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Change in default post format for community forums

The default format for community forums is being changed from “Discussion” to “Question”. This is something that has been done in a few other forums for quite a while, now we want to expand on that in other areas. The reason for doing this is to help us help you. Using “Question” format, answers to questions can be suggested when you post them and then verified by the member who started the thread, making it very easy to determine at-a-glance which threads are “done” and which need attention.

It also helps us analyze the effectiveness of the community forums so we can make appropriate adjustments. “Discussion” format is still an option when you start a thread, it is just that the default will be “Question”.

The difference between "Discussion" and "Question" format is:

  • Discussion: A traditional discussion format in which users see a Reply button when they are able to comment on the forum. As the name suggests, this format provides the opportunity to discuss a topic.
  • Question: The forum post is presented as a question to which users can respond. The Question and Answer functionality is very useful because it provides a means of tracking whether or not your question has been answered.

With the Question format, users can still reply in the normal fashion by clicking Reply; however, you can also identify your reply as a Suggested Answer to the question by clicking "This is a suggested answer".
 
You will know the status of the most recent thread by the buttons that are available and by the icon in the forum thread list. You can see the thread status from the forum activity list, which is the best way to determine the current status of the thread. When the member who started the thread verifies a posted answer, they can identify the post as the verified answer. If that member determines, later, that a thread marked having a verified answer is actually incorrect or incomplete, they can change the thread status by clicking "Reject Answer".

We are phasing this in, so we will not change all community forums at once. The forums where this is being done are “Licensing”, “iWare”, “Road and Site Design”, and “MicroStation Programming”. The choices may seem random, but there is reason for those ones in particular -- this will become apparent over the coming months.

We understand that this change will make things a little different in “following” a thread, but we believe this will provide better results in getting (and finding) solutions to issues.

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