Question: Implementing community answers in XenForo?

[SchmitzIT]

Most of you undoubtedly have seen the StackExchange principle, which is a way for someone to ask a question, that the community can respond to. It has the ability for others to vote on both questions and answers, badges, reputation, etc.

I'm interested in hearing if a similar setup could be achieved in XenForo. I realize it won't be possible out of the box, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be overly complex to get integrated. How/what would you guys think is necessary to get something similar done within XenForo?



Thanks!

/Peter

 

[Jeremy]

I haven't done it, nor looked into it, but I know Digital Point has a "Best Answer" functionality.

As for upvotes / down votes I think you could possibly get this to work via the post rating system add-on?

 

[SchmitzIT]

Hmm. I'll have to go check out Shawns implementation then.

As for the post rating, it might not offer what is needed out of the box, but it probably could be used as a base. I'll think about that a bit, and see if I can grab a hold of Luke and bounce some ideas off him,

Thanks KK

 

[xf_phantom]

DP Best Answer isn't magical or complicated to code https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/best-answer.2657068/
It seems that it is just a extrafield in the thread table or extratable, where the postid (of the best post) is being saved

 

[SchmitzIT]

DP Best Answer isn't magical or complicated to code https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/best-answer.2657068/
It seems that it is just a extrafield in the thread table or extratable, where the postid (of the best post) is being saved

I see. That is one way to handle it, but I'd prefer also being able to have others "vote" on answers, with people asking the good questions/giving best answers getting rewarded in the process.

 

[Jeremy]

Using post ratings as a base, you could have 4 ratings (never really looked into the system) for your forums, show an up vote for best question/answer, and a down vote for bad question and answer. Ordering them differently probably won't work tho.

 

[tenants]

In about 3-4 weeks (I have to finish another add-on 1st), I'm going to start a best Answers Add-on (a bit different to digital points), since it's something I need myself, I need it customised and to be coded efficiently

I think, having it more like stack-exchange would be ideal.

• "Correct Answer" should be floated to the top, just under the question
• The Number of Correct Answers should be displayed in your members card
• Answers should go up/down based on vote up/vote down
• It should be possible to comment on Answers

Effectively, part of your forum can be a dedicated best answers forum, and the look and feel of this particular forum will seem more like stack-exchange.

 

[SchmitzIT]

That would be excellent, tenants. PC me when you start, and I'll try and see if we can do somehow work together on this.

Ideally, it'd indeed fit right in XF itself, and would also extend on the trophies/arlets/likes system. One of my potential customers has an existing system, but I hope to do a migration for them using a custom SSIS (Microsoft) importer.

Do you have any idea on how long you think such an undertaking would cost to build and implement?

 

[Alpha1]

IMHO one of the most important aspects of answers is to have a field to post your question in, after which the related threads get served up. If no relevant answer is there, then the user can post a new question. Otherwise you keep getting the same questions over and over.

And a way to display the most popular questions.

I hope that a good solution comes available in the near future. I really need it.

 

[tenants]

I think XenZine is going to take a little longer than just a few weeks, so I need to concentrate on XenZine before picking this up (my to do list for XenZine keeps getting bigger :s)

 

[tenants]

There is now this for those interested:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/mark-posts-as-best-answer.2107/

(I will make my own version, but it's a long way off, I need to concentrate on perfecting the things I'm working on)

 

[SchmitzIT]

(I will make my own version, but it's a long way off, I need to concentrate on perfecting the things I'm working on)

Any updates on this, tenants?

 

[tenants]

Oh boy, xenzine articles is much bigger and better than it started out, so all my time is on that for now...
I'm not sure if I will ever start "answers"

I would take a look at
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/mark-posts-as-best-answer.2107/

and ask for enhancements there
(I would rather a few very good add-ons than a plethora of mini add-ons, so I'm perfecting my existing add-ons for now )

 

[SchmitzIT]

I did check that, but it wouldn't meet what my client is after, unfortunately.