Discourse

Discourse is forum software designed for threaded, long-form discussion. Unlike a chat product, a topic is a first-class object with a title, a category, and replies that can be read in order, which makes a community's history searchable and referenceable. The platform adds the mechanics a community needs to stay healthy: trust levels that grant permissions as a member participates, flagging and moderation queues, and automated summaries. Topics can be categorised and tagged, and a topic can be marked as solved so the answer is visible without reading the thread. Discourse is open source and can be self-hosted, with a hosted plan as the alternative. It is a good fit for a product community, a support forum, or a standards discussion where answers should be findable later. It is a poor fit for real-time conversation, which is what a chat product is for.