Help:DiscussionTools .

Some features can be disabled on individual pages and sections as described at Help:DiscussionTools/Magic words and markup .

Features

Dependencies

Optional dependencies

Extension:Echo - Enables topic subscriptions and user pinging.
Extension:Thanks - Enables comment thanking.
Extension:MobileFrontend - Enables mobile support.

Installation

This extension comes with MediaWiki 1.40 and later, so you do not need to download it. The remaining configuration instructions must still be followed.

Install the dependencies.
Download and move the extracted DiscussionTools folder to your extensions/ directory.
Developers and code contributors should install the extension from Git instead, using:
```
cd extensions/
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools
```
Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:
```
wfLoadExtension( 'DiscussionTools' );
```
Run the update script which will automatically create the necessary database tables that this extension needs.
Also in LocalSettings.php, ensure that you have a timezone set and $wgFragmentMode set to html5.
Configure as required.
Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Configuration

Setting name	Default value	Description	Possible values
`$wgDiscussionToolsBeta`	`false`	Make DiscussionTools a beta feature .
`$wgDiscussionTools_visualenhancements`	`'default'`	Override availability of DiscussionTools visual enhancements.	`'default'`, `'available'`, `'unavailable'`
`$wgDiscussionTools_visualenhancements_pageframe`	`'default'`	Override availability of DiscussionTools visual enhancements’ page frame sub-feature.	`'default'`, `'available'`, `'unavailable'`
`$wgDiscussionTools_visualenhancements_reply`	`'default'`	Override availability of DiscussionTools visual enhancements’ reply buttons sub-feature.	`'default'`, `'available'`, `'unavailable'`
`$wgDiscussionTools_visualenhancements_reply_icon_languages`	`{ ar: true, zh: true, yue: true, ja: true, nod: true }`	A dictionary of language codes which will receive an icon in their enhanced reply-button treatment, due to translation being very short. (T323537) Language fallbacks will be checked unless a language is explicitly set to `false`. (T352289) Normalized language codes are lower case.
`$wgDiscussionToolsEnablePermalinksBackend`	`true`	Enable the permalinks backend (Special:GoToComment). Do not enable this unless the database tables exist.
`$wgDiscussionToolsEnablePermalinksFrontend`	`true`	Enable permalinks frontend features: (1) Convert signature timestamps to comment links. (2) Show notification when the target comment is found on another page.
`$wgDiscussionToolsEnableThanks`	`true`	Show a button to thank individual comments. Requires Extension:Thanks .
`$wgDiscussionToolsAutoTopicSubEditor`	`'any'`	Editor which triggers automatic topic subscriptions. Either `'discussiontoolsapi'` for edits made using DiscussionTools’ API (e.g. reply and new topic tools), or `'any'` for any editor.
`$wgDiscussionToolsTalkPageParserCacheExpiry`	`0`	Override `$wgParserCacheExpireTime` for discussion pages, regardless of DiscussionTools enablement.
`$wgDiscussionToolsReplyIndentation`	`'invisible'`	Reply indentation syntax to use: `'invisible'` (use `<dl><dd>` tags to output `:` in wikitext) or `'bullet'` (use `<ul><li>` tags to output `*` in wikitext).
`$wgDiscussionToolsShowFeedbackLinks`	`false`	MW 1.40+ Show "Share feedback about this feature" links in the footer of reply tool and new topic tool.
`$wgDiscussionToolsTimestampFormatSwitchTime`	`'2022-07-12'`	Date on which the internal timestamp format has changed (T304595), in ISO 8601 format.
`$wgDiscussionToolsConflictingGadgetName`	`'convenientDiscussions'`	Internal name of the Convenient Discussions gadget, which conflicts with the reply tool. Reply tool will be unavailable when the user has this gadget enabled.

API

Editing


Action	Human readable	Description	Internal?
discussiontoolscompare	compare	Get information about comment changes between two page revisions.	internal
discussiontoolsedit	edit	Post a message on a discussion page.
discussiontoolsfindcomment	find comment	Find a comment by its ID or name.
discussiontoolspageinfo	page info	Returns metadata required to initialize the discussion tools.	internal
discussiontoolspreview	preview	Preview a message on a discussion page.	internal

Subscriptions

Action	Human readable	Description	Internal?
discussiontoolsgetsubscriptions	get subscriptions	Get the subscription statuses of given topics.
discussiontoolssubscribe	subscribe	Subscribe (or unsubscribe) to receive notifications about a topic.

Special pages

Integration with other extensions

DiscussionTools can integrate with PlaceNewSection to put the location of where added new topics will begin to be placed.

It can also integrate with AutoModerator to enable community-configured reversion of Machine Language-scored bad edits.