A Wiki page that has gone on in ThreadMode for far too long. The discussion is lively, but has not reached any usable conclusion even after an extended period of time.
Possible approaches:
- Thread mode to collaboration mode -- Replace a thread mode conversation with a monolog that says the same thing and preserves as much of the original text as possible. Remove the inline attributions and put them at the end under "Contributors:"
- Delimit conversation -- Arbitrarily change the text formatting of a conversation to alternate between plain text and italics as the speaker changes. Delimit the entire conversation with horizontal lines. This makes it possible for the average Wikizen to follow the salient points without wading through massive globs of text.
- Delimit subject -- When the sub-topic of conversation changes put a title in bold over it so that readers can pick out the parts that they are interested in.
Any or all of these techniques might be used by Wiki editors to refactor and refine a page. This kind of editing does not need to be reserved to those who are technically competent in the area under discussion. Anybody who can read the thread and glean the salient points of the discussion can distil the arguments to a conversation between
DramaticIdentities.
See: ThesisAntithesisSynthesis, TooBigToEdit, RefactoringWikiPages, ConvertThreadModeToDocumentMode
CategoryWikiMaintenance
Refactoring Candidate