Lowercase sigmabot III archived parts of my talk page ([1], [2]) but they don't show up on the talk header template on my talk page. Does anyone know why? Zupotachyon _{Ping me} (talk ⋅ contribs) 01:25, 15 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Zupotachyon:, mystery solved as you may find at Village Pump pointed out by another user - your archives are not numerical so will not automatically show up with this template. You could either make them sequentially numerical or use one of the other archive boxes to solve this. BW |→ Spaully ^~talk~  12:12, 18 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

There seems to be a problem with this template displaying Archive links/boxes, both of these old versions of pages use this template: Talk:Rodrigues and Talk:Human body - or even this very talk page. The section above this links to a user finding the same on their talk page.

Can someone who knows this template well look into this - there is one change in October 2016 which looks pretty benign, so perhaps it is due to a change in one of the transcluded templates. My knowledge of markup is not good enough to trace the problem. |→ Spaully ^~talk~  21:04, 17 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

 Done - Please ignore this - it was due to a 2009 version of my .css file for MonoBook that I had forgotten about. No problem with the template. |→ Spaully ^~talk~  12:09, 18 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The current message reads

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Talk header template.

or some variant of it. Could you add a parameter to add a custom addition to that

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Talk header template. <CUSTOM TEXT>

or maybe to simply override the default message

<CUSTOM TEXT>

This would be helpful to give messages such as "This is the talk page for X. To discuss Y, go here. To discuss Z, go here". Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 22:31, 24 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The template's documentation says stuff like "This template should only be placed where it's needed." Why? While I agree with the sentiment "Don't visit talk pages just to add this template" (as that statement prevents users racking up edits simply by mass placement of this template), why in the world do we want to actually deprive new editors of understanding what talk pages are, what they are for, and how to use them? When I was new editor, I learned a lot from seeing this template on every talk page I visited (it even tells you how to sign your posts). Now I rarely see it. How is a new editor supposed to learn all of these things, especially when it's extremely rare now for any editor to get a "Welcome" template of any sort? This template explains:

• (1) How/where to start a new topic, and gives a handy link to click.
• (2) How to sign and date posts.
• (3) How/where to learn about Wikipedia editing and get answers to questions.
• (4) How to request dispute resolution.
• (5) Wikipedia's policies of WP:CIVIL, WP:NPA, and WP:AGF.

Clearly therefore, except for one single link (WP:BITE), it is a template for new and inexperienced users rather than for experienced users. Why do we therefore not have this template on every single article talk page? Softlavender (talk) 11:54, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

• Agreed. Jusdafax 12:05, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Because it's often useless clutter. If you want this on every page, make an RFC and have MediaWiki automatically transclude it. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 12:11, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Please explain to me how informing editors, especially new editors, of:

• (1) How/where to start a new topic
• (2) How to sign and date posts
• (3) How/where to learn about Wikipedia editing and get answers to questions
• (4) How to request dispute resolution
• (5) Wikipedia's policies of WP:CIVIL, WP:NPA, and WP:AGF

... is "useless clutter"? Softlavender (talk) 12:16, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

• I support the idea of an RFC. The talkheader also clarifies the purpose of the Talk pages, while in the case of no Talk page existing, creates them. There is great need to encourage new editors, and this template does that by welcoming them to comment on how to improve articles, instead of on the subject of the article. The talkheader is brilliantly designed. When an article is created, it should go up automatically, and it should be placed on all existing articles without them. Jusdafax 12:41, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. It would also cut down on the number of content disputes that are constantly brought up on ANI, AN, and ArbCom, since it links directly to WP:DR. Also, Wikipedia has been scaring away new editors in droves for the past 9 years; this would certainly help in editor retention. Softlavender (talk) 12:57, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Allow me to suggest an RFC elsewhere than here, as this is a relatively isolated page. Perhaps WP:PUMP or someplace a good cross section of editors will see it. Jusdafax 23:36, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

• I support a RfC and would support having this on every article talkpage by default. This page is the appropriate place for the RfC, though it should be well advertised in order to bring in a wide cross-section of users. Listing on WP:CENT would help. SilkTork ^{✔Tea time} 20:18, 10 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
• I wouldn't like to see this on every talk page by default. Empty talk pages don't benefit from it, and a red-linked talk page signifies that it needs to be added to WikiProjects. Adding this template before adding projects removes this easily spotted marker. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 01:10, 11 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
• After reading the comments regarding the implied restriction on this template, I thought to myself: "We don't have to be limited to this way or that way...we can do better than that!" So, here's my idea: Add some code to MediaWiki so that this message would automatically pop up if certain conditions are met, like N postings per quarter would indicate this talk page would be busy enough to warrant such a message. Or something like that. The idea is to reduce the burden on editors and administrators to monitor those pages. Or have a separate section "outside" the content editing to present the message. As a useful side effect is that an administrator can easily put a message that read "You are blocked from editing" on an offending user talk page and lock that, for example. In fact I once had seen such an "edit war" between an admin and a blocked user that ultimately resulted in getting that talk page blocked as well. Automated adding of WikiProject templates with ability to further refining it also would be great. I keep finding such talk pages without WikiProject templates.
  In any case, I believe an RFC would be helpful, only if to make things ultimately more structured overall. --TheBlueWizard (talk) 22:20, 17 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
• The reason not to place this everywhere is because if it appears everywhere, people learn to ignore it. There are already too many tags on our talk pages, at there is no distinction between important stuff (Arbcom warning) and merely informational stuff (translation notices), and the last thing we need is more templates on talk pages that don't need them. {{subst:assign|20:07, June 17, 2017‎ Oiyarbepsy (talk | contribs)}}

Yeah, there is that problem...dunno what to say. --TheBlueWizard (talk) 01:53, 18 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Being primarily directed towards new users, I think the current template could benefit from being a bit more visual. It needs to stand out from all other talk page templates, and a bullet point list of policies might not be the best solution to attract attention. So I was thinking about an alternative and came up with this:

It gives the three sections of the template the same width. In the first one, the link to Help:Using talk pages might be more helpful than the two bullet points of the current template. In the second section, some conduct links have been removed, but I think the message is clear and the most important links are still there. Finally, the section of the content policies has a more prominent position, no longer pushed to the side. I'd like to know your opinion and suggestions. Is this a step in the right direction?