I'm not going to use Message Wall to discuss this, because anyone can remove any message and you have to dig through Recent Changes to find out and restore them.

According to Wikia this is supposed to match how old talk pages work, but there is a key difference: talk pages had individual revision history, Message Walls do not (so far). Also, once a post is removed it doesn't leave a marker or link to the removed thread, so you're forced to look in Recent Changes to find it has been removed. This doesn't appear to be the completely the case for replies (marker, but no thread history link), so it isn't all bad, but it's pretty bad.

These things need to be changed. Sifting through Recent Changes is already somewhat tiresome (I do it alot), but I don't want to have to be a detective about removed posts and replies in a big mass of message walls.

...and don't try to reply to this discussion on my message wall, because I'll remove it. Why? Because I can. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 27 Jan 2012 9:31 AM Pacific

Did you try Message Wall:Fandyllic?action=history?  Monchoman45  Talk  Contribs  Skystone  16:44,1/27/2012 

Why didn't they add a button or link!? -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 27 Jan 2012 10:03 AM Pacific

Probably the same reason why Oasis didn't have a visible history link until Wikia realized no one liked the "edited by" dropdown. Monobook has a history tab on walls and threads, but it's not in its normal place for some reason.  Monchoman45  Talk  Contribs  Skystone  17:08,1/27/2012 

I don't think that is a good comparison. People didn't like the drop down, but they did like the links.

I'd also like to see message walls give user's more control over their own message wall. I would recommend giving the ability to hide a post or reply instead of removing it. If the post or reply is spam (which apparently is not agreed upon) or vandalism, then the notify admin checkbox should suffice for future removal (although who knows how that works).

Is it too much to ask for a help page or FAQ? -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 27 Jan 2012 10:15 AM Pacific

Hi! Yes, we need a Help Page and i'll get one up today. Sorry you didn't get answers on this sooner.

There are two kinds of History: Thread History and Wall History. Wall History shows threads that have been removed. Thread history shows replies that have been removed (and other stuff).

You can get to Wall History by clicking "History" in your toolbar. If you think that's not enough, I'll pass on the feedback that we need more obvious signals.

You can get to Thread History the same way ("history" in toolbar), but also by clicking "History" in the "More" dropdown menu on any message.

...unless you're in monobook, in which case there's a History tab at the top of both threads and walls.

We didn't include a link to view a removed reply on the thread itself because it seemed too alluring... like a big red flag that says "click here to read drama!". But our hope was that the history page would be find-able for anyone who wanted to dig it up.

What do you mean by "hide" instead of "remove"... a removal for an individual's view only? --Dopp (help forum | blog) 17:54, January 27, 2012 (UTC)

Hide means don't show the post or reply, but make it viewable. If and admin or the author wants to actually remove it, they can, but it prevents people from basically censoring other people's posts and replies.

Sure in the old talk page world you can delete anything, but the History page is much more accessible and well-known.

I'm mostly opposed to other users removing posts/replies by users on their own message wall. It's always been wikiquette to let user's control their own space. I'm also more motivated, because someone started removing my posts on my message wall almost immediately. ...and I was called the rude one. It sticks in my craw, as they say. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 27 Jan 2012 6:01 PM Pacific

The history button should be a button at the top like other pages. Adding an extra link to the toolbar is just confusing.  Eladkse  Talk  Casualty  Holby City  18:17, 27/01/2012 

Agreed. Usability has always been undervalued in the computer industry (see Microsoft), but Wikia can be better. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 27 Jan 2012 6:02 PM Pacific

Help Page is up here. Sorry for the wait. --Dopp (help forum | blog) 23:27, January 27, 2012 (UTC)