• Initially there was just the changes script which reads the .changes file. That file gets updated each time a topic is saved unless the "minor changes" flag is set.
• The changes script got replaced with the "search and sort by last modified date" feature. The WebChanges topic contains an embedded SEARCH (FormattedSearch) which does that. The changes script got retired.
• The embedded SEARCH (with sort by date) is not aware of "minor changes", it does its magic based on the topic modification date. The changes script got resurrected so that the "minor changes" can be excluded from the list.

Now, the FormattedSearch could be enhanced with a new sort feature: Sort by last modified date excluding "minor changes", e.g. search based on the .changes file.

-- MattWilkie - 03 Oct 2003 (from WebChangesVsChangesCgiScript)

I agree, but I think the data should be stored in the revision. I have requested a similar feature in AddCheckInComment. Having both these features would bring us in line with many other wiki's as then we could have a history page for a topic that lists all the revisions with the comments beside them. See http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Main_Page&action=history for an example. Notice how minor edits are marked with a bold m.

How hard it would be to add an extra parameter to the top META tag in topics? I'm wondering if there is much code that assumes the current parameters and would break if another was added or if it just stores them as a hash.

-- SamHasler - 29 Jul 2004