Glossary

Here you can find some common terms that might need more explaining to familiarize yourself with AnswerHub.

AnswerHub Hierarchy

• The organizational breakdown of our containers and nodes, from highest to lowest level.
• It is important administrators recognize that each level of the hierarchy exists within a parent container or node.
• The users at each child (nested) level will have the permissions explicitly granted for that level, in addition to any inherited or default permissions from higher levels.

From the server down to a sub-space, each layer of the AnswerHub platform connects to, and nests within, the levels above it. Servers host networks that contain sites, which, in turn, contain spaces and sub-spaces. These sites, spaces, and sub-spaces are all containers. By layering these elements, the AnswerHub platform creates the AnswerHub Hierarchy: a container-based, hierarchical content management system that allows your site to be fully customizable at each level. You can think of this hierarchy like the folder system on a computer, with each of the folders nested within a parent while, at the same time, holding other folders, and files (content), of its own. In the same way you can change configuration settings at any level in a folder system to prevent certain users from accessing, editing, or even viewing all the content within that folder, so too can you change permissions at each level of the AnswerHub Hierarchy.

AnswerHub Hierarchy (Users & Groups)

• While we use the AnswerHub Hierarchy to determine what a set of permissions affects, the permissions themselves are actually granted to either a specific user or to a group of users.
• There are many different ways you may want users to be able to interact with your site (deciding who can act as moderators, who can Answer Questions, or even who can view content in a specific site or space).
• By giving you the ability to assign permissions to users and groups at each level of the hierarchy, the AnswerHub platform gives you the ability to fully customize, and control, your users' experiences.

Container

A data structure that is able to hold other containers or nodes within it.

• For example: Servers, sites and spaces are all containers.

Content

AnswerHub content refers to Questions, Articles, Ideas, Answers, Comments, Topics, Spaces, Expertise, Profile User Interface, Accessing a User Profile and Plugins.

Correct [Answer]

We use the word "correct" interchangeably with the word "accepted." Correct Answer does not guarantee the Answer is correct, rather it has been accepted to be the most correct Answer provided.

Default (Permissions)

The user and group permission settings that come standard with the AnswerHub platform. When we give examples in this guide, they will most often come from our default permission settings. Remember, default permission settings are inherited, but do not display in the other user groups.

Explicit (Permissions)

Permissions that an administrator grants directly. These permissions will override any conflicting inherited permissions.

Gamification

An AnswerHub feature that adds many components commonly found in gaming (Reputation, Awards, Badges, Voting, etc.) to your AnswerHub site. You can use gamification to promote users’ involvement with the AnswerHub site.

Grant

The action by which an admin gives a user or group a permission, or permissions role.

Group

A collection of users who share permissions. Permissions can be set for each group so you never have to grant or revoke individual user permissions. Instead, you can move a user from one group to another to change their settings.

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NOTE:

There is no limit to the number of Groups a user can belong to; however, if there are conflicting permissions we will resolve them using weight.

Inherited (Permissions)

Permissions the system automatically assigns to a user or group because of their position in the AnswerHub Hierarchy. These are a result of a default or explicit permission setting, typically one that stems from the Users group.

• For example: If you grant the Moderator group site-level permissions, then later decide that group needs an additional permission for a specific space, you only need to grant those specific permissions within the intended space's column. The rest of the permissions will inherit from the site-level.

Karma

Karma is the same as reputation. You can scroll down to reputation, but here is the definition: A measure used to gauge how active, or knowledgeable, a user is. You earn reputation by answering Questions, having content up-voted, and many other ways. You can alter the amount of reputation earned for various community interactions.

Node

The endpoint where a user will interact directly with their AnswerHub platform. Nodes are often connected to one another by their position in the AnswerHub Hierarchy.

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NOTE:

Questions, Answers, Articles (KBentries), Topics, and Ideas are all nodes (as well as others).

Recipes

A set of rules related to the automated granting, or revocation, of permissions.

• For example: You can set up your Users group to automatically grant Moderator role permissions based on when a user in that group reaches a certain number of reputation points.

Reputation

A measure used to gauge how active, or knowledgeable, a user is. You earn reputation by answering Questions, having content up-voted, and many other ways. You can alter the amount of reputation earned for various community interactions.

Revoke

The action by which a user or group gets denied a permission, or permissions role.

Role

A set of permissions that relate to a specific job or task.

• For example: Permissions that make it possible for a user to moderate discussions in a Question Node makes up the Moderator role.

Space

A container that can hold nodes (content) and sub-spaces (other containers) within itself. You can grant roles and individual permissions to users and groups at the space-level. Spaces are often used by AnswerHub administrators to separate their site into departments. Spaces are the top-level categories in which your content lives, providing your community with a basic layer of organization that can become granular when needed (see sub-spaces).

• For example: You could have spaces for North America, South America, Europe, Antarctica, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Sub-Group

A collection of users who share permissions. Sub-groups exist within another group. Sub-groups are often used to either restrict or expand on the permissions granted at the parent group level.

• For example: You could create a sub-group within the Moderator group with permissions allowing users in that sub-group to review submitted questions, but not publish them until the user reaches a certain amount of reputation.

Sub-Space

A container nested in another space that can hold nodes, and other sub-spaces within itself. You can grant roles and individual permissions to users and groups within each sub-space.

• For example: You could have a top-level parent space named Continents, and sub-spaces for North America, South America, Europe, Antarctica, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Users

Any individual who is accessing the AnswerHub platform. We consider users who are not signed in to be Anonymous and restrict them from most, if not all, site activities.

Users (Group)

In addition to the individual user, there is also a default Users group. By default, all logged-in users belong to this group. Other than anonymous, this group is the most restrictive.

Weight

The unit of measurement the AnswerHub platform uses in order to resolve conflicting permissions settings. A lower group weight will always override a higher group weight if there is a conflict.

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NOTE:

A lower (smaller numeric value) weight will always float to the top and heavier (larger numeric value) weights will always sink to the bottom and be overridden.