Thread:IDontCareAboutHistory/@comment-499247-20190616235920/@comment-499247-20190617191030

I remember all too well how Discussions were originally rolled out across Fandom (and the negative reaction that ensued from many communities). I did not work for Fandom at the time, but I did experience it first-hand as a wiki editor/admin of other Fandom communities. I will say that Fandom has been taking a different approach recently, has undergone many staffing changes, and has been working toward engaging more with communities before drastic changes like these are made. There have even been some steps taken recently that are specifically related to discussions and increasing their integration with other aspects of wikis (ie. the recent feed-related changes).

Regarding Discussions being activated on this wiki back in 2016: I found a discussions post from one of this wiki's (now-former) admins that introduced users to the new feature. A second (now-former) admin stopped by the discussion to offer their support, and several other users were part of that discussion as well. So, it seems there was at least some interest in the feature within a small portion of this community right from the start. Of course the discussion I'm referring to, along with all other past discussions, have since been deleted. So, any evidence that users want to, or are already using Discussions has essentially been censored by administrators who came along afterward.

ThisUserLikesOreo wrote: discussions ... doesn't feel like a part of the wiki. Users in the wiki itself don't even go there, so it feels like there's just two separate communities. Looking at the current posts that are currently up, I couldn't recognize any user, which makes sense, because they don't go to the wiki itself. I know what you mean; I've seen the very same thing on other wikis. However, I think it is important to take into consideration a wiki's overall activity (viewers, as well as contributors). Those who are inclined to use discussions and don't seem to make edits on a community, sometimes seem like a completely different demographic than a wiki's regular editors. However, part of this reason may stem from the fact that mobile users have a very discussions-forward interface, and in some ways, the design specifically leads these users toward the discussions area. There's also the fact that editing via mobile devices was disabled last summer. It is possible that the discussions area is the only place on the wiki where some of these mobile users are able to communicate with the wiki community.

There have been over 275 moderator actions (such as deleting discussion threads) performed on this wiki's discussions area over the past 3 months. This number seems a little high to attribute simply to vandalism/spam. I can actually say for certain that legitimate discussions have been removed, because I was taking part in at least one of them myself last week, and now that discussion is gone. "Quality discussions" is a bit of a subjective term. If a discussion is related to PvZ and is not offensive, where is the issue? It seems there is a segment of the PvZ community who want to use discussions, so why not let them? If given the chance, it is even possible that one of those users would be willing to help moderate discussions, or at least flag spam as it appears. Discussions can also be a gateway for users who may not normally edit, to start branching out from a discussion because they are drawn to a recommended article, or other recent wiki activity. They could eventually start being inclined to edit mainspace articles as well. - Sitb ( Message wall / Talk page )  19:10, June 17, 2019 (UTC)