Abstract

Answer is a question-and-answer (Q&A) platform software for teams at any scale to build help center, knowledge base, community forum, etc.

Proposal

Answer is an open-source Q&A software that helps teams at any scale to quickly build a community forum, knowledge base, help center, etc.
We are enthusiastic about contributing our project to the ASF and embracing the Apache way of development while growing with projects in the incubator.

Background

In recent years, organizations have been looking for solutions for building their own Q&A community or corporate community. A subsection nested in a big community (similar to the Discussion feature in GitHub) cannot meet all of their requirements, because they need to customize content and have control of data, rather than "being a guest" in a public community.
That's the moment we decided to build Answer.
The project was initiated in June 2022, and launched on October 24th, 2022. It has been open source since its first day of going live on GitHub.
As the largest technical Q&A community in China, Segmentfault has accumulated experience in community building, management, and engagement for over a decade, and they shape Answer today. In this way, we hope to invite more teams and companies to embrace the power of the Q&A community while they can also benefit from it.
Answer aims to help teams at any scale kickstart a forum, help center, or knowledge base whenever they need it. It's minimal in design, but powerful in feature. From novice to expert, asking and answering the first question is easy, and gradually, they become a part of community governance.

Rationale

Answer is an open-source question-and-answer (Q&A) system software developed by SegmentFault. We believe that Q&A is an incredibly efficient form of content organization, and building a Q&A community can greatly facilitate user communication, community development, and technical support. As an easy-to-use Q&A software, Answer offers businesses, organizations, and individuals with efficient ways to build their own Q&A platforms.
Embracing the principle of "Community Over Code," as the ASF advocates, deeply aligns with our values. As the largest technical Q&A community in China, we have been deeply involved in community development and aim to collaborate with the Apache Community to build thriving communities. Furthermore, Answer can assist Apache projects in enhancing their own Q&A communities by serving as Apache infrastructure.

Current Status

Answer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and its codebase can be accessed at https://github.com/answerdev/answer.
Our daily development is collaboratively conducted on GitHub where we also share the project roadmap.
Users can submit suggestions and report bugs in Issue, and we provide feedback and prioritize the issues accordingly. We have established project contribution guidelines, allowing developers to fix issues on their own and merge the code through Pull Requests. The project follows a monthly release cycle, and 19 versions have been released.

Meritocracy

The project currently has 30 external contributors as unpaid contributors (excluding translation volunteers). Among them, there are 3 developers who participate in maintenance, while others submit patches. There are also other contributions ways including: documentation errors fixing and different language packs contributing.
Following the Apache meritocracy model, we intend to build an open and diverse community around Answer. We welcome global committers with diverse backgrounds to contribute to discussion and code base.

Community

Answer is a tool to start building a community, and we have built our official community with Answer - Answer Meta. Answer also has a strong following with active Discord server.
The development of Answer also embodies the spirit of community. Joined with 37 code contributors, and 59 volunteers from around the world, Answer has received 221 pull requests, and 15 language translations.
Today, Answer has earned 7.4k stars, 468 forks on GitHub, and 256 issues with a new release every month.

Core Developers

We have three repositories on GitHub, and their respective core contributors are as below:

We would love to mention that aichy126 and haitao are unpaid developers, and additionally, fenbox plays a role as a contributor of the open-source project Typecho.

Known Risks

Project Name

The word answer is a generic name, and it's not possible for trademark. Due to the large volume of searching, it's hard for people to find our site by searching for Answer via search engines.

Orphaned Products

We have accumulated years of experience in Q&A products, community building, engagement, etc. The risk of orphaned products is low.

Inexperience with Open Source

Part of the initial commiters of Answer founded SegmentFault. They have extensive experience in open-source projects, and are the core contributors to Typecho, a well-known Chinese open-source blogging platform.
We also have a team of highly skilled professionals specializing in DevRel, community development, and other related fields. Now, Answer is already under Apache license and is developed in an open-source way since October 2022.

Length of Incubation

We expect that Answer can graduate from the incubator in 1-2 years.

Homogenous Developers

Most of the core developers of Answer are from Segmentfault and are working with external developers at present. Nevertheless, we also collaborate with worldwide contributors and volunteers side by side. By joining the Apache Incubator, we hope to get connected with individuals who are eager to foster the Apache way as we do.

Reliance on Salaried Developers

Some of the initial committers of Answer have been engaging with general community building and development for over a decade, and they still contribute to Answer today. Apart from coding, some of the core developers are also involved in daily operations, such as GitHub, community, and emails. Every contribution is documented, so even if employers change or new members join, we'll keep the project forward on the right track.

Relationships with Other Apache Products

We welcome every open-source project in the incubator to build a Q&A community based on Answer.

Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand

We would love to embrace the Apache way of development while growing with projects in the incubator.

Documentation


Initial Source

The answer has been under development since September, 2022 by SegmentFault team. Now, Answer has 15 language versions, and is developed by SegmentFault along with 36 code contributors around the globe. It is currently hosted on GitHub.com under Apache-2.0 and can be accessed at https://github.com/answerdev/answer.

Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan

External Dependencies

Answer's external dependencies can be found at: https://answer.dev/docs/development/contributing/notice

Cryptography

No encryption code is involved.

Required Resources

Mailing lists

  • private@answer.incubator.apache.org
  • dev@answer.incubator.apache.org
  • commits@answer.incubator.apache.org


Git Repositories

Upon entering incubation, we want to move (or copy) the existing repo to the Apache Software Foundation:


Issue Tracking

Answer currently uses GitHub to track issues.

Initial Committers

Sponsors

Champion:

Ning (Willem) Jiang <ningjiang AT apache.org>

Nominated Mentors:

Ning (Willem) Jiang <ningjiang AT apache.org>

Zili Chen <tison AT apache.org>
Justin Mclean <jmclean AT apache.org>
Christofer Dutz <cdutz AT apache.org>

Sponsoring Entity:

We are asking the Incubator PMC to sponsor this proposal.

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