New thread types

Question threads​

Question threads can be used when the poster is looking for a definitive, crowd-sourced answer to a question, unlike a poll where opinions and preferences are expressed, but no single response would be considered the 'best' answer. If the user is looking for a solution, the question thread type is a good place to start.

Here we see one of the most serious and important questions asked in the history of the internet. Let us take a moment to ponder the question, but also to note some differences to a normal thread.

While it's not immediately clear from a single screenshot, the question itself is pinned so it displays at the top of each page of the thread, unlike a discussion thread where the original post is only seen on the first page.

Navigating between pages will automatically take you past that post, but anyone that might come into another page will get the context of the original question.

Each of the answers can be upvoted. The vote score for an answer is distinct from reactions and reaction score. While a post being funny might be a good thing and would warrant a high reaction score, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good answer to the question.

In addition to the usual date ordering, answers can be sorted by their vote score. This lets you see the best answers before more questionable ones.

The screenshot is shown from the perspective of the poster of the question in the screenshot, so you can see that the original poster has the option to mark the post that answered the question, allowing it to become the solution.

As it turns out, the solution wasn't any of those shown above.

The solution has been highlighted and is now brought up out of the melee of the other answers and the is placed next to the question, regardless of where it might've come from in the thread. Clicking "view full post" will take you to the solution in its original position where it can be interacted with like any other post.

Of course, we track the number of solutions a user has provided so that members can build prestige and gain rewards such as trophies for having their answers accepted by questioners.

And as you might expect, you can also display your most helpful members via the member statistics system or reward them with trophies based on the number of solutions they've provided.

 

[Admin]

Article threads​

As with articles published elsewhere on the web, article threads appear as a major piece of content followed by far less emphasised comments.

The first post is given an alternative styling to make it stand out from the comments, and we automatically allow more characters and images to reflect the fact that articles will often be longer and more complex than your average forum post.

As with question threads, articles pin the first post to the top of each page of the thread, though on subsequent pages we automatically collapse the article into a more compact form so it doesn't take up too much space, though it is easily expandable.

 

[Admin]

Suggestions​

Suggestions make use of upvoting like questions, but in a different manner. Instead of voting on the answers, we're voting on the thread itself. This is important when we look at the thread list in the forum:

The score for each suggestion is clearly visible and like in question forums, we've added tabs to quickly access other views.