When writing or substantially rewriting an article, I would sometimes
like a space where I could record certain "design decisions" made
during creation of a paragraph. I think this could help future editors
to sensibly continue my work.
What we now have is:
* The version log, which favors short decriptions of the changes, but
not (perhaps longer) arguments *why* something was changed.
* /Talk can be used for my purpose, but convention has it that it is
mainly for discussion, i.e. when someone (not knowing my thoughts)
executes the exactly opposite decision I can bring this up on /Talk.
What I envision is that the edit page not only offered the option for
a one-line log message, but also a multi-line argument section. As
long as the change is diff-able (at least two weeks, hopefully
forever), both should be viewable somehow. The Recent Changes should
list the short What message as it does now.
Example:
Summary of changes: [rewrote the first paragraph]
Why did I change it:
[Many people ignorant about Pascal will probably be confused ]
[by the terms 'parse' and 'token look ahead'. If necessary, this ]
[information should come later in the article. I think my simplified ]
[variant is enough, though. ]
I think this will replace some aspect of what /Talk pages are used
for: discussion between various authors. /Talk (or talk:) will
probably still have other uses, though. But the need will be somewhat
lessened.
Advantages over just using /Talk as we do now:
* Some useful /Talk conventions are automatically ensured by the
software:
+ Reverse date order (often forgotten by newbies and me)
+ Separation of arguments by different people (sometimes it is
unclear in /Talk pages whether a new paragraph is by the same
person as the last)
+ Signing of arguments
+ Significantly editing other's comments is faux pas.
* If a change is no longer viewable, its supporting argument is
automatically deleted. These often stay in /Talk forever.
* The "Be bold in editing" dogma is fostered: I am much more
comfortable with editing right away rather than debating first when
I can state my point at the same time.
--
Robbe