Mirror threads are a type of shared thread maintained by User:Mirror Bot.

How to create a mirror thread edit

Enter a normal heading then add the starting comment in {{Reflect}} request.

Example:

===Your edits!===
{{Reflect|I find the changes you made to [[James and the Giant Peach]] somewhat disturbing, can you explain them?
:[[User talk:Placeholder|]] ~~~~~
}}

This will display as:

Your edits! edit

{{Reflect no bot|I find the changes you made to [[James and the Giant Peach]] somewhat disturbing, can you explain them?
:[[User talk:Placeholder|Placeholder]] 15:28, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
}}

Mirror bot will come along quite quickly and change this to:

Your edits! edit

{{Reflect|I find the changes you made to [[James and the Giant Peach]] somewhat disturbing, can you explain them?
:[[User talk:Placeholder|Placeholder]] 15:28, 8 September 2010 (UTC)
}}

A mirror will be placed on your talk page.

How to update a mirror thread edit

Simply hit the edit button on the box, and edit as a normal section. When you save, User:Mirror Bot will quickly update all subscribed pages, so that everyone knows they have messages.

Changing an existing section to a mirror thread edit

This can be done at any time. Simply enclose the section (excluding top level heading) in the {{Reflect}} template.

Setting your mirror preferences on a page edit

Use the {{Mirror me}}/{{Reflect me}} template, probably in the top part of the page.

Example:

{{Mirror me
|show= yes <!-- display mirror threads header -->
|collapse= some <!-- none/some/all - default some -->
|lines= 75 <!-- collapse any reflections longer than 75 - default 50 lines -->
|age=3 <!-- collapse any reflections older than 3 days - default 5 days -->
}}

Opting out of updates (watchlist, "you have messages"), but keeping the mirroring, for specific threads edit

Change the template name on your talk page from {{Mirror thread}} to {{Mirror thread no watch}} - this won't be updated with every edit, but will remain more or less up to date by transclusion - it features an update button as an alternative method of dealing with cache lag.

You may also find it useful to keep your some or all of your mirror threads on one or more subpages.

That way you won't get the "you have new messages" when they update - you can also have a sub-page you watch and one you don't.

  • Critical threads on my talk page.
  • Important threads on a watched sub-page.
  • Interesting threads on an unwatched sub-page.
  • Occasional check threads on an opted-out unwatched sup-page.

Mirroring on other pages edit

  • Talk pages apart from user pages can utilise mirroring.
  • Pages starting with "Wikipedia:WikiProject" can also use mirroring.

Mirror Bot will update these pages.

Mirror Bot will not create or update threads on other pages, so they will not show on watch lists, they are also unlikely to find mirror threads useful. Any mirrored thread will stay up to date of course, subject to caching.

Additional parts of the name-space can be added if a need is demonstrated.


Freezing a reflection edit

A given reflection can be frozen by subst' ing the {{Mirror thread}} on the page that reflection is on.

No further updates to the content will occur.