# Advice on a support forum
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [July 28, 2024, 5:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878 "2024-07-28T17:18:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@another\_username](https://meta.discourse.org/u/another_username)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 5:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/1 "2024-07-28T17:18:00Z")
Hello all.
I was looking for advice on starting a technical support site. I have looked at plenty of forum-based ones and found them lacking in appropriate structure and functionality.
Can anyone recommend a highly functional technical support solution? Is Discourse well suited to this application or may there some shortcomings which may make such a solution unsuitable?
I was hoping to track bugs, take issue reports from the public, document technical issues and their solutions with versioning and platform awareness so it logs mobile posts separate to desktop posts, etc, etc.
It needs to be highly organised and easy to access and use.
I considered writing my own, but thought I would check out current offerings. I have used Discourse on another support site but found it made information and solutions hard to find - Maybe it was misconfigured? Are there any tips/add-ons/etc to setting this up to be a leading tech support forum?
I am not bothered about the social features, I am more focussed on troubleshooting and documenting solutions and faults.
Also, is there a way to make public notes on what tags mean what in Discourse?
Many thanks.
---
### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/2 "2024-07-28T18:16:29Z")
> [@another\_username](#):
>
> Is Discourse well suited to this application
I mean look at us here on meta š
Discourse is a very good platform for a support forum as all content is easily searchable and split into categories & tags.
> [@another\_username](#):
>
> made information and solutions hard to find
Can I ask why? Perhaps the other forum didnāt have some of the plugins listed below which would help your support community:
> [@Discourse Solved](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-solved/30155):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse Solved allows users to accept solutions on topics in designated categories.open_bookInstall Guide This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately. Enabling Solved The Solved plugin can be enabled from its settings, accessed from your admin/plugins page: After enabling the plugin, to switch on Solved for all categories use the allow solved on all topics site setting. Alternatiā¦
> [@Discourse Docs](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-docs/130172):
>
> warning This plugin is being retired in favour of the experimental [Doc Categories plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-doc-categories/322376). We will still support Docs until the new plugin is no longer considered experimental. discourse2Summary Discourse Docs provides the ability to find and filter knowledge base topicshammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/discourse/discourse-docs](https://github.com/discourse/discourse-docs)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)Features The Discourse Docs plugin is a powerful tool thatā¦
> [@Discourse Assign](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-assign/58044):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse Assign provides the ability to assign topics and individual posts (both private and public) to a user or group.open_bookInstall Guide This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately.person_raising_hand Required user level: Administrator (for configuration), members of allowed groups (for using assignments) discourse2 Hosted by us? This plugin is available on our Business and Enterprise pā¦
---
### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/3 "2024-07-28T18:32:40Z")
In addition to #Customization > Plugin mentioned by @ondrej
This plugin was designed with support in mind.
> [@Private Topics Plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-topics-plugin/268646):
>
> information_sourceSummary Private Topics Enables private topics in a regular categoryhammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [GitHub - communiteq/discourse-private-topics Ā· GitHub](https://github.com/communiteq/discourse-private-topics)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)Features This plugin allows you to add an extra security setting to categories so that users can only access their own topics. You can also designate one or more groups that can see all topics in the category. This is typically used forā¦
Additional plugins of interest
> [@Discourse Custom Topic Lists](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-custom-topic-lists/311186):
>
> discourse2Summary Allows you to create custom topic lists that can be accessed via a URLhammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [GitHub - discourse/discourse-custom-topic-lists: custom topic lists Ā· GitHub](https://github.com/discourse/discourse-custom-topic-lists)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)Features This plugin adds a new dropdown; when clicked, it leads you to a custom topic list based on a filter defined in the configuration. The new dropdown: The sidebar lā¦
> [@Custom Wizard Plugin mage](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-wizard-plugin/73345):
>
> pavilionSummary Forms for Discourse. This plugin lets you make rich and powerful forms for your Discourse forum. Better user onboarding, structured posting, data enrichment, automated actions and much more for your community.hammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-custom-wizard](https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-custom-wizard)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)people_huggingCommunity Community based support and discussions about this plugin are hosted on thā¦
> [@Discourse BCC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-bcc/134721):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse BCC allows staff users to send individual personal messages to several users at once.hammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/discourse/discourse-bcc](https://github.com/discourse/discourse-bcc)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)Features When enabled, youāll see a checkbox after having added two or more recipients to a PM: If you check that box, instead of one PM that everyone shares access to, Discourse will create 1 PM per user provideā¦
