If the goal is to help users find accurate and useful answers to their questions, the last forum was an example of how to do exactly the opposite.
The problem with the internet is that anyone can post, speaking authoritatively, yet know nothing about the topic they speak of, ultimately misleading others. Our previous forum was so full of bad advice that it didn't do much more than further confuse customers that were seeking assistance/guidance.
Most people who seek answers do one of a few things now:
-Find their answer in the learning center for their product
-Find their answer in the Q&A forum for their product
-Reach out to our support team & get accurate answers in less than 24 hours.
We then update the Q&A forum and Learning Center with answers to frequent questions in an effort to reduce the amount of time we spend on support.
If the goal is getting people accurate answers, this new approach seems to be winning. I guess that might lead to fewer forum questions.
What we've lost is a place for people to gather and "shoot the sh*t" and while that can definitely be fun, it generates a large database of sh*t for people to sift through when seeking an answer. That's another area where the new forum shines.
I'll give some thought to what we could do to preserve the integrity of the info provided in the forum and the organization of it while still having a place to spitball.
