Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 17 years 1 month 15 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
I came across a WordPress plug-in called FAQ-Tastic , which allows users to submit questions to your website, and I’ve added it here.
You can create categories of questions, and even have different forms for people to ask questions about different subjects, with no apparent limit.
Upon submitting those questions, they receive an e-mail with your customized message, and view as the administrator of the blog receive an e-mail as well, notifying you that there are new questions to be answered.
Once you answer the question, they receive an e-mail thanking them, and providing them with a link to the new page where the question has been answered.
The free version works very well, but there are a couple of issues:
1. The page name is incredibly long. The title tag and URL created automatically are extremely cumbersome. There appears to be an interface for shortening the title and URL, but when I do that it still doesn’t work.
2. If you prefer to use one submission form for all your question categories, there’s no way (that I can tell) to change it to a different category. Therefore, it’s necessary to make individual submission areas for each type of question. It’s a snap, though.
Overall it’s a fantastic plug-in, highly useful and highly recommended.
Now, luckily for me, I happen to have a semi-personal connection with the webmaster of the developer, and through our e-mail communications, and he offered me a sneak peek at their “Pro Version”, and I have to tell you it’s quite cool
The first thing I noticed about the Pro version was that I could now change the question group of a submitted question, so that eliminates the need for me to have multiple submission forms. I just have to put in one form for all questions, and then assigned to a group when I answer. Nice.
The second thing I noticed was the addition of an option to add Adsense code, or any other code I might want universally to every new page created.
The third thing I noticed, that was a huge improvement was the ability to edit my URL and title tag upon approval of the question.
The only criticism I have of the paid version is that the question approval interface doesn’t seem to work in Firefox. Before reporting the bug, I looked at it in Internet Explorer 7, where it looked just fine.
This free plug-in gets a big thumbs up, and when the paid version comes out, you can bet I’ll be an affiliate, because it really rocks.
sounds like a really handy plugin. I like the idea of being able to see who submits questions to you and easily answer them or vice versa. Only downside for me would be it not working with FireFox as that is what I predominately use.
Yep, it’s cool – sorta buggy though. In the beta of the Pro version I’m testing, the sender of the question gets no email response. Sigh…
The firefox thing is weird – I just can’t get the Ajax (I assume it’s Ajax) to operate and change the acceptance options… I’m sure they’ll fix it.
Thanks for commenting 😉
Hi Scott,
Thanks for beta testing the Pro version of FAQ-Tastic. This is just a quick comment to tell you that the latest version of FAQ-Tastic Lite has just been released – Pro will be coming out soon.
I’m currently running it on the new FAQ-Tastic.com website which is running WordPress 2.5.1 (Brecker) and it seems pretty stable so far. Just got to check a few more things and get the Pro user manual written up.
As for the Lite version – we’re now up to version 1.0.7 and it’s now got a 32 page, step-by-step user manual to go with it. There’s also a mailing list which actually gives you a quick start guide for people signing up (as well as some other handy tips too!).
Anyway, let me know if you want me to send across the latest version of the Pro plugin.
Cheers,
Zain (Creator of FAQ-Tastic)
PS: Oh… and that email thing seems to work now. I’m going to check it again just to make sure though! 🙂
Thanks Zain, I got the files this morning. It’s much appreciated.
I would use this plugin but its been way overcomplicated and I dont like the way it downloads from external websites without the users knowledge.
This plugin does exactly what I want but unfortunatly I won’t be using it due to privacy concerns.
Interesting you say that Dave, but you’ve provided no example. What are you referring to? – Zain, care to comment? Dave put in a fake email address, so he won’t be notified I’ve asked.
I have just downloaded FAQ testic lite version, with wordpress 2.7 but I am not able to add questions, when I click on 0 questions link it redirect me to pending page not on add to question page.
Please let me know if lite version have any limitation or is there any bug
Yes, I think there’s a bug, and I asked, but got no response, so I’ve discontinued my use of it for the time being. Too bad, huh?
I like the idea of being able to see who submits questions to you and easily answer them or vice versa. Only downside for me would be it not working with FireFox as that is what I predominately use.
I think the plugin was abandoned… I had to quit using it.
questions link it redirect me to pending page not on add to question page.
I think the plugin was abandoned…
is this plugin still alive?
No, I don’t think so
Zain, care to comment? Dave put in a fake email address, so he won’t be notified I’ve asked.