> [@Discourse Templates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-templates/229250):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse Templates allows the creation of content templates for repeated use. The templates are stored as topics in a special category, where they can be edited and discussed as needed.open_bookInstall Guide This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately.information_source This plugin is pretty much a new version of [Discourse Canned Replies](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-canned-replies/48296) but it is more flexible and stores the templates in a differā¦
These are pre packaged in Discourse
> [@Introducing Form Templates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-experimental-form-templates/278631):
>
> star This feature is no longer experimental! Go here to learn more about the feature and how to use it in your community: [Creating form templates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/creating-form-templates/397564) Hello, Discourse Meta Community! We are excited to introduce a new experimental feature, form templates. With it, you can enforce a structured form with data validation as part of the topic creation flow. [multiple\_form\_templates] Enabling the feature The feature is hidden behind a site-wide experimental flag. To enable it, just turn on the expā¦
> [@Discourse Automation](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-automation/195773):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse Automation lets you automate actions through scripts and triggers. Customisation is made through an automatically generated UI.open_bookInstall Guide This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately. Features Easy automation of complex workflows Triggers automations at specific dates, periodically, or on specific events Provides automatically generated ā¦
> [@Discourse Chat](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-chat/230881):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse Chat adds chat functionality to your Discourse instance.open_bookInstall Guide This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately. Features As mentioned in our [initial announcement](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-discourse-chat-beta/210734) and [most recent update](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-chat-is-now-available-try-it-out-today/234824) and [threading announcement](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-chat-threads/270613) , this plugin adds chat functionality to your Discourse so it can natively support both, long-form and short-form communication needs of your online community. Configuā¦
> [@Discourse Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-data-explorer/32566):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse [Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) allows you to make SQL queries against your live database, allowing for up-to-the-minute stats reporting.open_bookInstall Guide This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately.information_source If youāre looking for examples or support for any custom queries, you can find lots of topics in our #data-reporting category under the #sql-query tag. If thereās not one to suit your parā¦
---
### Author:  [@another\_username](https://meta.discourse.org/u/another_username)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/4 "2024-07-28T19:15:52Z")
Thank you for your reply. It is most informative.
> [@ondrej](#):
>
> Can I ask why? Perhaps the other forum didnāt have some of the plugins listed below which would help your support community:
a) The threads were long, meandering discussions and most posts held no useful information. I admit that I do find walking through someone elseās support call a bit tedious and painful. I believe there is a more suitable way to request, gather, organise and display this information;
b) Lots of āstubā posts with no replies or resolutions which are kept visible, for some reason - The threads are also closed so theyāre literally useless and just taking up space with no automatic removal or archival of dead or stub posts. and these are the ones that seem to show up in my searches most often. Maybe other people are just using different words?;
c) It may be the social aspect of the forum, but questions were not aggregated and only very basically organised into exclusionary categories, leading to separate but similar questions and missed solutions on different parts of the site;
d) There are so many redundant posts. As mentioned above, people use different terms for identical things, which makes searching for a previously asked question almost impossible unless you can think like someone else. This doesnāt seem to be taken into account by many admins (or devs?);
e) I thought that a more normalised dataset may help provide more consistent, current and appropriate information;
f) Automatic tagging so issues can be automatically assigned and allocated without tedious manual intervention, post husbandry and reorganisation;
Categories and tags are swings and roundabouts at this point, just different ways of doing, essentially, the same thing - itās just semantic differences. Both are intended to segregate and separate information out for easier organisation and interrogation. I donāt think it matters which you use, TBH, as long as the Interface supports itās use case.
g) Thereās lots of unused screen space which could be used to display information. Currently, the page seems quite sparse and thin on functionality and easy access to common/recent/main features. On my screen, around 40-50% of the page is blank;
h) The date-based scrollbar to the right (in my experience) misses out the most recently dated replies/posts and doesnāt scroll fully;
I am sure these are all customisable and supported with the proper plug-ins as I have been advised, I just donāt see a lot of this type of thing about š
I will have a look at those plug-ins and see if they are being used, thank you again.
