Ask the Expert / Q & A Forum

weslinda · #1 (**permalink**) 02-05-2007, 03:57 PM

Good afternoon everyone. I'm really hoping that the team here can help me find what I'm looking for.

I'm trying to track down an "ask the expert" type forum for a site I manage.

Here are the specifics we need it to do.

1. Allow a visitor to complete a question, and send them a notification when it has been answered.
2. That question will go into a list that an "expert" can choose which questions they will answer.
3. The public will only see questions that have been answered and those are divided into two sections. Recently answered and then a directory type structure that will categorize the question into the appropriate area.

This is a simple idea, but I'd like to know if anyone has seen any software like this. Or has any experience with this type of solution.

DaveSawers · #2 (**permalink**) 02-05-2007, 04:23 PM

Easy enough to do with some PHP or ASP and a database.

There are over 90 PHP possibilities on Hotscripts.com http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Script...ase/index.html

weslinda · #3 (**permalink**) 02-05-2007, 04:46 PM

Dave...thanks so much for the reply. The main issue is that I don't want our "experts" to have to answer every question that comes in.

I don't want our physician to have to answer every question. I love the dynamic answer repsonse system, from a FAQ environment.

But what I'm trying to limit is the visitors expectation that every question will be answered. This is a very heavily trafficked site, and we get tons of questions each day and most are poor at best.

Do you have any experience with any of these to know if that is possible?

Dinghus · #4 (**permalink**) 02-05-2007, 05:56 PM

I built one for a client years ago. He is a psychologist and he doesn't answer very many of them because he gets the same questions over and over. It is really a very simple system that any programmer can do easily.

Basically all you do is have a form that the visitor fills in with the question and their email. Then an admin section where the doctor can see the questions and answer the ones he wants to. When a question is answered it is emailed to the person's email addy. OR what we do is it gets posted for others to read minus all identifying info and the email just provides a link to the answer.

Very easy to do.

DaveSawers · #5 (**permalink**) 02-06-2007, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weslinda

Do you have any experience with any of these to know if that is possible?

I don't because if I wanted such a tool I'd develop it from scratch as it's a pretty simple task from a programming point of view.

kgun · #6 (**permalink**) 02-06-2007, 11:23 AM

And by learning AJAX, it is not difficult to implement Google suggest features.

weslinda · #7 (**permalink**) 02-06-2007, 10:10 PM

The issue is that I have no time to learn, and I want a product that can run efficiently on a site receiving well over 100k visitors a month. We're looking for a complete system, that will integrate with a solid CMS.

Finding a good developer or product without spending $30k is the fun part.

Webnauts · #8 (**permalink**) 02-12-2007, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weslinda

Finding a good developer or product without spending $30k is the fun part.

Then how much are you willing to pay?

kgun · #9 (**permalink**) 02-12-2007, 09:14 AM

Isn't there a time dimension too? I can try to do the job for 20 K USD if the time horizon is not too long.

arvana · #10 (**permalink**) 02-12-2007, 05:41 PM

Which CMS is the site based on? Have you checked whether there is a FAQ module available for it that would work for you?

weslinda · #11 (**permalink**) 02-12-2007, 06:01 PM

The old system is quite antiquated. Some form of .js and connections into an Oracle DB. If you visit http://qa.hopkins-arthritis.org/foru...section_id=101 you can see the system, and it is really quite basic.

But to flip it from .JS and Oracle to PHP / MySQL or CFM / MySQL, the old developer wants to charge anywhere from 20k - 30k.

Awful expensive for something that I believe could be built for a lot less.

As for CMS, we haven't gotten to that point yet. We are reviewing Hannon Hill and SiteExecutive. I think there is some basic "FAQ" for each, but would take some custom development to do what we'd like it to do.

kgun · #12 (**permalink**) 02-13-2007, 07:28 AM

"The problem is that PHP is just too easy. It tempts you to try out your ideas, and flatters you with good results. You write much of your code straight into your Web pages, because PHP is designed to support that. You add the heavier code to functions in library files, and before you know it you have a working Web application. You are well on your way to ruin. You don't realize this, of course, because your site looks fantastic. It performs well, your clients are happy, and your users are spending money."
Source: Matt Zandstra.

Read more...

weslinda · #13 (**permalink**) 02-13-2007, 09:32 AM

Looks like I might have found a base solution that we can build off of.

http://www.fusetalk.com/

This can connect to CF and Oracle and those are two technologies already on our servers.

Anyone have any experience with this level of an application? Or anyone specifically have any experience with this forum?

kgun · #14 (**permalink**) 02-13-2007, 11:08 AM

No, but I have some experience with SyBase Transact SQL. I think you have found the correct technical and secure database platform. I am unsure of whether it is the most economic.