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Question2Answer

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Overview

Question2Answer (Q2A) is an open source Q&A platform built for PHP and MySQL, enabling communities to share knowledge through questions, answers, comments, voting, notifications, points, and rankings. It powers over 24,500 sites in 40 languages and supports features like user profiles and activity tracking.27

Key Features

  • Question and Answer Posting - Users post questions and provide answers with support for comments.
  • Voting System - Community voting on questions and answers to rank content.
  • Points and Rankings - Users earn points for activities, enabling rankings and leaderboards.
  • Notifications - Alerts for activity on questions, answers, and comments.
  • User Profiles - Profiles display activity, points, badges, and avatars.
  • Plugin Support - Extensible via plugins for badges, themes, login modules, and more.
  • Multi-language - Supports 40 languages for international use.
  • RSS Feeds - Generates RSS for recent questions and activity.

Pricing

PlanPriceIncludes
CoreFreeFull open source Q&A platform under GPL v2+.

Platforms & Requirements

Runs on web servers with PHP and MySQL; requires standard LAMP/equivalent stack. No client-side apps; all functionality browser-based. Version 1.8.8 released July 2023, compatible with PHP 7+ and MySQL.2

Integrations & Ecosystem

  • PHP/MySQL
  • Plugin system (e.g., badges, userinfo, login modules)
  • External login (OpenID, Facebook)
  • AJAX for voting/comments
  • RSS feeds
  • Themes and custom modules

Alternatives

AppDifference
LampCMSUses PHP and MongoDB instead of MySQL.
DiscourseModern forum-style with Ruby on Rails, less Q&A-focused.
phpBBTraditional forum software without native Q&A mechanics.
Stack Overflow clone (e.g., OSQA)Python/Django-based, less active community.

Reputation

Question2Answer is regarded as a reliable, lightweight open source Q&A solution with strong plugin ecosystem for customization.25 Strengths include ease of installation, multi-language support, and active use on thousands of sites; criticisms note dated default themes resembling 'cartoonish' style, customizable via themes.7 Community-driven development continues with version 1.8.8 in 2023.2

Sources (10)
  1. https://github.com/ProThoughts/q2apro-userinfo
  2. https://www.question2answer.org
  3. http://docs.question2answer.org/code/structure/
  4. https://github.com/pedjas/q2a-hide-users-list
  5. http://docs.question2answer.org/addons/plugins/
  6. http://docs.question2answer.org/plugins/modules-login/
  7. https://opensource.com/article/20/2/open-source-qa
  8. https://www.question2answer.org/qa/tag/user-profile
  9. https://www.question2answer.org/qa/99649/where-are-the-profile-pictures-stored
  10. https://www.question2answer.org/qa/