# Answer: Q&A Knowledge Base Platform

Answer is a self-hosted, open-source Q&A platform designed to help teams and communities build a shared knowledge base. Users can ask questions, provide answers, and vote on the best solutions, creating an organized and searchable repository of information.

## Key Features

*   **Question & Answer Format**: Familiar Stack Overflow-like interface.
*   **Voting System**: Users can upvote or downvote questions and answers to highlight the best content.
*   **Tagging**: Organize questions with tags for easy filtering and discovery.
*   **Search Functionality**: Powerful search to find existing answers quickly.
*   **User Reputation**: (Often a feature in Q&A platforms) Users can earn reputation for helpful contributions.
*   **Markdown Support**: Write questions and answers using Markdown.
*   **Self-Hosted**: Full control over your data and platform.

## Documentation

For more detailed information about Answer, visit the [official documentation](https://answer.apache.org/docs/).

## Getting Started with Answer

### Accessing Answer
1.  **URL**: Access Answer locally via `http://localhost:9080/` (or your configured external URL).
2.  **Account Creation/Login**: You will likely need to create an account or log in to participate (ask questions, answer, vote). The first user might be an admin.

### Basic Usage

1.  **Asking a Question**:
    *   Look for a button like "Ask Question."
    *   Write a clear and concise title for your question.
    *   Provide detailed context and information in the body of the question using Markdown.
    *   Add relevant tags to help categorize your question.

2.  **Answering a Question**:
    *   Browse or search for questions you can help with.
    *   Write your answer in the provided text area, using Markdown for formatting.
    *   Submit your answer.

3.  **Voting and Commenting**:
    *   Upvote helpful questions and answers to increase their visibility.
    *   Downvote incorrect or unhelpful content.
    *   Leave comments to ask for clarification or provide additional information without writing a full answer.

4.  **Searching for Information**: Use the search bar to find if your question has already been asked and answered.

5.  **Managing Content (Admins/Moderators)**:
    *   Admins can typically manage users, tags, and content (e.g., edit or delete inappropriate posts).

## Use Cases within Changemaker

*   **Internal Team Support**: Create a knowledge base for your team to ask and answer questions about processes, tools, or projects.
*   **Public FAQs**: Set up a public-facing Q&A site for your campaign or organization where supporters can find answers to common questions.
*   **Community Forum**: Foster a community where users can help each other and share knowledge related to your cause or Changemaker itself.
*   **Documentation Supplement**: Use it alongside your main MkDocs site to handle dynamic questions that arise from users.

## Editing the Site

Answer is a platform for building a Q&A knowledge base. It is not used for editing this main documentation site (the one you are reading). Site editing is done via **Code Server**.

## Further Information

*   **Answer Official Website & Documentation**: [https://answer.dev/](https://answer.dev/) and [https://answer.dev/docs](https://answer.dev/docs)
