XF 2.2 New questions feature - can it be reversed?

[Jon12345]

I like the new Questions feature, where you select the best answer, vote up answers etc. I run a forum that is for tech, and wish to trial out this new feature in one section. My concern is that if I set it up and members don't like it, can I reverse the decision later, so that the voting and best solution features are removed? Or will that break something?

 

[Lee]

I like the new Questions feature, where you select the best answer, vote up answers etc. I run a forum that is for tech, and wish to trial out this new feature in one section. My concern is that if I set it up and members don't like it, can I reverse the decision later, so that the voting and best solution features are removed? Or will that break something?

No, you can reverse it at any time.

 

[Jon12345]

That is good to hear. Do you just lose the voting and best solution data, if you reverse and reapply?

 

[beerForo]

There is a message saying some data may be lost. What that means is you will lose the incompatible data only.

 

[Jon12345]

Ok, that's great. Giving it a trial run now.

 

[Jon12345]

I'm wondering if it makes sense to convert all previous threads into Question type threads, if possible. That way you always have a similar experience for that forum section. Wonder if its possible.

 

[Paul B]

Batch update threads function in the ACP.

 

[Jon12345]

Can a moderator just change one thread into a Question type, if it was started as a Discussion type?

 

[Paul B]

Yes.

 

[Jon12345]

Having a discussion with a few regular members. I'm thinking that many members won't even notice there is a Questions tab. Is it possible to set by default which tab is enabled when you first enter that forum section? If for my technical areas I could auto-set it to Question, that would be great, but still give them the other options.

 

[Chris D]

The only way to do that is to convert the entire forum to a question forum. This will convert all existing threads to questions but it also means all new threads will be questions too.

This very forum is a question forum so you can compare the difference to your own forum.

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You'll see it has some useful tabs for filtering and ordering the threads plus when you create the thread you don't get an opportunity to choose - the thread will always be a question.

As has already been said, this is reversible by changing the forum type back.

 

[Jon12345]

Thanks Chris. The question I have to answer for myself is if I want to change all threads in that forum section to Questions. The option to set Question as the default might be something to consider as a useful maintenance release.

 

[Jon12345]

Just had a thought on this. On my tech forums, I have members who sometimes do polls. At least they have done in the past. If I convert my forum to a Questions forum, I will lose the polls. It will also stop them from doing polls in the future. To me, it would be much better to have the option to select Questions as the default tab, and still allow them the option to do a poll.

 

[Chris D]

At this point your best bet is to have a Discussion forum that allows questions and polls but use moderator tools to convert threads to questions if your users post them incorrectly.

You may want to check if there are any existing suggestions but being able to set a discussion forum to default to a different type may be something we can consider so may be worth posting as a suggestion.

 

[Mr Lucky]

I was wondering about this. Looking at a forum on one of my forums which I think is 99% questions. Since the update I've noticed that nobody has clicked the question tab - they probably don't notice it or understand thew profound benefit of doing so.

I don't want to make it a question forum as we have a set of admin stickies at the top ("How to post in this forum...") and they would look wrong as votable questions.

so may be worth posting as a suggestion.

Done

Option to set default thread type tab to question or other type

In regard to this post and Chris's answer, I am finding that I also want a forum that is not entirely questions, however is actually geared mostly towards questions. The problem is that most (in my experience anyway) users won't actually notice the tabs for different topyes that are allowed in...

xenforo.com

 

[Paul B]

and they would look wrong as votable questions.

That can be disabled on a per thread basis.



As evidenced by this thread: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/frequently-asked-questions.5183/

 

[Mr Lucky]

The only way to do that is to convert the entire forum to a question forum. This will convert all existing threads to questions but it also means all new threads will be questions too.

.......

As has already been said, this is reversible by changing the forum type back.

One very cool thing I just found is you can also convert it back to discussion, but retain the questions. When you convert back to discussion, you get the option for discussion plus poll, questions or articles.

 

[Mr Lucky]

That can be disabled on a per thread basis.

View attachment 237450

As evidenced by this thread: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/frequently-asked-questions.5183/

Ah, I didn't know that. It is well hidden under "edsit thread - I was looking for change thread type.

So I can now delete

 

[beerForo]

Thanks Chris. The question I have to answer for myself is if I want to change all threads in that forum section to Questions. The option to set Question as the default might be something to consider as a useful maintenance release.

Then there's the problem of people posting questions when they meant discussion because they did not click any tabs.

You could highlight the Question tab with CSS.

 

[Paul B]

It's also available (for moderators) when composing a thread.