Forum Sections
The MarketHub community is organized into four distinct sections, each with a different purpose, posting permissions, and moderation ownership. Understanding which section to use ensures posts reach the right audience.
Section Overview
| Section | Purpose | Who Can Post | Moderator |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Marketplace-wide discussion — ecosystem news, feature requests, cross-package tips | Any logged-in user | Admin team |
| Package Forums | Per-package discussion — one forum per published package for support, feedback, and use-case sharing | Any logged-in user | Package publisher (primary), Admin (escalation) |
| Announcements | Official communications — platform updates, policy changes, marketplace news | Admins only (platform announcements); Publishers (for their packages) | Admin team |
| Q&A | Structured question-and-answer threads — focused on getting specific questions resolved | Any logged-in user | Admin team (platform Q&A); Publisher (package Q&A) |
General Section
The General section is the open marketplace forum — the best place for topics that aren't specific to any single package. Common thread topics include:
- Requesting new package categories or marketplace features
- Discussing ecosystem-wide best practices for BizFirstGO package development
- Sharing news or articles relevant to the marketplace community
- Introduction threads for new publishers joining the marketplace
Package Forums
Each published package automatically has its own forum section. The forum is created when the package is first published and becomes accessible to all users immediately. The package publisher is designated as the moderator of their package's forum.
Publisher Moderation Powers
The package publisher can pin posts to the top of their forum, mark Q&A answers as accepted, remove off-topic or spam content, and lock threads that have been resolved.
Forum Organization
Within a package forum, threads are sorted by last activity by default. Publishers can pin up to 3 threads — useful for FAQ threads, known issues, and installation guides.
When a package is deprecated or removed, its forum threads remain readable but new posting is disabled. Historical discussions remain searchable and accessible.
Announcements Section
The Announcements section contains official posts that all users should be aware of. Announcements are always pinned and cannot have the thread locked by non-admins.
| Announcement Type | Posted By | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Platform announcements | Admin team | New certification tiers, policy updates, scheduled maintenance, new marketplace features |
| Package release announcements | Package publisher | Major version release notes, breaking change warnings, migration guides |
| Security advisories | Admin team or Publisher | Vulnerability disclosures, recommended update notices |
Q&A Section
The Q&A section is where structured questions live. When a user posts in the Q&A section, they choose "Question" as the thread type. Questions have an accepted answer mechanic — the question author or the relevant package publisher can mark one reply as the official accepted answer.
Q&A threads appear differently from standard discussion threads:
- The accepted answer (if any) is pinned to the top of the reply list
- Replies are sorted by upvote count, not by timestamp
- Threads with accepted answers are tagged with a green checkmark in listings
- Package-specific questions appear both in the Q&A section and in the package's own forum
Questions tagged with a specific package appear in both the Q&A section and the package's own forum. The publisher can mark accepted answers from either location. Platform-level questions (not tied to a package) appear only in the Q&A section and are moderated by the admin team.