Sorry for the delay in answering this. I asked basically this same question here about 6 months ago. Since then I have learned a lot about the platform (both pros and cons).
Here is my opinion.
- The software is written well with regards to speed and security.
- There are some really decent programmers and plugins if you can find them
- The features are very basic and lacking in creativity (in modern terms) for the reasons I will mention below.
- Support is sparse for the same reasons below.
Ok...let me spell out my experience with Q2A. Approx. six months ago I decided to make a platform that would allow users to debate one another. I looked at several other applications and landed on Q2A. I know Q2A is not a debate platform, but with a few mods it can work. This is not the point! The point is, I spent a few months combing through the mess of outdated plugins as well as hunting for a few people who understood Q2A who might add some functionality.
Over the months of full-time playing with the script I was able to come up with a decent site So it is possible! It in not plug-n-play if you are looking for something that is not ordinary.
The website I built can be seen here => I'll Debate You .
Before you get all crazy thinking I am spamming the forum, please note this is a completely demo test site (as you will see by the content). I am posting it here to show what is possible. Feel free to play around on it if you like. I did do some custom mods as well as a lot of trial and errors. In full disclosure, I may abandon the project all together (but this is what I do).
My thoughts about Q2A...
I think the owner(s) of the platform have been absent for a while. There has been very few upgrades and when there are, it is years in between. The plugins are a complete cluster. The concept is great as they can add functionality, but because there is no organization of which plugins are current or outdated...one has to spend many, many hours hunting for, and testing all the plugins found here and on GitHub, etc.. (I know this was a run-on sentence).
This forum is an other example of why I think Q2A is being abandoned by its ownership. There are 1.9M users yet there is very little activity here. I was told that a good part of these users are spammers. Probably, true but if anyone was watching and maintaining this forum, this would be addressed. Mostly the activity here are new people coming in asking for clarity on which plugins still work, etc.. Or users that have legacy Q2A sites trying to limp them along.
I am not completely slamming Q2A and the forum. There are a few people here that are trying their best to keep things going and maintained (pupi1985 and gold-developer come to mind), but I don't think they have the authority to get things done as needed.
To answer the original question. What is the future of Question2Answer? I do believe it is fading and will become obsolete on its current path. This obsolescence is not excusive to Q2A. Thousands of once thriving sites and applications are now gone. Can Q2A be saved? Of course. But it will take a commitment on the part of the owner(s) to get behind it.
They will need to update the application a lot more frequently. They will need to add some of the features that people have been asking for. They will need to add modern features. And they will need to organize the website & plugins. This would need to be a full-time effort.
I am not suggesting they should do this. I understand that everyone who is currently associated with Q2A has to make a living and needs to be doing other things. If the application is not going to be a money making effort, that is fine. There are a lot of forums (sites) and software applications out there that do not make any money, but have thousands of active users. The difference is there is participation on the owner's part to make the site(s) feel like they are not dead or dying.
Sorry for being candid. It is just an opinion. If anyone have any other thoughts, I would love to hear them.
