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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.

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