How to modify QA so that it functions like this

Question

I would very much like to know if it is possible to modify QA so that it runs in two ways.

The first way is that instead of questions and answers, we would have discussions and comments. Members can rate both discussions and comments.

The second way is that instead of questions and answers, we would have debates and a winner. The first post would be the outline of the debate subject and the subsequent "answers" would be members attempt to win the debate. Each member "answer" would cost the user a defined amount of points. They are gmabling that their view is the winning view. Other members rate the views/answers. The debates should expire after a period and the member "view/answer" with the most votes, would be declared the winner and receive the total amount of points waggered by everyone who participated in the debate.

so the site in essence has two parts, the first part being regular discussions which don't use answers (only comments) and a second part that uses debates as outlined above.

 

If anyone can provide information on how this can be accomplished I would greatly appreciate it. If this is something easy to do ourselves or we would need to pay a fee to implement the customizations, please indicate methods or fees for doing so.

Answer 1

I don't have all the answers, but here are a few things that may help you. Mostly you can use Q2A as it is now without much modification.

First I think you will be better off using two instances of Q2A for the two different set ups (i.e. two copies in different folders). You can link the user bases quite easily (check the config files).

For the first method, you can simply disable comments then use the language files to call answers "comments". And rename questions to "discussions".

The second part would work pretty similar to the current Q2A with upvotes and selected answers. Again you can modify the language files to change the terminology (e.g. change best answer to "winner"). As for "costing points per answer" I think it is possible to put in negative numbers in the points section in admin (next to "posting an answer").

The expiration thing would require a plugin that prevents new answers, voting etc after a set period after the "question" was asked.