wiki for FAQ?

January 24, 2006 6:55 PM

What's the best wiki I can run on my server and use as a public-facing "customer FAQ"?

Lots of customers = lots of questions! I want to set up a wiki to serve as a "FAQ" for customers so when we get an email asking "has my order shipped?" we can send them to our "Order Tracking" wiki page - and do the same for dozens and dozens of other questions that can be answered this way.

Hosted options abound, but we can't ask customers to visit another domain to get help...

posted by subpixel to computers & internet (5 comments total)

MediaWiki.
posted by cmonkey at 7:11 PM on January 24, 2006

I like Oddmuse, which I'm using for my wikis (until I finish my own wiki engine). It's simple, flexible, small enough to hack easily (<4000 lines), well-documented, and free. If it doesn't do what you need out-of-the-box, there are many extension modules and it's not hard to write your own. I find it easier to customize the design than with MediaWiki and MoinMoin, although the default style is very plain. I haven't had any spam problems with it so far, either (unlike with MoinMoin). Setup is easy and installation takes five minutes.
posted by bpt at 7:21 PM on January 24, 2006

The question you should be asking yourself is "Does this really need to be a wiki?". Sure, they're cheap to run, but what you described seems like a wiki really isn't necessary. Something like this might work, or if you've got a little skill, there's a ton of free apps you can customize. phpMyFAQ is one.

For tracking: Is it not feesible to simply respond with: "your package is [insert place name]"? You'd be doing the same amount of work with the benefit of the client feeling like you've taken a personal interest in their shipment.
posted by zerolives at 9:31 PM on January 24, 2006

I'd also recommend MediaWiki. Here's an example FAQ.
posted by Sharcho at 4:28 AM on January 25, 2006

Why does it have to be a Wiki? Darn buzzwords. If you just want a FAQ, consider HelpWorks Pro. It's pretty cheap, easy to use, and customers like it.
posted by drstein at 9:39 AM on January 25, 2006