> [@Heliosurge](#):
>
> This plugin was designed with support in mind.
I will have a look at those plug-ins, too. Thank you.
---
### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/5 "2024-07-28T19:23:04Z")
Youāre very welcome.
With additionally there are full #Customization > Theme that include some prepackaged #Customization > Theme component .
Theme components can be added to any themes be it the default theme or a custom one.
Iirc Western Digital I think it was sponsored the Docs plugin
There is a very wide number of companies that use Discourse as a support forum system.
A lot will come down to how you setup and configure things. You set things to auto close topics. Ie in Meta a solved topic is iirc set to auto close after x time after a solution is chosen by Op or Staff.
Checkout Documentation section here as they are experimenting with a more robust system in that area for better ease of use
If you would like someone to directly help designing and setting up your support forum #Marketplace is a great place to make the request. Imagine many if these folks will have samples of what they have done for others
---
### Author:  [@another\_username](https://meta.discourse.org/u/another_username)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 7:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/6 "2024-07-28T19:37:30Z")
Thank you.
> [@Heliosurge](#):
>
> With additionally there are full #Customization > Theme that include some prepackaged #Customization > Theme component .
Sorry, I donāt think I understand what you mean š
> [@Heliosurge](#):
>
> Checkout Documentation section here as they are experimenting with a more robust system in that area for better ease of use
I didnāt get the link š
> [@Heliosurge](#):
>
> If you would like someone to directly help designing and setting up your support forum #Marketplace is a great place to make the request. Imagine many if these folks will have samples of what they have done for others
I should be OK if there is the relevant information out there in an organised form lol
Autism sucks when youāre trying to find information on-line, itās never organised well enough š
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/7 "2024-07-28T19:42:00Z")
FWIW, in addition to our [existing customers that use Discourse for technical support services](https://www.discourse.org/customers), and our own public Meta Discourse forum here, we also run a full technical support forum in private categories dedicated to our enterprise customers. We assigned topics and posts to each other, use whisper conversations to discuss and resolve issues, and we have a team of dedicated tech support staff that work with those customers. Our internal company day to day operations also exists on Discourse. :discourse: š
---
### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/8 "2024-07-28T19:59:56Z")
> [@another\_username](#):
>
> > [@Heliosurge](#):
> >
> > With additionally there are full #Customization > Theme that include some prepackaged #Customization > Theme component .
>
> Sorry, I donāt think I understand what you mean š
Themes generally do full visual customizations. Click on #Customization > Theme to view their topics. There is for example one that makes it look more like FB and Reddit.
#Customization > Theme component are things that are installed to augment a variety of visual and interface elements.
_Both the above make changes on the client or browser side._
#Customization > Plugin on the other hand made server side changes and can directly change things that the above cannot.
> [@another\_username](#):
>
> > [@Heliosurge](#):
> >
> > Checkout Documentation section here as they are experimenting with a more robust system in that area for better ease of use
>
> I didnāt get the link š
To view this goto the sidebar and click on Documentation
The documentation category is using a new interface the team is testing out and makes finding a lot of info there much easier than previously.
#Customization > Plugin options will depend on whether you choose a hosted plan from a discourse provider or if you choose Self Hosted to have a full choice of plugins.
#Customization > Theme & #Customization > Theme component are able to be installed on any discourse forum.
Hosted plans have the benefit of their teams be it Meta, Communique(so?), Pavilion, etc will have hosting plans with a set of plugins available to use.
- Benefit? Included direct support and they maintain the back end.
Self-Hosted one needs to maintain their own server and if you run into a problem you canāt solve may need to use #Marketplace to pay someone to fix a problem.
- Benefit? Much more flexibility
As @Lilly said the team has some excellent options with hosting.
---
### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/9 "2024-07-28T20:11:45Z")
Checkout this #Customization > Theme
Goto the page and under resource click on demo. This will give an idea of how much you can customize the look. And well if you like Star wars pretty cool.
