Questions FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are common questions about the community Questions area of the Support Center that are individually addressed.

If you have a question to add to the list, contact us.

What is Questions?

Questions is a utility within the Support Center that enables the community of CollegeSource software users to ask questions amongst peers and gather meaningful answers. Questions includes several versatile features:

• Accept and vote for answers
• Add screenshots or code blocks to questions/answers
• Turn on email notification for specific topics or the entire site
• Tracking which users provide the most/best answers

Who can use Questions?

The Questions utility is intended only for users of CollegeSource software and is restricted to individuals with a Support Center account. If your institution has one or more CollegeSource products and you do not have access to the Support Center, you may request an account. If you have an existing account, use the link for forgot your username or password.

Why Questions?

Statistics insist that most of the information we exchange (at least 65%) is "trapped" inside of emails, IMs, and side conversations. Openly sharing knowledge within a focused community can save everyone the time and headache of being asked, or answering, the same questions over and over again. Now there is a way to pull that information out into the open so others can benefit. Questions is the answer!

For some time, CollegeSource has been seeking a better platform for empowering the user community to better communicate and to share their challenges and experiences in a powerful, yet easy, way. Our hope is that Questions will become the primary space for users to interact and share knowledge. Using this powerful tool, some of the most common and interesting questions that our software users pose can be preserved along with their community-provided and vetted answers.

Does Questions replace OWL?

No, community Questions does not replace OWL. Issues submitted through OWL will continue to get a timely response from CollegeSource staff. Questions asked in Questions are posed in an open (not confidential) community discussion and may or may not receive a response from CollegeSource staff. For that matter, there may be no response from the community and/or no response may be timely, but we hope that the usefulness of the tool and the networking potential will draw a number of invested users into the space to help each other out. While CollegeSource staff will monitor Questions, we are not committed to answering questions there. Users needing answers directly from the CollegeSource staff should submit their question to the OWL instead of (or in addition to) Questions. Simply put, the OWL guarantees a timely answer from CollegeSource staff; Questions (hopefully) produces answers from the community. And community answers will typically be broader and more experience-based ,in the aggregate, than staff answers.

How does Questions work? Why are some higher on the page than others?

Once a user has created a question, it's given a default status and will appear on the main page, but probably not at the top. Subsequent activity in the form of answers, comments, and votes will drive it up the page or–with lack of activity–down the page. The same is true of the answers given by users under each question; the answers will move up or down according to votes from visitors who find them useful or not. This means the most active and community-approved questions and answers will always be nearer to the top of a page.

Why isn't my new response to an older post showing up under the "Recent" heading at the top of the page?

The "Recent" and "Popular" headings at the top of the page in Questions reference the creation of a post, not the activity of it. For example, an old post from 2017 that's recently commented on will now appear under the "Popular" heading, not "Recent."

How do I watch or stop watching Questions?

In the upper-right hand corner of each page, you will see a Watch button () that looks like an eye. Next to it is the prompt to "Watch" or "Unwatch" the page you are currently viewing. When watching a page, you will receive email notifications of all activity, including the detail of any voting, comments, etc. From the main Questions page, you can choose to watch/unwatch all questions. Alternately, you can just choose to just watch for activity on individual questions by clicking on a question and toggling the watch/unwatch icon.

Can I do anything without logging in?

Yes. Email notifications will be sent to anyone watching a question or topic. The email will show you the content of recent questions or answers for things you are watching, and you will be give context-appropriate choices within your email, such as "upvote" or "accept" an answer or even stop watching a specific question. You can also jump into the topic directly using the link in your email. Below is a sample email notification:

How do topics work?

When you submit a question, you are given the opportunity to label it with a pre-existing topic or create a new one. You can watch a topic to see any or all questions and activity related to that topic.

Can I delete or edit my questions, answers, or comments?

Yes, you may delete or edit your own questions, answers, and comments. You can also undo one of your votes. You may not, however, edit another user's questions, answers, comments, or votes. If you believe something has been placed on a Questions page that is inappropriate, offensive, unethical, or otherwise problematic, please contact us immediately. 

How do I get the “Top Expert” crown?

There is no easy road to the top–only very special individuals may wear the crown! You must answer a lot of questions and get a lot of votes from users who find your contributions helpful.

How do I encourage others to use Questions?

The Share feature is a great way to alert another user to a question that you think they might enjoy following or to which they could provide an expert answer.