We have been using a custom self-coded PHP/mySQL based software for our website programmerassist.com.

It is a basic Q&A forum software which has basic moderation features, topic-points system, inbuilt articles management and of course user-profiles. It also has smart Javascript triggered forms which go a long way in avoiding spammers (more than you'd believe!).

However the administration and the moderation back-end is not up to the mark, and since it is a private script, we compromised on that side. So it won't have the most user friendly administration panel.

Am now considering working on those weaknesses and come out with a public release. Surely this type of script would be more suited for millions of subject (history, maths, programming) based forums.

Getting a basic market feel, would you be interested in giving such a script a shot? Would it succeed?

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Tiempos de Srirangan I Rant Therefore I Am
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I'd be interested in installing it to play about with atleast. Using it on an day to day basis i dunno though...

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What do you think of the idea? A dedicate s/w for Q&A forums, with people asking and answering questions. Points systems for answers and articles etc. etc.

The script's back-end will need a lot of work before release!

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Tiempos de Srirangan I Rant Therefore I Am
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Its definatly a interesting idea, and i havent heard of such a script before. (well i have heard of a normal Q&A script...) However it could be a good idea. I'd be interested to see what others think...

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It's certainly an interesting idea - sounds like a FAQ script? What you could do with is 3/4 trusted 'testers' to look at your script and feedback, give you ideas, etc, etc.

Let us know how you get on.

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I definately think this is a unique script. It's not quite a forum script - like a user generated FAQ.

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It's obviously a useful script. I have had an idea in my mind for some time to create something similar for a site I'm working on.

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Probably the biggest issue to consider is that by releasing the source, then any security holes are easy to find for those who might want to exploit them.

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True. I'll be redoing the admin section and updating most of the code in Jan before getting it tested for a release. Will keep you all posted.

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Tiempos de Srirangan I Rant Therefore I Am
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That is a good point. Once your script goes public, if it becomes popular enough any discovered exploits will get listed on websites and be available to any angry script kiddy that you may have had to ban from your forums etc.

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