> [@Star Wars theme](https://meta.discourse.org/t/star-wars-theme/150351):
>
> Star Wars theme What better way to celebrate Star Wars day then with a Star Wars theme. This theme gives a parallax star background and a traditional star wars theatrical crawl on the site FAQ page. The Git repo includes the sound files to accompany the intro (browser dependent). Please feel free to modify, pull requests welcome smileyResourceseyeglasses Demo: [Preview this theme](https://theme-creator.discourse.org/theme/Rhidian/star-wars)hammer_and_wrench Git repo: [https://github.com/naidihr/discourse-star-wars-theme](https://github.com/naidihr/discourse-star-wars-theme) ā¦
---
### Author:  [@another\_username](https://meta.discourse.org/u/another_username)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/10 "2024-07-29T18:59:58Z")
Wow, thank you, a lot.
Thatās a lot of info to read through.
I feel such a relief when I find what Iām looking for on the Internet, nowadays lol \<3
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### Author:  [@traceymoko](https://meta.discourse.org/u/traceymoko)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2024, 10:19am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/11 "2024-08-02T10:19:41Z")
I believe @simon helped set up a lot of support sites while he worked on the Discourse team. I remember that he has been advocating to make it easier for new admins to set up support sites on Discourse in future, with the idea of built-in templates or configurations and so on.
He might have some tips on configuring a support site on Discourse and what settings are best, or be able to link to some additional documentation here on Meta.
---
### Author:  [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/12 "2024-08-02T19:09:44Z")
> [@traceymoko](#):
>
> I believe @simon helped set up a lot of support sites while he worked on the Discourse team. I remember that he has been advocating to make it easier for new admins to set up support sites on Discourse in future, with the idea of built-in templates or configurations and so on.
Iām not sure I can improve on this:
> [@How Does Team Discourse Use Discourse?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-team-discourse-use-discourse/82176):
>
> Originally published at: [How Does Team Discourse Use Discourse?](https://blog.discourse.org/2018/03/how-does-team-discourse-use-discourse/) As we claim on our website, we use Discourse as our primary team coordination tool to buildā¦ Discourse! That means escaping email silos and minimising the number of disparate communication channels required to manage a fully distributed team. We are able to keep distractions like calls and meetings to a minimum and focus on actualā¦
As others have noted, the Solved, Assign, and Docs plugins are useful for support sites.
Depending on how your team and forum are organized, whisper posts can be useful for allowing staff to have inline discussions about support questions.
> [@another\_username](#):
>
> It needs to be highly organised and easy to access and use.
I suspect the big difference between Discourse and a dedicated customer support platform is that Discourse doesnāt enforce a particular support workflow. Teams need to figure out how to use Discourse in a way that meets their needs. After establishing a work flow, it takes some discipline to stick with it. Depending on your point of view, this could be seen as a good or a bad thing. I personally think that Discourseās flexibility makes for a good work environment. I wouldnāt have lasted long working with any of the dedicated support systems that Iām aware of.
Many of the issues raised about long threads, stub posts, redundant posts, etc can be dealt with by actively moderating the site.
One thing thatās not obvious from browsing Meta is that the Discourse team use it to provide two levels of support. Thereās both a public #Support category thatās accessible to everyone, and a private support system for Discourseās hosted customers. The private support essentially functions as a ticketing system. Unless things have changed, assigning topics either to groups or individual team members (with the Assign plugin) accomplishes much of what tickets would accomplish in a dedicated support system. There are lots of benefits (and maybe a few downsides) to having both a public and a private support system on the same site.
I think Discourse should have something like a ācustomer support templateā that would allow a customer support site to be configured from the setup wizard. Documentation about how to use Discourse for customer support should also be provided. Iām tempted to fully document it here, but to do it well would probably require a few days of work.
---
### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/13 "2024-08-02T20:12:30Z")
> [@another\_username](#):
>
> Autism sucks when youāre trying to find information on-line, itās never organised well enough š
It is what drives autistic people to fix it! Discourse certainly has plenty of autistic people involved - and is definitely the better for it.
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-a-support-forum/318878/14 "2024-08-23T03:55:40Z")
> **[How Does Team Discourse Use Discourse?](https://blog.discourse.org/2018/03/how-does-team-discourse-use-discourse/)**
>
> As we claim on our website, we use Discourse as our primary team coordination tool to buildā¦ Discourse!