Use of discussion pages (was Re: new wiki theme)

[Allan Day]

> I have to say that I find discussion pages rather unwieldy
> to have a proper discussion of something. Email threads are much
> easier to follow and better organised. Also, in order to follow a
> discussion page, you need to be subscribed, and there is no guarantee
> that an interested party will subscribe to a particular page.
>   
I agree - I haven't found discussion pages to be an efficient mode of 
communication. Generally, there are just too few people subscribed to a 
discussion page to make using it worthwhile. It's a shame, because there 
are things I like about the idea of page discussion (either on a linked 
subpage, or on the page itself). If used properly, discussion pages make 
relevant information easily accessible to contributors. It's also nice 
to have the exchanges of contributors closely linked to the page itself. 
This emphasises the collaborative, community aspect of the wiki, and in 
doing so may encourage participation. I wonder - is there a way you 
could get this same effect, but using a mailing list? Could you flag a 
page as having been the subject of discussion, or link to an item in the 
mail archives, for example?

Allan