User created FAQs

Users of Get Satisfaction should be able to compile a list of frequently asked questions. I'm wondering why this feature isn't there already.

One of the key concepts of Get Satisfaction is for users of a particular program or company to help out other users. But, I find myself wasting a lot of time answering the same questions over and over again. This is why FAQs were originally created. I'd like to write an answer once and then point people to it. Yet, I still want to be able to update the answer if something changes.

1) There isn't any repository of *the best answers* to commonly asked questions.
2) I can't create a repository of my own. The best answers I came up with.
3) I can't create a directory of best answers others came up with.
4) Is "Share an Idea" supposed to be a user sharing a great idea with *other users*? Or if it's a feature request to the company making the product?

The same question can be asked in ten different ways and ten different threads are created. I know that somebody answered the question excellently before, but I can't remember in which thread. Get Satisfaction lacks the ability to search for the answer in a reply, so in order to give the best answer I have to scan through ten threads, again.

Get Satisfaction lacks advanced search capabilities. So even if I've answered the question before, I can't easily search through my own answers in order to find it so I can post a link to it.

Currently I can tag other's replies as useful, but where do I get a list of all the replies that I tagged as useful? And how do I search through that list for the reply I want?

The solution:

I propose that advanced users of Get Satisfaction be given the option to create a FAQ, (An advanced user may be someone who has posted more than 20 times, etc.) A FAQ is a fifth type of topic. Along with "Ask a question", "Share and idea", "Report a problem", and "Start a discussion" should be "Start an answer list". I think it should be purple too. :)

The FAQ would be different from a regular topic in a couple ways.
1) It would be a list of other topics. (question and answer and full discussion)
2) the main list (Q and A) is continually editable.
3) each topic in the FAQ expands (or links to) a regular Get Satisfaction discussion thread.

The FAQ would be a kind of collection of answers / best practices / known bugs or behavior. It would be a list of other topics. I imagine it would look like a lot like the current redesigned page for any product on Get Satisfaction; a list of topics that have a short, one or two sentence summary but can be expanded by clicking on it.

Each topic in the FAQ expands to reveal 1) the rest of the question and answer, 2) a further discussion about the topic. This would be a regular Get Satisfaction discussion thread. That way if something isn't clear, people can ask follow up questions. And the follow up questions can then be incorporated back into the answer. The thread starts out with the *original* answer in the top box. That way, continuity is kept. People can follow the conversation.

The question and answer part of any topic in the FAQ can be edited at any time. But the further discussion section would not be editable. Further, only the author of the FAQ can edit the FAQ. (or someone the author designates. For larger FAQs, the author may wish to have help. )

So, people can make their own lists of answers. Naturally, we need a way for the best list of answers to rise to the top. Others can tag a FAQ as useful or not.