Looking for a questions and answers site for my company
I am looking for a questions and answers website similar to what is being used here and wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations.
Some I have seen include
http://uservoice.com/ (Even has a free version)
http://getsatisfaction.com/
7 Answers
You may like to look at IdeaTorrent. It's an idea suggestion software that works like Dell IdeaStorm.
It's Open Source software based on Drupal, so you'll get full control of the data. You can also install it under your domain, so you may get some SEO benefits. Check out the demo or its most prominent user, Ubuntu Brainstorm.
Alternatively, you may like to have a look at SOClone : It's an Open Source project based on Django that intends to replicate the functionality of StockOverflow.
Hope that helps.
I use http://uservoice.com/ on a site and it works well however I am still on the free version and do not use it as much as you may. I tried out http://getsatisfaction.com/ and it just did not have a very friendly feel to it. It seems that it can do a lot however.
You can certainly get what's being used here - Stack Exchange is the platform used by this site, the famous Stack Overflow, and a bunch of others. It's still in beta though.
But it can get quite pricey compared to http://uservoice.com/ or even http://getsatisfaction.com
UserVoice is better IMHO because they allow anonymous responses. Most of ours are that; login is a massive barrier and there's no reason to throw that up.
Plus the free version will last you a while (we have >30,000 users of our software and we're still on the free version) where as GetSat costs immediately.
I wouldn't recommend StackOverflow because both a high cost ($129/mo minimum) and it's not really appropriate for people just dropping in an idea as opposed to building a community with reputation.
You might also consider Zoho Forums -- reasonably priced, still has the idea of voting, but is more of a proper forum.
I'd say Uservoice would be more appropriate if it's for "company suggestions" whereas StackExchange is more appropriate if you're trying to actually build a knowledge base and a community around a certain topic.
There are a few open source attempts at duplicating the stackoverflow model:
All seem a bit early. I've seen some mockups of a Joomla specific stackoverflow type solution, but no code. joomlart has a uservoice clone called javoice
One concern I had with UserVoice is that one can't export the data without access to the API and that kicks in at the Silver level ($289/mth currently).
