For many communities - especially those oriented toward support or Q/A - metrics about how quickly users received a response to a post, or how quickly a posted question is answered can be extremely valuable.

Some common questions we can use metrics to answer are:

  • Are my users receiving responses to their questions in a timely manner?
  • What percentage of posts in my forums receive replies?
  • What percentage of questions asked in my forums 0receive answers?
  • How long, on average, is it taking to receive a reply/answer?
  • Who are the top answerers in my community?
  • How do my moderators rank compared to one another?

This collection of documents should fully explain some of the specific support reports used to answer these questions. Most of the reports used to answer these questions are found on the Support tab, which deals mainly with activity in the forums.

First, to clarify a few key terms that are used in these reports:

  • Question - Post that is marked as a question by the author when posting (vs. marking the post as a discussion)
  • Answer - Reply to a post having been verified as an answer - either by the user who posted the original question, or by an Administrator
  • Answered post - Post that has at least one reply having been verified as an answer
  • Suggested answer - Post reply having been suggested as the answer by a user, but not yet verified
  • Suggested post - Post that has received at least one reply having marked as a suggested answer
  • Unanswered post - Post having no replies marked as a suggested answer or as a verified answer

Click one of the following links for detailed information about a report: