MSC4036: Room organization by promoting threads

proposals/4036-room-organization-by-promoting-threads.md

@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+# MSC436: Room organization by promoting threads
+
+Sometimes, having a discussion in a busy room can be difficult.
+People are often simply replying with a message event which is technically not related (`m.relates_to`) using replies (`m.in_reply_to`) or threads (`m.thread`) with the previous messages of the conversation making separation of one conversation from others difficult.
+
+The functionality of threads is often unused,
+considerably because simply typing in a reply is just simpler/faster and the lack of support by clients although a fallback mechanism exists.
+
+This MSC solely proposes client-side behavior.
+
+## Proposal
+
+Standardize a room state `m.promote_threads` (`dev.coffeeco.MSC4036.promote_threads` for non-finalized implementations of this MSC) with a Boolean value or an object, defaulting to `false`.
+
+The value SHOULD NOT be set to an object
+but clients MUST consider an object as implicating a value of `true` (possibly with additional behavior changes)
+for the purpose of forwards compatibility.
+
+If set to `false` or unset,
+clients behavior MAY NOT alter their behavior.
+
+If set to `true` or some object,
+clients should alter their user experience to guide the user to reply using threads with the following proposed changes:
+
+- On messages without a relation (`m.relates_to`),
+functionality to reply in a thread may be promoted,
+e.g. by displaying an enlarged button,
+making it more accessible than the `m.in_reply_to` functionality.
+
+- In the scope of the room, outside of a thread,
+clients may chose to minimize the message input functionality
+or hide it behind a button (e.g. "Start new conversation")
+to indicate that a room prefers replies in threads.
+
+- For messages which are others are related to in a `m.thread`-relation,
+clients may choose to show a selection of the messages related to that message as a preview. 
+
+## Potential issues
+
+This MSC may be considered to have a too specific way how clients work and behave in mind.
+Hence, this MSC only proposes behavior.
+
+A potential issue may be that clients without support for threads or not following the proposed behavior will continue to reply as before,
+which may cause conversations in threads (as promoted by this MSC) to disappear faster due to new messages and replies of conversations not using threads.
+This may create difficulties with translations.
+
+Also, it may be considered to add the possibility to select specific behavior changes specified above.
+However, this might cause a too broad variation of the user interface, making it harder to understand and less predictable.
+
+## Alternatives
+
+Instead of `m.promote_threads` being a value of `true` or `false`,
+it may be considerable that the value also may be an object.
+If the value is an object, it must be treated equally with a value of `true` with the following additions:
+The object may contain a strings,
+for example to specify the label of the button to access the message input box outside the scope of a thread
+(e.g. "Ask a new question", "Open a new issue").
+
+[MSC3088: room-subtyping](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/blob/travis/msc/mutable-subtypes/proposals/3088-room-subtyping.md)
+proposes specification for room purposes,
+e.g. data-driven spaces or DM rooms.
+The proposed behavior of this MSC could be applied to a further room purpose, a `m.discussions` (or `dev.coffeeco.MSC4036.discussions`).
+E.g. like:
+```json
+{
+  "type": "m.room.purpose",
+  "state_key": "m.discussions",
+  "content": {
+    "m.promote_threads": true
+  }
+}
+```
+
+## Security considerations
+
+Not applicable
+
+## Unstable prefix
+
+For the proposed `m.promote_threads` state key,
+the unstable `dev.coffeeco.MSC4036.promote_threads` shall be used.
+
+## Dependencies
+
+Potentially [MSC3088: room-subtyping](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/blob/travis/msc/mutable-subtypes/proposals/3088-room-subtyping.md),
+if seen as an extension of it as depicted in the alternatives section.