So... w:c:community has switched over the MessageWall... why is the entire [[user talk:]] namespace editlocked? How would I ever edit a subpage? And if I turn on MessageWall on my wiki, does that also happen?

ForestMonthZero 09:25, February 3, 2012 (UTC)

One of the things that happens when Message Wall is enabled on any wiki is that the user talk namespace becomes protected to sysop level. That's what's happened on Central, and if you enable on your wiki it'll happen there too. The 888th Avatar (talk) 10:53, February 3, 2012 (UTC)

Seems unnecessary to lock the whole namespace, but the rationale might be that since the UI to easily access user talk pages was removed and they are disconnected from notification, Wikia doesn't want people messing with them. You could always just point people to Special:MyPage/talk as an alternate place to comment with Message Wall turned on. Of course, notification wouldn't happen. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 3 Feb 2012 12:14 PM Pacific

I use the user talk space for notes and annotations for sandboxed pages (subpages of my user page)... this would totally break that usage, especially if I'm building articles and move the page and talk page as a set because of talk page attribution. ForestMonthZero 07:41, February 5, 2012 (UTC)

Yup. You might want to ask Wikia if they can think of some way to help you preserve your usage scenario. The chance is greater than zero that they will help you, but maybe not much. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 5 Feb 2012 9:06 PM Pacific

Its still possible to get notifications for Special:mypage/talk. See function killmessagewall in my global js. I cant post the code at the moment due to being on a phone.--GodPray  19:39,2/3/2012 

Here it is:

//kills the message wall
  importScriptPage('MediaWiki:APIQuery.js', 'monchbox');
 
function KillMessageWall() {
	if(wgPageName != 'User:' + wgUserName + '/talk' && wgPageName != 'User:' + wgUserName + '/Talk') {
		//check if someone edited your /talk or /Talk page
		var api = new APIQuery({logger: function() {}});
		api.newQuery('GET', {action: 'query', prop: 'info', titles: 'User:' + wgUserName + '/talk|User:' + wgUserName + '/Talk'}, function(result) {
			var pages = result.query.pages;
			for(var i in pages) {
				if(i > 0 && pages[i].lastrevid > readCookie('msgwl_' + pages[i].title.substring(pages[i].title.lastIndexOf('/') + 1))) {
					var sub = pages[i].title.substring(pages[i].title.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
					if(skin == 'oasis') {
						document.getElementById('WikiaFooter').getElementsByTagName('ul')[0].outerHTML += '<ul id="WikiaNotifications" class="WikiaNotifications"><li><div data-type="1"><a class="sprite close-notification"></a>You have <a href="/index.php?title=User:' + wgUserName + '/' + sub + '&redirect=no" title="User:' + wgUserName + '/' + sub + '">new messages</a>.</div></li></ul>';
					}
					else {
						document.getElementById('contentSub').outerHTML += '<div class="usermessage">You have <a href="/index.php?title=User:' + wgUserName + '/' + sub + '&redirect=no" title="User:' + wgUserName + '/' + sub + '">new messages</a> (<a href="/index.php?title=User:' + wgUserName + '/' + sub + '&diff=cur" title="User:' + wgUserName + '/' + sub + '">show most recent</a>).</div>';
					}
				}
			}
		});
		api.send(0);
	}
	else {createCookie('msgwl_' + wgPageName.substring(wgPageName.lastIndexOf('/') + 1), wgCurRevisionId, 99999);}
 
	if(wgCanonicalNamespace.indexOf('Message_Wall') == 0 || wgCanonicalNamespace == 'Thread') {
		if(document.getElementById('Wall')) { //Page is an actual wall or thread
			if(document.getElementById('WallBrickHeader')) {
				var header = document.getElementById('WallBrickHeader').getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
				header.innerHTML = 'Message Wall:' + header.href.substring(header.href.indexOf('/wiki/Message_Wall:') + '/wiki/Message_Wall:'.length);
			}
 
			var blocks = document.getElementById('Wall').getElementsByTagName('blockquote');
			for(var i = 0; i < blocks.length; i++) {
				if(blocks[i].className == 'speech-bubble-message') {
					var div = blocks[i].getElementsByTagName('div');
					if(div[0] && div[0].className == 'edited-by') {var links = blocks[i].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].getElementsByTagName('a');}
					else if(div[0]) {var links = blocks[i].getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('a');}
					if(links[1] && links[1].innerHTML) {
						links[1].className = '';
						links[0].style.display = 'none';
					}
				}
			}
		}
		else { //Page is history
			if(skin == 'oasis') {var page = document.getElementById('WikiaArticle');}
			else {var page = document.getElementById('bodyContent');}
			var header = page.getElementsByTagName('nav')[0].getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
			header.innerHTML = 'Message Wall:' + header.href.substring(header.href.indexOf('/wiki/Message_Wall:') + '/wiki/Message_Wall:'.length);
 
			var entries = document.getElementById('WallHistory').getElementsByTagName('tr');
			for(var i = 0; i < entries.length; i++) {
				if(entries[i].className == 'info-entry') {
					var links = entries[i].getElementsByTagName('a');
					if(links[2] && links[2].parentNode.className != 'threadHistory') {
						links[2].innerHTML = links[2].children[0].innerHTML;
						links[2].className = '';
						links[1].style.display = 'none';
					}
				}
			}
		}
	}
}
addOnloadHook(KillMessageWall);

Kind of complicated. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 3 Feb 2012 12:47 PM Pacific